retalitaion « Workers Comp Insider

Posts Tagged ‘retalitaion’

News Roundup: ADA at 25; Consolidation; Retaliation; “Old Farts” and other noteworthy items

Monday, August 3rd, 2015

Last week, the ADA turned 25. A few noteworthy related posts:

Jennifer Christian was invited to the White House for the commemoration. She has interesting observations on the event at her blog posting While I was at the White House…
Suzanne Lukas AKA “Evil HR Lady” posts 7 Myths About the Americans With Disabilities Act, deconstructing some of the common misunderstandings about the meaning and implementation of the law.
Terri Rhodes posts about The Struggles of ADA Compliance at Risk & Insurance.
HR Web Cafe posts about The ADA at 25 and the remarkable story of the “Capitol Crawl”, replete with videos documenting the event and people looking back at their participation.

Joe Paduda’s been working through the summer, keeping track of the recent spate of industry consolidations and the implications for workers comp. At his blog, he also features an interesting post about Maryland’s innovative approach to hospital care – and implications for work comp: “…a fundamental shift in medical care is occurring, one that will have a dramatic impact on how patients are evaluated and monitored and incentivized to pursue health, what care is delivered via what method (telemedicine, care extenders, wearable technology). This will dramatically affect workers’ comp – patients will be healthier but the bifurcated payment system will cause headaches.”

Jon Hyman of Ohio Employer’s Law Blog says that while employers tend to associate retaliation with the big employment statutes (Title VII, the ADEA, the ADA, the FMLA, and the FLSA), are dozens of other federal statutes that protect employees from retaliation. He offers a handy alphabetized list: Retaliation alphabet-soup

In what appears destined to be a classic in the “what not to do” department, Robin Shea posts about the court case that followed when an “Old fart” got fired at Employment & Labor Insider. It’s one case with many lessons!

If your summertime vacations include any water sports, you might want to take a look at the Consumer Insurance Blog’s post and video about how drowning doesn’t look like what we see in the movies. The post notes that “We have wrong ideas about drowning and our ignorance means we don’t always recognize the signs of a person in distress when we see them.” This ignorance means that every year, children die in pools and water just feet away from parents or friends who do not recognize the signs of distress.

Lone workers continue to pose a risk challenge for workers comp. At WCI360, there’s a reprint of Tom Musick’s article from The National Safety Council August 2015 newsletter: Taking Steps to Ensure the Safety of People Who Work Alone.

Dave DePaolo says that he reported on Illinois’ lax attitude towards workers’ compensation fraud in 2013 and things have not gotten much better since. In Illinois Light on Fraud, he notes, “The latest report from the WCFU reflects there were just six convictions in 2014, with only one resulting in jail time.”

Advanced Safety and Health reports that OSHA has added key hazards for investigators’ focus in healthcare inspections: “Targeting some of the most common causes of workplace injury and illness in the healthcare industry, OSHA announced the agency is expanding its use of enforcement resources in hospitals and nursing homes to focus on musculoskeletal disorders related to patient or resident handling, bloodborne pathogens, workplace violence, tuberculosis, and slips/trips/falls.”
Related: OSHA Healthcare Inspections

Ken Ward at Coal Tattoo reports on the latest case developments in the criminal trial against Don Blankenship: Why doesn’t Don Blankenship want the jury to hear about the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster?
Follow past case updates here

At The Pump Handle, Celeste Monforton offers a roundup of tributes on the passing of Donald Rasmussen: Coal miners’ physician, humble man. A dedicated worker health and safety advocate, “For more than 50 years, he diagnosed and treated coal miners with work-related lung disease, first at the then Miners Memorial Hospital in Beckley, WV and later at his own black lung clinic.”

Your chance to speak out – deadline August 7
Bob Wilson: The Feds Are Looking to Act on Disability and RTW: Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
Jennifer Christian: Tell us: Who should be helping workers with health problems keep their jobs? and #1 of 3 fleeting opportunities to influence policy recommendations

More noteworthy news