State Doubles Disfigurement Award Caps, Hikes Weekly Benefits
- North Carolina House Bill 315, now Session Law 2026-14, was signed into law by Governor Josh Stein on June 22 and will double the maximum award for workplace related serious facial or head disfigurement from $20,000 to $40,000.
- The maximum award for loss of or permanent injury to an important organ or body part is also rising from $20,000 to $40,000.
- The maximum award for serious bodily disfigurement rises from $10,000 to $20,000, with the amended statute specifying that there may be a rational connection between the disfigurement and the worker’s employability or earning capacity.
- The law also raises the statutory minimum weekly compensation rate for total disability benefits from $30 to $50 per week, with all changes taking effect July 1, 2027 and applying only to claims arising on or after that date, leaving currently pending claims unaffected.
City Credits Semi-Automated Trash Carts With Eliminating Worker Shoulder Injuries
- After rolling out a program three years ago that introduced semi-autonomous trash and recycling cans designed to reduce heavy manual lifting for sanitation workers, the city of Syracuse, New York has seen its workers’ comp claims for shoulder injuries fall to zero.
- Shoulder injuries in the Waste Collection Bureau, which accounted for 41% of citywide shoulder injuries in 2022, dropped to zero in 2025, with related workers’ compensation claims falling from $147,000 in 2022 to zero in 2025.
- Slips, trips, and falls remain the most common injury type across city departments, resulting in nearly $950,000 in claims from 2023 through 2025.
- For the second consecutive year, the city held slip, trip and fall simulator training, a hands-on program simulating workplace hazards that has now trained more than 500 employees to better navigate risky conditions, including those tied to winter weather.
Private Sector Worker Injured by Snow Plow, Can’t Sue State: Court
- The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled in Tommila v. Oregon Department of Transportation that a worker injured in a collision with an ODOT snowplow while traveling for a private employer could not pursue a negligence claim against the state itself, upholding the statutory bar against claims from anyone covered by workers’ compensation law.
- The worker argued that applying the immunity statute violated the Remedy Clause of Article I, section 10 of the Oregon Constitution, which she claimed prohibited denying negligence remedies to privately employed workers injured by negligent state employees.
- The court noted that she had sued the state itself rather than an individual state employee, and explained that because sovereign immunity historically barred claims against the state, no common-law remedy against the state ever existed for the Remedy Clause to protect.
- The court held that the Oregon Tort Claims Act represents only a partial waiver of sovereign immunity, and the legislature’s decision to retain immunity for claims against the state itself doesn’t violate the constitution since “there never was such a right” against the state to begin with, affirming summary judgment in the state’s favor.