Ailing mine employees sue insurer for allegedly delaying medical payments

Attorneys for Montana mine employees who were sickened and killed by toxic asbestos exposure filed a lawsuit against Zurich American Insurance on Monday for allegedly stalling legal settlements and medical payments after transferring the the employees’ claims to investors who can profit off the delays. The Montana Supreme Court in 2020 ruled that insurer Maryland Casualty Co. (now owned by Zurich) should have warned the employees about asbestos in vermiculite dust that can be easily inhaled and damage lungs. Maryland Casualty provided workers’ compensation coverage at the now-shuttered W.R. Grace mine. Seattle Times

New York State Inspector General releases annual workers’ comp fraud report

New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang on Monday released her office’s 2021 Workers’ Compensation Fraud Annual Report and also recognized 111 years since the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, which remains one of the deadliest workplace tragedies in the history of the state. It resulted in the death of 146 people, primarily young immigrant women who had been working under deplorable conditions. FingerLakes1

Paid ride time entitles pool installer to workers’ comp

A traveling contractor installing a swimming pool in New Jersey was on-the-job when his employer-provided ride home crashed, entitling him to workers’ compensation, a Pennsylvania appellate panel ruled Monday. Law360 [may require registration]

Attorney provides update on New Jersey Assembly bill requiring coverage for medical cannabis

The New Jersey State Assembly on March 8 introduced a bill that would require workers’ compensation carriers, private health, and personal injury protection insurance to cover the cost of medical cannabis, writes John Kutner of Weber Gallagher Simpson Stapleton Fires & Newby LLP. JD Supra

Rhode Island doctor faces more allegations

Federal labor officials are seeking a restraining order to bar a North Providence, Rhode Island doctor from retaliating against a former employee, who complained that a co-worker with COVID-19 put her at risk while she was pregnant, according to the Providence Journal. The complaint filed in U.S. District Court states that the January firing of the receptionist was “a textbook adverse action” in violation of federal OSHA laws, and accuses the defendants of refusing to provide a termination letter needed for public assistance and facilitating phone calls to harass her. The Day