Workers' Compensation Law Commons^™

How Come Mary-Jane Is Not On Workers’ Comp?: Requiring Rhode Island Workers’ Compensation Insurers To Reimburse Employees For Medical Marijuana, Devon Q. Toro

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Worker's Compensation, H. Michael Bagley, J. Benson Ward

Mercer Law Review

The 2018–2019 survey period featured important legislative changes as well as interesting decisions of the appellate courts addressing workers’ compensation issues on such wide-ranging topics as scheduled break exceptions, the Insolvency Pool, and occupational diseases.

• Legislative Update
• Intoxication and Drug Testing
• Ingress—Egress on Scheduled Breaks
• Insolvency Pool
• Evidence in Seeking Catastrophic Designation
• Exclusive Remedy
• Attorney's Fees
• Standard of Review/Occupational Disease

When The Going Gets Weird, The Weird Turn Pro*: Management Best Practices In The Age Of Medicinal Marijuana, John I. Winn Jd, Llm

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mello V. Killeavy, 205 A.3d 454 (R.I. 2019), Kaitlyn Alger

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Disability Dilemma: Difficulties Involving Erisa Claims For Subjective-Proof Diseases, Courtney D. Keeling

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Buma V. Providence Porp. Dev., 135 Nev. Adv. Op. 60 (Dec. 12, 2019), E. Sebastian Cate-Cribari

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The court determined that the Nevada Industrial Insurance Act (NIIA) extends workers’ compensation protections to traveling employees while they are on work trips. The court held that traveling employee cases will use a categorical approach, where workers’ compensation is extended to traveling employees for injuries sustained during activity that can be considered an employment risk or a neutral risk which passes the increased risk test, but not to activities which are considered a personal risk. Activities considered a personal risk fall under the “distinct departure” exception, which requires that no compensation be given for injuries sustained during “personally motivated activities …

All The World’S A Platform?: Some Remarks On 'Marketplace Platform' Employment Laws, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper addresses the enactment of marketplace platform laws, which have arisen as a remarkable feature of the "gig" economy in recent years. A marketplace platform law decides the question of whether an individual worker is an independent contractor or an employee — an ongoing controversy in all employment law, including workers’ compensation law — by emphasizing factors other than those normally considered in traditional legal analyses. As of this writing, seven states appear to have enacted marketplace platform laws.

In short, marketplace platform laws — developed substantially and lobbied aggressively by the company Handy, Inc. — make it much …

Center For Progressive Reform Report: Protecting Workers In A Pandemic--What The Federal Government Should Be Doing, Thomas Mcgarity, Michael C. Duff, Sidney A. Shapiro

All Faculty Scholarship

The "re-opening" of the American economy while the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is still circulating puts workers at heightened risk of contracting the deadly virus. In some blue-collar industries, the risk is particularly acute because of the inherent nature of the work itself and of the workplaces in which it is conducted. And the risk, for a variety of reasons, falls disproportionately on people of color and low-income workers. With governors stay-at-home orders and other pandemic safety restrictions, Center for Progressive Reform Member Scholars Thomas McGarity, Michael Duff, and Sidney Shapiro examine the federal government's many missed opportunities to stem …

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd) Coverage And Other Expanding Benefit Changes In The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Marketplace: Academic Legal Perspective, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper discusses the increased use of causation presumptions in workers' compensation cases involving firefighters and other first responders. It also considers increasing workers' compensation coverage of post traumatic stress disorder with respect to those same categories of workers. The paper discusses how workers' compensation coverage of certain conditions tends to parallel the growth of potential tort liability, observes that disease presumptions were a feature of early 20th century workers' compensation statutes (and so are not new), and argues that recognition of workers' compensation "mental-mental" claims has been consistent with "zone of danger" expansion of the negligent infliction of emotional …

The Other Janus And The Future Of Labor’S Capital, David H. Webber

Faculty Scholarship

Two forms of labor’s capital—union funds and public pension funds—have profoundly reshaped the corporate world. They have successfully advocated for shareholder empowerment initiatives like proxy access, declassified boards, majority voting, say on pay, private fund registration, and the CEO-to-worker pay ratio. They have also served as lead plaintiffs in forty percent of federal securities fraud and Delaware deal class actions. Today, much-discussed reforms like revised shareholder proposal rules and mandatory arbitration threaten two of the main channels by which these shareholders have exercised power. But labor’s capital faces its greatest, even existential, threats from outside corporate law. This Essay addresses …

Rescuing The Rescuer: Reforming How Florida’S Workers’ Compensation Law Treats Mental Injury Of First Responders, Travis J. Foels

Florida Law Review

The 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida was the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since the September 11 attacks in 2001. With a final death toll of forty-nine people, and fifty-three others wounded, the attack sent shockwaves throughout the city, state, and nation. People sent condolences to the families of those affected, prayers for those taken, and praise to first responders and health care professionals for their hard work and service. What many fail to consider, however, is the lasting effect such a horrific and traumatic event can have on the first responders whose job it is …

The Federalism Challenges Of Protecting Medical Privacy In Workers' Compensation, Ani B. Satz

Indiana Law Journal

Under current law, injured workers face a Hobson’s choice: They may file for workers’ compensation or maintain their medical privacy. The reason for this is that § 164.512(l) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s Privacy Rule (HPR) is widely misinterpreted by courts and legislatures as a wholesale waiver of privacy protections for injured workers. Section 164.512(l) excludes workers’ compensation from federal privacy protections that may frustrate the efficient administration of workers’ compensation claims. As the history and intent behind the HPR indicate, § 164.512(l) is premised on the assumption that states will protect workers’ privacy by creating and …

Asymmetric Effects On Fatality Rates Of Changes In Workers' Compensation Laws, W. Kip Viscusi, Elissa Philip Gentry

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

With irreversible investments in safety, changes in workers' compensation laws should affect employer incentives asymmetrically: increases in workers' compen- sation generosity should cause employers to invest more in safety, but comparable decreases might not cause them to disinvest in existing precautionary programs or equipment. Although maximum weekly benefits caps have been fairly stable, state laws have expanded or restricted workers' compensation on multiple other dimensions. State laws may impose new requirements regarding burdens of proof, access to medical care, and the duration of benefits. This article estimates the effect of changes in these more comprehensive measures of workers' compensa- tion …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

City Of Reno V. Joy Yturbide, 135 Nev. Adv. Op. 14 (May 2, 2019), Gabrielle Boliou

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court held that a compensation insurer may not reduce the 25 percent limit on lump-sum payments for an employee’s permanent disability award on different subsequent injuries. The court affirmed the district court’s denial of appellants’ petition for judicial review.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legislatively Overturning Fort Stewart Schools: The Trump Administration's Assault On Federal Employee Collective Bargaining, Richard J. Hirn

Indiana Law Journal

In his Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Submission, President Trump noted that about 60 percent of Federal employees belong to a union and lamented that dealing with Federal employee unions ostensibly “consume[s] considerable management time and taxpayer resources, and may negatively impact efficiency, effectiveness, cost of operations, and employee accountability and performance.” Although he acknowledged that Federal employee unions can negotiate over fewer matters than can unions in the private sector, he nonetheless claimed that collective bargaining contracts can negatively impact agency performance, workplace productivity, and employee satisfaction. The President told Congress that “[a]gency managers will be encouraged to restore management …

Broken Bodies And Broken Dreams: How Social Safety Net Programs Subsidize Professional Boxing And The Need To Improve Legal And Health Protections For Prizefighters, Robert I. Correales

Scholarly Works

This article explores the lack of basic health and insurance protections for professional boxing participants and proposes changes in policy that will reflect the dangerous nature of professional boxing and the modem cost of medical services. Recognizing that a legislative remedy may never arrive, this article also examines previously unexplored or underutilized legal doctrines such as tort and workers' compensation law that may provide an alternative to inadequate insurance protection, and suggests a more aggressive approach along those lines to compel fuller protection for prizefighters.

The Price Is Rights: Getting The United Arab Emirates Up To International Speed In The Labor Law Department, Janae C. Cummings

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Despite a rapidly growing economy and a tremendous accumulation of wealth, the United Arab Emirates has facilitated many human rights abuses against migrant workers from impoverished countries throughout the world. The UAE’s system of recruitment, payment and living conditions put already vulnerable populations in considerably worse economic conditions by exploiting their labor and creating significant barriers to challenging the unjust employment system. After being sold on the idea that migrating to the UAE would bring a semblance of economic advancement, many migrants find themselves in inhumane working conditions and debt from having to pay excessive amounts of money to recruitment …

Law School News: Three Rwu Law Graduates Nominated For State Judgeships 12-10-2018, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.