Drivers get better workers’ comp benefits

• UPS drivers will earn an average of $170,000 in annual pay and benefits at the end of a five-year contract agreement.
• The deal will increase full-time workers’ compensation to $170,000 from roughly $145,000 over five years, according to UPS’ calculations.
• It will also boost part-time workers’ salaries to at least $25.75 per hour, and end mandatory overtime.
• Online searches for jobs with “UPS” or “United Parcel Service” in the title jumped 50% in the week after the new pay deal was announced.
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Social Security Administration needs to follow workers’ comp law

• The Social Security Administration has not taken corrective actions to address recommendations
  in a September 2005 report by the Office of the Inspector General.
• Specifically, SSA had not followed through with steps to reduce its backlog of Title II disability cases having pending workers’ comp claims.
• It also has not developed and implemented an automated process to ensure it systematically and
  routinely follows up on new pending workers’ comp cases.
• The volume of cases with workers’ comp claims pending for two or more years increased from 227,615 in January 2005 to 268,825 in November 2009, an 18& increase over the past four years.
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Heat-related workers’ comp in New Jersey

• Heatstroke and heat-related illnesses are compensable under the New Jersey workers’ comp statute when an employee can show that the heat-related illness.
• It must be proved that these illnesses were produced by causes that are characteristic of or peculiar to the trade, occupation, or place of employment and that the work contributed to the illness.
• The employee must also show that the illness arose out of the employment and occurred during the course of employment.
• To determine compensability, employers will want to investigate any relevant emergency room records or other relevant medical records.
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Union fighting for firefighter with cancer

• Unions are upset about what they say is the betrayal of one of their members battling cancer in Stamford, Connecticut.
• Firefighter Jonathan Cunningham was diagnosed three years ago with multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the blood plasma.
• Cunningham filed a claim with the state Workers Compensation Commission, which was denied by the city’s insurance carrier.
• The union then filed a grievance that ended up before a neutral arbitrator who ruled in Cunningham’s favor. But instead of paying Cunningham’s claim, the city has taken his union to court to try to reverse the arbitrator’s decision.
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