An ICE Arrest After A Workers' Comp Meeting Has Lawyers Questioning If It Was Retaliation

Georgia has a public policy inherent in its workers' compensation law that says, basically, if you are going to hire undocumented workers, you have to cover them under workers' compensation. This story, from Massachusetts, would seem to turn that public policy on its ear. Regardless of one's view of our current immigration policy, I would hope we can all agree that a work injury should not be used as a springboard for immigration proceedings. Someone who has suffered a work injury suffered that injury while in the employ of an employer who benefitted from the injured worker's labor. Punishing that employee by reporting him to ICE is no different than punishing that employee by refusing him benefits. It allows the employer to skirt the law while punishing the laborer who worked to the employer's benefit. H/T to my friend Marci Rosenberg for the story.

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GEORGIA WORKERS COMP: Thousands of Georgians hurt at work report ‘big problems' getting care

Oklahoma’s Top Court: Companies Can’t Set Own Rules for Injured Workers

This is a fantastic decision in Oklahoma. For several years now, many larger employers have tried to re-write state workers' compensation laws to give them more control over medical choices and payouts, but to give the injured worker fewer rights, lower compensation and generally poorer outcomes following an injury. Workers' compensation laws exist under the premise of a grand bargain, whereby employers will be exempt from suit in tort, and in exchange, a no fault system of compensation will be set up with the goal of returning injured workers to their jobs quickly or, where that is not possible, to compensate them for their inability to work. None of these schemes is perfect, least of all Georgia's, but they are made far, far less perfect by an employer-centric system that essentially turns over the injured worker's treatment, compensation and outcomes to an employer who is more interested in counting beans than actually achieving a fair and just result. Such a scheme deprives the employee of the benefits of the grand bargain without restoring the rights given up in exchange for it.

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Eternal rest to those who died in service to our country.

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WorkersCompensation.com CompNewsNetwork - Unconstitutional: Dillard's Opt Out Plan Colored...

2015 Top Ten Workers’ Compensation Fraud Cases

As my friend Morgan Cressman noted, only one of these cases involved fraud by an injured worker.

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Training to expand the practice a bit. 2 more days left.

As we begin our third year, we have occasion to reflect and be thankful for good friends, colleagues, and clients. Thanks to all of you for your support.