Note to our valued subscribers: Workers’ Comp Advisor will be taking its annual holiday break starting Thursday, December 22. We will resume daily netletter publication Wednesday, January 4, 2022. We wish all of our subscribers Season’s Greetings and a Happy New Year.
Workers’ comp leadership worried about future
- Workers’ compensation executives are concerned about the uncertainty surrounding the economy, and medical inflation.
- They are also worried about the shifting workforce and workplace, and rate adequacy according to the latest survey by the NCCI.
- The workers’ compensation system has experienced years of declining loss costs and rates. There is uncertainty about when and if this downward trend will change.
- Treatment costs continue to rise for medication, especially for new and advanced treatment and prescription drugs.
- Further protects for healthcare workers moves forward
- OSHA is moving forward with a permanent standard to protect healthcare workers from exposure to COVID-19 on the job.
- The agency submitted a final rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and Office of Management and Budget for review.
- The details haven’t yet been made public.
- Unions have pushed for greater protections for healthcare workers with personal protective equipment, or PPE, and measures to protect workers from viral transmission.
Workplace violence ruling sent back for further review
- A workplace violence citation against psychiatric hospital UHS of Denver Inc. had been affirmed by an administrative law judge.
- However, th decision has been sent back for more legal review.
- The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission wasn’t convinced the administrative law judge had correctly considered the economic feasibility of new safety practices OSHA recommended to UHS.
- OSHA said workers there had “suffered serious workplace violence-related injuries such as concussions, broken skin, bruising, scratches, sprains and strains, and injuries to the head and torso.”
Joint effort to combat employee misclassification
- The U.S. Labor Dept. and the IRS streamlined the process to stop businesses from misclassifying workers and denying full wages, benefits, and protections under the law.
- The updated MOU will also help the departments share information and work in concert with the IRS to strengthen the enforcement of laws that protect workers’ rights.
- In 2011, the Wage and Hour Division and the IRS entered an agreement that enabled both agencies to use their resources to promote employer compliance.
- Since then, the division and IRS have shared information when an investigation discovered that an employer had misclassified employees.