Workers' Compensation Law Commons^™

Florida's Workers Compensation Law: The Pendulum Swings, Ursula Hirsch

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this paper is to discuss how the recent court rulings on the current workers compensation statutes will impact the rules to Florida’s workers compensation laws.

Workers Compensation system is a social justice system that protects both the employer and employee. Employees that are injured while in the course and scope of their employment give up the right to sue, making workers compensation an exclusive remedy. In exchange for giving up that right, the injured worker receives statutory benefits in a no-fault system.

This paper covers the legislative changes over the years that have impacted the constitutionality of …

Protecting Injured Workers By Eliminating The Use Of The American Medical Association Guides In Evaluation Of Permanent Partial Disability, 50 J. Marshall L. Rev. 589 (2017), Dan Debias

UIC Law Review

This comment will demonstrate why using an AMA impairment rating as the sole determinant in evaluating an injured worker's disability would be a fundamentally unfair concept. Part II of this comment will discuss the history of compensation remedies for injured workers, both federally and in Illinois. Part II will also explain Illinois' calculation of permanent partial disability benefits, the 2011 amendments to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act ("Act"), and the recently proposed changes to the Act concerning the AMA Guides. Part III will analyze the AMA Guides in more detail, including research into its flaws, the constitutionality of its inclusion …

Damaged Bodies, Damaged Lives: Immigrant Worker Injuries As Dignity Takings, Jayesh Rathod, Rachel Nadas

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Government data consistently affirm that foreign-born workers in the U.S. experience high rates of on-the-job illness and injury. This article explores whether—and under what circumstances—these occupational harms suffered by immigrant workers constitute a dignity taking. The article argues that some injuries suffered by foreign-born workers are indirect takings by the state due to the government’s lackluster oversight and limited penalties for violations of occupational safety and health laws. Using a framework of the body as property, the article then explores when work-related injury constitutes an infringement upon a property right. The article contends that the government’s weak enforcement apparatus, coupled …

Workers' Compensation, H. Michael Bagley, J. Benson Ward

Mercer Law Review

The 2015 - 2016 survey period featured decisions of the appellate courts impacting the workers' compensation system on issues ranging from willful misconduct to statutes of limitations.

Show Me The Money: The Ceo Pay Ratio Disclosure Rule And The Quest For Effective Executive Compensation Reform, Biagio Marino

Fordham Law Review

This Note discusses past attempts to combat growing levels of executive compensation, analyzes the role of both shareholders and directors in the compensation-setting process, and discusses conflicting views concerning shareholder-director power, the disclosure mechanism, and the pay-ratio metric. Finally, this Note balances these views by proposing alterations to the CEO Pay Ratio Disclosure Rule that preserve the long-standing corporate structure, while also offering shareholders an accountability mechanism to enhance the Rule’s intended results.

Analyzing The Virginia Workers' Compensation Act's Governance Of Employer Non-Compliance, D. Paul Holdsworth

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Poremba V. S. Nev. Paving; And S&C Claims Servs., Inc. 132 Nev. Ad. Op. 24 (April 7, 2016), Baylie Hellman

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considers an appeal from a district court order. The Court clarified that medical treatment is not the only expense on which a workers’ compensation claimant is permitted to exhaust his or her settlement funds. Reversed and remanded with instructions.

Just Jobs, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Recent Supreme Court Employment Law Developments, Olati Johnson, Douglas D. Scherer

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Three Out Of Four Economists Recommend Raising The Minimum Wage! A Closer Look At The Debate Surrounding Seattle's Minimum Wage Ordinance, Erica Bergmann

Seattle University Law Review

This Note will discuss the implications of a high minimum wage by examining the debate around the Seattle Ordinance with a particular focus on the IFA lawsuit. To analyze the possible impacts of the Seattle Ordinance, current and historical arguments both in support of and in opposition to minimum wage laws are considered. This Note ultimately concludes that the U.S. District Court rightly denied the IFA’s motion for a preliminary injunction, which would have frustrated Seattle’s experiment before it began. Seattle’s plan to implement a $15 minimum wage, and similar experiments, should be permitted to proceed because the problem of …

Goodwin V. Jones, 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 12 (Mar. 03, 2016), Rob Schmidt

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court of Appeals held that because the employee did not provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate she made a reasonable, good-faith attempt to maintain her certification, the employee’s failure to maintain certification required by her employer constituted misconduct within the meaning of NRS 612.385.

Nurturing Wings Or Clipping Them Off: The Philippine Approach To Female Labor Migration And A Potentially Redeeming Role For The Commission On Human Rights, Emily Sanchez Salcedo

Center for Business Research and Development

The large-scale migration of Filipino workers started in the 1970’s as inadequate local employment and livelihood opportunities pointed to overseas opportunities in the booming economy of oil-rich countries in the Middle East. Though initially dominated by male construction workers and seafarers, female migrant workers, mostly in the health care professions, in domestic services and in the entertainment industry, followed suit and, in the most recent available statistical report, have even slightly outnumbered the men. As of the end of 2014, 50.43% of the 2.32 million overseas Filipino workers are women. Collectively, these overseas workers sent about 27 billion dollars in …

Exception To The Rule: Relaxing The Standard For Intentional Torts Under The Industrial Insurance Act, Brad Westmoreland

Washington Law Review Online

In Walston v. Boeing, the Supreme Court of Washington upheld a standard used to determine whether a worker injured by his employer’s deliberate intent to expose him to toxic materials could pursue remedies outside of the state’s workers’ compensation system. The Birklid standard—which requires claimants seeking remedies under the “deliberate intention” exception to show that an employer willfully disregarded actual knowledge that an injury was certain to occur—effectively prevents toxic exposure claimants from surviving motions for summary judgment. This result runs in strict contravention of the Legislature’s purpose in enacting both the deliberate intention exception and the Industrial …

Fortifying The Rights Of Unauthorized Immigrant Workers: Why Employee-Focused Incentives Under The Nlra Would Help End The Cycle Of Labor Rights Abuse, Caitlin E. Delaney

Journal of Law and Policy

Over the past several decades, there has been an unmistakable tension between labor law and immigration law in the United States. That tension, addressed by the Supreme Court most recently in 2001, still exists for unauthorized immigrant workers who wish to assert their labor rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). While the Obama Administration has made significant strides in easing the concerns that unauthorized immigrant workers may have before filing an NLRA claim, the unavailability of the back pay remedy and the uncertainty of protection from immigration authorities leave little incentive for such workers to assert their labor …

Danger And Dignity: Immigrant Day Laborers And Occupational Risk, Jayesh Rathod

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The plight of immigrant workers in the United States has captured significant scholarly attention in recent years. Despite the prevalence of discourses regarding this population, one set of issues has received relatively little attention: immigrant workers’ exposure to unhealthy and unsafe working conditions, and their corresponding susceptibility to workplace injuries and illnesses. Researchers have consistently found that immigrant workers suffer disproportionately from occupational injuries and fatalities, even when controlling for industry and occupation. Why, then, are foreign-born workers at greater risk for workplace injuries and fatalities, when compared with their native-born counterparts? This Article seeks to develop answers to that …

Will Work For Free: The Legality Of Unpaid Internships, Nicole M. Klinger

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

This Note addresses the current ambiguity in the law regarding if unpaid interns are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Note explores relevant case law throughout the circuit courts, but primarily focuses on the Second Circuit’s recent decision in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures. It argues that the primary benefits test created by the Second Circuit in Glatt does not adequately protect unpaid interns nor does it inform employers of the standards they need to meet in order to adopt legal unpaid internship programs. Instead, courts should adopt a clearer, more rigid test that finds an intern not …

Personal Injury Victims As Insurance Collection Agents: Erisa Preemption Of State Antisubrogation Laws, Jonathan P. Connery

Journal of Law and Policy

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was enacted in 1974 to protect the pension rights of employees nationwide. However, due to its broad preemptive powers, ERISA has since developed into a tool used by health insurers to recover millions of dollars in tort damages meant to benefit employees with ERISA health plans. This practice, known as subrogation, has been met with legislative backlash in the form of state antisubrogation statutes, which attempt to limit the enforceability of subrogation clauses found in almost all ERISA health plans. However, many courts have held that ERISA preempts these antisubrogation statutes, thereby affirming …

State, Emp’T. Sec. Div. V. Murphy, 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 18 (Dec. 17, 2015), Michael Coggeshall

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined that employees who are terminated from employment for absence due to incarceration, and are later convicted of a crime, are not eligible for unemployment benefits. These employees are contrasted with those who are incarcerated, but remained incarcerated due to indigence, or were not convicted due to unsupported charges. The latter group may be eligible for unemployment benefits.

Finding A Way Out Of No Man's Land: Compensating Mental-Mental Claims And Bringing West Virginia's Workers' Compensation System Into The 21st Century, Logan Burke

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Workers' Compensation, H. Michael Bagley, J. Benson Ward

Mercer Law Review

The 2014-2015 survey period included decisions of the appellate courts on a wide variety of issues impacting the workers' compensation system, ranging from the average weekly wage to the statutes of limitation.