Michigan supports workers’ comp for mental health
- The Michigan Supreme Court expanded access to health benefits for on-the-job injuries that contribute to a worker’s mental health illness in a decision reversing precedent.
- The ruling reversed two decades of a prior test that drastically limited access to workers’ comp payments by requiring a workplace injury be a “significant factor” to a worker’s mental health struggles.
- The court expanded the test when lower courts must closely analyze whether on-the-job accidents and injuries contribute to workers’ existing mental health diagnoses.
- A Justice called the old test a “straitjacket.”
Read more
Workers comp impacts in Maryland shooting case
- A Baltimore County judge denied prosecutors’ attempt to remove a public defender representing a man accused of shooting two police officers from the case.
- Prosecutors argued that the court should strike public defender Deborah Katz from the case because she is married to Andrew Alperstein, a partner at the law firm Alperstein & Diener.
- Alperstein’s brother, Warren Alperstein, who also is a partner in the law firm, is representing Chih in the detective’s workers’ compensation case.
- The man fired at police in an attempt at “suicide by cop.”
Read more
Massachusettes workers injured after scaffold collapses
- Four men were injured after they fell 22 feet from scaffolding while working on a house in Milford, Massachusettes,
- Three men were taken to UMass-Memorial Medical Center in Worcester with serious injuries, while the fourth was taken to Milford Regional Medical Center with less serious injuries.
- The four men were part of a construction crew building a new house.
- They were on a scaffolding in the rear of the house when the incident occurred.
Read more
Heatwaves costly for employers
- Repeated heat waves like the one America is suffering from could cost the economy more than $100 billion annually.
- A Texas congressman has gone without food and water on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to highlight the need for federal safety standards for those working in extreme heat conditions.
- OSHA is being urged by federal lawmakers to take more action to prevent heat-related issues at the workplace.
- Nearly a quarter of frontline employers are experiencing turnover of more than 30% turnover, while 60% reported a turnover rate of more than 10%.
Read more