Private sector wants changes to workers’ comp in Kansas

• Four business attorneys and four labor lawyers presented the Kansas Legislature a compromise package of changes to the workers’ comp system that would curb unwarranted claims.
• The measure would also reduce administrative costs while raising the cap on financial awards to injured workers and indexing the maximum payout to inflation.
• One of the sponsors said the bill was a delicate balance of concerns expressed by the business and worker factions taking part in arduous negotiations.
• Death benefits under the bill would rise from $300,000 to $500,000 and total disability benefits would move from $155,000 to $400,000.
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Workers comp bills don’t advance in Washington

• A pair of workers’ comp bills did not advance from the policy committee in Washington
• Workers’ compensation administrators for all employers should be held to standards of “good faith and fair dealing.”
• But in Washington, only injured workers in the public sector have that protection.
• The passing of HB 2168 / SB 5991 would have ended this two-tiered system.
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Staffing firm must pay back wages in Michigan

• Judge Sean F. Cox in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered a consent judgment requiring Reliance Staffing LLC and owner, Fahim Uddin, to pay $181,531 to 70 registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants.
• When employers misclassify workers as independent contractors, they do not pay applicable employment taxes or workers’ compensation on their behalf, and they deny them protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act
• Uddin and Reliance Staffing will make the back wages payments in installments through Aug. 1, 2024, and must provide employees with Wage and Hour Division fact sheets and verify that the division’s workers’ rights posters are posted and visible at each of their locations.
• The Bingham Farms, Michigan, company recruits and employs registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and certified nursing assistants.
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Risk of death was about 40% higher if you were disabled

• There is a possible link between leaving the workforce prematurely because of disabilities from non-life-threatening, work-related conditions and the development of serious health problems, even death, according to a West Virginia study.
• Researchers looked at two of the most common conditions causing disabilities in people on workers’ compensation.
• The most recent study focused on carpal tunnel syndrome and was published in the Journal of Occupational Environmental Medicine.
• The research also shows an increase in deaths became greater the longer the people remained on disability.
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