Banks’ bond revoked after workers comp fraud
- A contractor in Pensacola, Florida, was arrested for workers’ compensation fraud.
- Matt Banks is currently being held in Escambia County Jail after his bond was revoked Friday following a court date.
- He had been out on a $155,000 bond after being arrested on four charges, including fraud, racketeering, destroying evidence, and aggravated white-collar crime.
- Banks was arrested on April 14 for failing to provide workers comp for employees on two separate occasions within a five-year period.
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Court holds workers’ comp claim compensable
- The West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals held a workers’ comp claim for contraction of COVID-19 is generally not compensable as COVID-19 is an ordinary disease of life.
- However, the court noted that West Virginia statute 23-4-1 provides that ordinary diseases of life can be compensable as occupational diseases pursuant to six different statutory factors.
- In this case, the court noted that the board of review erred when it found the COVID-19 workers’ comp claim filed by a healthcare employee was compensable.
- The was held because the review board failed to consider the application of the six statutory factors.
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Strains account for most workers’ comp injuries
- The Travelers Companies released its 2023 Injury Impact Report, which examined more than 1.2 million workers’ compensation claims from 2016 to 2020.
- The findings show that an employee’s time spent in a particular role and their age were driving factors in injury frequency and cost of claims, respectively.
- At 38%, strains and sprains accounted for the most injuries, followed by fractures (13%); contusions (8%); inflammation (7%); and dislocations (7%).
- The most common causes of injury – Overexertion caused the most claims (29%), followed by slips, trips, and falls (23%); being struck by an object (13%); motor vehicle accidents (5%); and caught-in or caught-between hazards (5%).
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Investigation opens after COVID outbreak at conference
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun an investigation after dozens of attendees at one of its conferences tested positive for COVID.
- Some of the attendees said many people at the conference did not wear masks or practice social distancing.
- About 35 people have so far tested positive, after the conference in Atlanta, which was the first in-person Epidemic Intelligence Service meeting in four years, officials said.
- COVID cases are at their lowest levels in nearly two years, but many Americans are testing at home or not testing.
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