Over one in six workers in the United States foreign-born
- The NCCI released its Quarterly Economics Briefing report for the fourth quarter of 2022, which addressed the critical issues impacting the U.S. labor market and the impact of immigration.
- The report found that workers’ compensation outcomes may be particularly sensitive to labor shortages and workforce changes across all major industries.
- Over one in six workers in the United States are foreign-born, and about half of all labor force growth since the Great Recession has come from foreign-born workers.
- In 2020 and 2021, there were nearly 1 million fewer new immigrant workers than pre-pandemic expectations.
Workers comp sees biggest increase in two decades
- Total worker compensation jumped 1.4% — the most on records dating to 2001 — in last year’s first quarter, according to Forbes research.
- Prior to that increase, quarterly compensation growth had rarely been higher than 1%.
- Labor shortages affected several industries and employers increased pay and benefits, to keep employees.
- Overall, inflation eased to 6.5% in December compared with a year ago.
PTSD workers comp claim denied
- Alaska’s highest court upheld the denial of workers’ comp benefits for a school nurse who said she suffered from PTSD after unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate a choking student.
- The student was choking at lunch at the nurse tried to clear the boy’s airway and helped perform CPR until emergency responders arrived.
- The nurse sought workers’ comp benefits because she was exposed to bodily fluids and for mental health problems caused by the incident.
- A workers’ compensation board denied the claim, finding the exposure to bodily fluid was not a sufficient physical injury and that the mental stress didn’t merit compensation.
New workers comp measure proposed in New York
- Lawmakers in New York lawmakers want to make changes to guidelines used for the medical treatment of injured employees in workers’ compensation claims.
- The measure would prohibit insurers from paying for charges that exceed the state’s medical fee schedule or that are not provided for under the current fee schedule and are compensable under Medicare.
- Under the bill, insurers would not pay any charge for professional health services that exceed the charges permissible under the schedule established by the Workers’ Compensation Board.
- Insurers would be able to order independent medical examinations of injured workers at any time during the course of treatment, under the measure.