Nevada struggling with workers comp

• Workers’ compensation cases are taking too long to adjudicate in Nevada.
• As a result, employers are dealing with angry employees who are not timely receiving medical care and other benefits when they are injured on the job.
• This is driving lost time costs and causing work-related injuries to rise, while increasingly alienating employees.
• This is occurring at a time when employers are struggling to recruit and retain employees in a historically competitive labor market.
• Nevada was one of the first states to enact workers’ compensation laws.
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Minor seeks workers’ comp after losing foot

• An employer violated workplace safety when a minor wor without training or instructions, a workers’ compensation administrative law judge ruled.
• Modern Charm Boutique employed a 17-year-old as a sign holder or spinner and he later injured his left leg and back on the job.
• The injury led to the amputation of the employee’s left foot and the parties agreed that the injury caused 41% permanent partial disability and required further medical care.
• The workers’ compensation judge decided that the employer’s negligence contributed 20% to the injury.
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• A federal jury recently convicted two doctors for their involvement in a scheme to commit healthcare fraud.
• Dr. William Lawrence Siefert of Dayton, Ohio, and Dr. Timothy Ehn of Union, Kentucky, orchestrated their healthcare fraud scheme in Florence, Kentucky.
• Siefert, a medical doctor, was employed by the clinic, and Ehn, a chiropractor, was the clinic’s owner.
• Siefert and Ehn engaged in a scheme to bill Medicaid for millions of dollars in medically unnecessary urinalysis testing for their patients, which included urinalysis testing purportedly conducted on faulty machinery.
•  A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
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West Virginia makes workers comp ruling

• A court case in West Virginia Supreme Court decided whether tort claims fell within the scope of immunity afforded by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act.
• The state high court sided with the petitioners, finding the respondent cited no supporting legal authority, and state law dictates that immunity applies to the claims.
• The West Virginia Supreme Court unanimously concluded that a circuit court erred in denying the petitioner’s motion to dismiss claims filed against them by an injured co-worker because workers’ compensation immunity applies to bar his claims.
• The state high court reversed a ruling to dismiss a complaint filed by another employee after determining workers’ compensation immunity barred the respondent’s common law tort claims against the petitioners.
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