Connecticut makes changes to measure

• The Connecticut General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee has amended a workers’ compensation bill with potentially costly implications for state employers.
• As originally drafted, HB 6797 increased additional partial permanent disability payments by 500% and increased the maximum benefits period from 520 weeks to 780 weeks.
• The Labor and Public Employees Committee approved legislation that expands workers’ compensation benefits to cover post-traumatic stress injuries for all employees in Connecticut.
• The Labor Committee also approved HB 6550, which requires an employer or an insurer acting on behalf of the employer, to provide an employee with a certified letter any time that prescription benefits are cut.
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Nevada boosts workers’ comp

• The Nevada Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor passed a heavily amended bill that will make significant changes to the workers’ compensation system.
• Senate Bill 274 initially would have allowed injured workers to sue insurance companies and third-party administrators for handling their cases in bad faith, but that part of the bill was removed.
• Now, the measure will focus on penalties awarded to injured workers if insurance companies violate workers’ compensation laws and regulations.
• The bill was amended to change the fines from a proposed minimum of $15,000 to $17,000 and a maximum of $200,000 to $120,000 against insurance companies for violating workers’ compensation laws and regulations.
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Railroad safety at the forefront

• In the last 10 years, more than 2,000 railroad workers filed safety complaints with OSHA, according to data from the Surface Transportation Board.
• However, only 15 percent had “positive” outcomes for the worker in the last six years.
• The industry’s workforce shrank by more than 30 percent, from 171,000 employees across the Class I companies in 2015 to 112,000 in 2022 in the last 10 years.
• This has occurred as railroads cut labor and maintenance costs to achieve short-term profit margins that please shareholders at the expense of safety.
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Truck driver forced to pay back workers’ comp funds

• A truck driver who twice called an ambulance as he drove home from a V8 Supercars event has been convicted for falsely claiming his back injury happened the next day while exiting his truck at work.
• The 58-year-old man was sentenced in the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to two charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception and one charge of obtaining property by deception.
• He was placed on a two-year Community Corrections Order with the condition that he repay $143,982 in compensation he received and perform 180 hours of unpaid community work.
• The court heard that in January 2015, the man submitted a WorkCover claim for a back injury, answering no when asked if he had had a previous injury that relates to his claim.
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