Workers’ comp claims often costly and time-consuming.

• The average cost of a lost time claim in some states has increased from $54,712 in 2018 to $58,843 in 2021, according to the Workers’ Compensation Rating Bureau.
• The WCIRB projects a steady increase in average indemnity costs through 2024, primarily driven by continued increases in average wages.
• While most workers’ compensation claims are valid, there is significant abuse within the system.
• An injured worker may exaggerate their symptoms to be taken off work for a longer period or claim an injury is work-related when the injured worker injured themselves at home over the weekend.
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National Firefighter Registry launched

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, through NIOSH, unveiled the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer online enrollment system for firefighters across the nation.
• The NFR for cancer is the largest effort undertaken by the nation to support and advance the understanding of cancer in the fire service.
• All U.S. firefighters, with or without cancer, are encouraged to join the NFR for Cancer.
• Those who can register include active and retired firefighters; career, paid-on-call, and volunteer firefighters;
  structural firefighters; wildland firefighters; instructors; fire investigators; and, other members of the fire service.
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Amazon loses workers’ comp case in New Jersey

• An Amazon employee was able to obtain workers’ compensation benefits after he suffered life-threatening injuries in a random shooting incident during a lunch break at work.
• The employee was smoking a cigarette during his lunch break when an unknown individual shot him several times in the arm and chest, causing life-threatening injuries.
• An Essex County workers’ compensation judge ordered Amazon to pay the employee for all his medical expenses and past and current wages upon determining he was injured during the course of his employment.
• The trial attorney successfully argued that Amazon was responsible for the employee’s injuries under New Jersey workers’ compensation law.
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Tennessee approved workers’ comp bill for firefighters

• Tennessee lawmakers approve workers’ comp coverage for firefighters’ PTSD.
• The Senate vote was 30-0, while the House approved it 95-0.
• The legislation creates a presumption that a firefighter diagnosed with PTSD as a result of responding to one or more incidents with special factors in the line of duty is covered under workers’ compensation. ‘
• The bill requires the Department of Labor and Workforce to establish an administrative grant program.
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