Cases illustrate disparity in workers’ comp for athletes

• A pair of disputes involving two former players who suffered career-ending injuries had different outcomes.
• One case was tried through the workers’ compensation process and the other through a civil jury trial resulted in under $100,000 for the claimant.
• However, the medical malpractice claim in the other case resulted in a $43.5 million verdict for the player.
• The player who settled for the workers’ comp verdict had to battle just to make the team, while the other player that received the $43.5 million was a team captain that received questionable treatment.
  Read more

Accommodations for disabled workers have little cost

• A new report by the U.S. Labor Dept. found that nearly half of the workplace accommodations made for people with disabilities can be implemented at no cost to employers.
• For those that do incur a one-time cost, the median expenditure has decreased when compared to previous reports to only $300
• The direct and indirect benefits of making accommodations included retaining valuable employees, improving productivity and morale, reducing workers’ compensation and training costs, and increasing diversity.
• More than half of employers made accommodations to retain valued employees.
  Read more

Former sheriff’s office worker gets massive workers’ comp settlement following

• A former Sheriff’s Office sergeant who was shot near Hagg Lake, Oregon in 2019 by an armed burglar received Washington County’s largest workers’ comp claim ever at $475,000.
• Sgt. Jeremy Braun was one of two members of law enforcement shot by Dante Halling as police were responding to an armed burglary at a home.
• One of the pellets from the gun made it into Braun’s thalamus, a part of the brain that helps the body process pain and temperature.
• Braun had to retire from the agency he worked at for nearly 19 years because of ongoing medical problems.
  Read more

Washington State approved workers’ comp bill

• House Bill 1521 in Washington State adds a duty of good faith and fair dealing to workers’ compensation claims handled by some self-insured employers.
• That should make it easier for public sector workers and firefighters to receive their benefits, instead of getting the run-around from an employer looking to save money.
• The final bill excludes self-insured employers in the private sector, like Amazon and Boeing.
• However, labor leaders expect to ask for an expansion next session.
  Read more