You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January, 2009.
The Kentucky DWC reports that due to power outages all Paducah workers’ compensation hearings have been cancelled for February 2 and 3, 2009.
According to politicalaffairs.net “the prevalence of black lung disease has doubled over the past five years.” The article, per NIOSH statistics, points to the increase in the number of hours miners are working per week as the cause of the rise in the disease. You can read the entire article, “Coal: The Four-letter Word That Won’t Go Away” here.
Insurancejournal.com writes about Congressman Joe Baca, D-Calif., who has introduced legislation that would authorize the creation of a National Commission on State Workers’ Compensation Laws. Click here to read more about the proposal.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals recently released a to-be-published decision in the matter of Ridener v. South KY Rural Electric Cooperative Corp., where it was asked to determine whether an award of benefits under a long-term disability (LTD) policy constituted a judicial admission of permanent total disability by the employer in the workers’ compensation claim.
The court held it did not. The Court easily dispensed with plaintiff’s assertions by explaining (1) that the requirements for disability under the long-term disability policy were not the same as the elements for total disability under KRS 342; (2) that an ALJ is not bound by the findings of a long-term disability carrier; and (3) even if the determination of disability under the LTD plan did constitute an admission, such admissions are to be narrowly construed.
The court observed that under the LTD policy, Ridener only had to establish he could not perform one or more of the essential elements of the job, while to be considered permanently totally disabled under KRS 342, he had to establish “a complete and permanent inability to perform any type of work as a result of an injury.”
It then noted, with reliance on Kington v. Zeigler Coal Co., 639 S.W.2d 560, 562 (Ky. App. 1982), that just as an ALJ is not bound by a finding of disability by the Social Security Administration, he is not bound by a finding of a long-term disability carrier.
Finally, the court noted that even if it accepted Ridener’s argument that the award of long-term disability benefits constituted a judicial admission, such admissions are to be construed narrowly. Thus, the admission implicated by the LTD award simply established that Ridener could not “return to the work he performed for the Electric Cooperative. It does not prove that Ridener is totally disabled under KRS Chapter 342. Therefore, this argument by Ridener, although somewhat novel, is not persuasive.”
Roland Niemi Law Group was recently certified by Greenline Paper Company as a Green Office. The award is given by Greenline Paper Company “to organizations that meet certain environmentally-friendly criteria.” Roland Niemi Law Group’s virtual office and true paperless environment were integral in receiving this prestigious certification.
Workerscompensation.com’s CompNewsNetwork provides 4 simple reasons that an employer should hold weekly meetings with injured employees:
“1- It keeps employees in the “loop” at the workplace. This keeps them mentally engaged in your workplace, and thus more likely to fully recover and return to work.
2- It gives employers the opportunity to determine increased capacity for transitional duty assignments.
3- It allows employees to bring up any obstacles to return to work or medical care they are experiencing.
4- It allows employer and employee to coordinate new TD capacity, look at new positions, and discuss transitional duty options”
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports today of a Berea man alleging he developed work-related Parkinson’s Disease after being exposed to a common industrial solvent:
“BEREA — When the University of Kentucky published new research in 2008 suggesting that exposure to a common industrial solvent might increase the risk for Parkinson’s disease, the moment was a source of satisfaction to Ed Abney, a 53-year-old former tool-and-die worker.
Abney, now sidelined by Parkinson’s, had spent more than two decades up to his elbows in a drum of the solvent, trichloroethylene, while he cleaned metal piping at a now-shuttered Dresser Industries plant here.”
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Now there is the mini-blog. What will they think of next? Ouch! now has its own mini-me feed at twitter.com. Take a look, sign up for twitter and follow us for Ouch! updates and other “bits” of information. You can access our twitter profile at: http://twitter.com/rolandniemi
UPDATE: Also read this post at LexisNexis
With the release of the Sixth Edition of the AMA Guides, the Kentucky Legislature via Senate Bill 199, deemed it prudent to take pause before adopting the sixth edition as “the latest edition” as the phrase is used in KRS 67A.460, 342.0011, 342.315, 342.316, 342.730, and 342.7305. In section 1(2) of Senate Bill 199, the legislature directed the Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Workers’ Claims to:
Study the feasibility and advisability of adopting the sixth edition of, ‘Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment,’ published by the American Medical Association, or of retaining the usage of the fifth edition of that publication. In conducting the study, the commissioner shall seek the input of groups representing labor, industry, commerce, and the medical and legal professions.
The study, reduced to an eighteen page report, conducted a review of the evolution of the AMA Guides, with a specific comparison of the philosophies embodied by the 5th and 6th editions. In short, the Commissioner concludes:
It is the recommendation of the Commissioner that the most feasible and advisable conclusion to this study is to remain with the fifth edition until additional considerations are studied. A subsequent study should include the mathematical formula for the computation of income benefits used with the guides and all aspects of the delivery of medical benefits in the workers’ compensation system. This study could be conducted during calendar year 2009 with a report of the study being provided to the Legislature at the beginning of the regular 2010 session. The fifth edition would remain the controlling guide unless during the 2010 session the Legislature directed a more recent edition be used or a more recent edition is adopted by regulations promulgated by the Commissioner.
The narrative portion of the report can be viewed here. A Copy of the complete report with attachments is available at 10¢ per page by contacting:
Brenda W. Majcher (Brenda.Majcher@ky.gov)
Special Assistant to the Commissioner
Department of Workers’ Claims
657 Chamberlin Avenue
Frankfort, KY 40601
(502) 564-5550 Ext. 4439
