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Insurance

Keep daily injury logs to ensure legit workers’ comp claims

08/22/2008
Employees who hurt themselves at work sometimes wait weeks or even months before filing a workers’ compensation claim. What at first seems like a relatively harmless injury can flare into a debilitating condition months later. Such late claims put employers at a serious disadvantage …

Track which employees have access to hazardous areas

08/22/2008
If your organization manufactures products, your employees probably come in contact with hazardous chemicals or solvents from time to time. Of course, you follow OSHA guidelines and make sure employees on the production line use adequate protective gear. But what if an employee who works in the front office decides her lung or other health problems are work related and files for workers’ compensation? … 

N.C. workers’ compensation may cover injury-related depression

08/22/2008

Employees who are hurt on the job sometimes become depressed because they can’t do the things they previously could. That depression may then complicate their recovery or even prevent them from getting better. The practical result is that employers and their workers’ compensation carriers will have to pay lost wages longer …

Former N.C. health plan official says firing was unjust

08/22/2008
George Stokes, former chief executive of North Carolina’s state employee health insurance plan, claims he was unlawfully fired and that lawmakers spread inaccurate information while ousting him …

Stubble trouble: Can you fire unshaven employees?

08/21/2008
Do any of your employees look like they’ve just crawled out of a suitcase? A court recently addressed this question: If an employee is fired for ignoring his boss’s demands to get a shave, does that count as “misconduct” that disqualifies him from unemployment benefits? …

Workers’ comp for off-Site accidents during breaks?

08/21/2008
Q. Some of our employees leave the premises during their 10-minute breaks during the day. If they get into accidents, is the company at risk? — G.F., Colorado …

5 Steps for Communicating Benefits Changes

08/19/2008

As your organization shifts more responsibility to employees to manage their own health and retirement expenses, you risk alienating your work force. But it doesn’t have to be that way …

Document all efforts to accommodate disabled workers

08/15/2008
Employees who claim they suffered emotional distress because of illegal disability discrimination under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act don’t have to rely solely on the workers’ compensation system to adjudicate their claims. They can go to court instead, suing for negligent infliction of emotional distress under state common law …

Can severance agreement rule out seeking unemployment comp?

08/12/2008
Q. In exchange for severance benefits, we would like a departing employee to promise not to file a claim for unemployment compensation. Can this be a term of our severance agreement? …

Workers’ comp may cover injury that occurs on vacation

08/11/2008
If you require certain employees to stay in good physical shape and pass regular fitness tests, a recent court ruling raises this key question: Could your organization be on the hook for workers’ compensation bneefits if the employee gets hurt while working out during a vacation?