Farmers in New York deal with workers’ comp challenges

• Almost 20% of state farmworkers sustain some type of injury and they do not receive compensation for the time lost, according to a new report entitles The Farmworker: Hours, Wages, and Injuries by the UMASS Labor Center.
• About  50% of these farmers do not receive help in paying for medical services.
• Although the Fair Labor Practices for Farmworkers Act requires all agricultural employers to provide workers’ compensation and disability insurance for their employees, this is not strictly followed.
• “Injuries on farms are a major problem,” said Maggy Greig, one of the authors of the report
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Former Bureau Of Prisons employee guilty of fraud

• Elizabeth Torres, a former Bureau Of Prisons employee, pled guilty to a workers’ comp fraud scheme.
• Torres duped the DOL into paying her hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal disability benefits by falsely claiming that she had a debilitating knee injury and, therefore,, but she was employed full-time for several years during her scheme.
• She sought and received compensation under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act, which provides benefits to civilian federal employees who sustain injuries as a result of their employment.
• In order to receive FECA benefits, a claimant must prove that she is disabled by furnishing medical documentation and other evidence with her claim.
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Workers’ comp for overseas travel

• Employees are sometimes called upon to travel outside the country for a work assignment and their employer is liable for workers’ compensation benefits.
• Foreign voluntary workers’ compensation insurance provides coverage for an employer with employees working outside of the United States.
• Most foreign voluntary workers’ comp policies also provide coverage for repatriation expenses, such as helicopter evacuations, emergency medical flights, and travel costs for spouses and children.
• These policies also provide coverage for endemic diseases, and if not automatically excluded, for war, terrorism, and kidnapping.
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Oregon law boosts fines for workplace incidents

• Oregon passed a new law turning its workplace safety penalties turning the state from the lowest OSHA penalties to the highest in the country.
• The new law revamps Oregon OSHA workplace inspections, investigations, and fines.
• The new law significantly increases the amounts of civil penalties for violations of the Oregon Safe Employment Act, even surpassing federal OSHA penalties, and expands scenarios where Oregon OSHA will conduct a comprehensive “wall-to-wall” inspection of a worksite.
• Significantly increases civil penalty amounts that may be assessed against employers that violate OSHA requirements.
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