Massachusettes indicts insurance agent
- The owner of a Gloucester, Massachusettes, insurance agency has been indicted and arraigned in connection with an alleged embezzlement scheme that left client companies uninsured.
- Phyllis Palazzola of Gloucester was arraigned in Essex Superior Court on charges of larceny by embezzlement over $1,200, forgery, and unlicensed insurance practice.
- Her business, Palazzola Insurance Agency was also arraigned on charges of larceny by embezzlement over $1,200 and unlicensed insurance practice.
- Prosecutors allege that Palazzola embezzled over $39,000 from customers while working as an insurance producer at Palazzola Insurance Agency between May 2017 and September 2018. Palazzola took one or more payments, after suspension of her insurance broker’s license, from eight individuals, who paid her for their workers’ comp insurance.
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Hospital outpatient payments growing slower
- The WCRI reports that hospital outpatient payments are lower and growing slower in states with fixed-amount fee schedules.
- Hospital payments per outpatient surgical episode in states with percent-of-charge-based fee regulations were 81 to 190 percent higher than the median of the study states with fixed-amount fee schedules in 2021. In states with no fee schedules, they were 70 to 138 percent higher.
- The growth in hospital outpatient payments per episode among non-fee schedule states ranged from 42 percent in Arizona to 72 percent in New Jersey, while the payments in the median fixed-amount fee schedule state without substantial changes in regulations increased about 14 percent from 2011 to 2021.
- This study also provides a comparison between workers’ compensation hospital outpatient payments and Medicare rates. For example, the variation between the average workers’ compensation payments.
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Workers’ comp to cover injuries from toxic mix of cleaning supplies
- An appeals court in Florida appeals reversed a workers’ compensation judge’s ruling denying benefits to a rest area attendant injured when a toxic mixture of cleaning supplies exploded in her face.
- The District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District, overturned a decision by a comp judge that determined a claim filed by Cynthia Churchill didn’t warrant compensation because the incident didn’t result in an injury caused by exposure to a toxic substance.
- Churchill was injured on Nov. 1, 2020, when the cleaning supplies she used mixed to form a chemical reaction and exploded in her face, causing her to suffer respiratory, eye, and other injuries.
- She argued it was not a toxic exposure case but rather a general workplace accident.
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Legislation for meatpacking and warehouse industries in Minnesota
- Minnesota Tim Walz signed a bill that amends the Packinghouse Workers Bill of Rights, creates new meatpacking workplace safety requirements with the Safe Workplaces for Meat and Poultry Processing Workers Act, and limits the use of quotas in the “Warehouse Distribution Worker Safety” law.
- The Packinghouse Workers Bill of Rights amendments require packinghouse employers to provide notice of workers’ compensation rights.
- The measure creates a right to a civil cause of action for employees who do not receive that notice, or the pre-existing notice regarding pay, benefits, safety, labor, and leave rights.
- The Safe Workplaces for Meat and Poultry Processing Workers Act also creates new workplace safety obligations for meatpacking employers, such as new task and annual training requirements, and safety rules for future public health emergencies.
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