Workplace Injuries

• Will New Medicare Recovery Procedures Help Injured Workers?

  Ricky Bagolie | December 12, 2006 10:10 PM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is consolidating all of the functions and workloads related to Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) post-payment recoveries into one MSP recovery contract. The contract for the new national MSP Recovery Contractor (MSPRC) was implemented on October 2, 2006. The MSPRC will take over new MSP recovery claims and most existing claims. However, some...

• New Jersey Workers' Compensation Benefits May Be Available in Same Sex Relationships

  Ricky Bagolie | October 29, 2006 11:38 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  The New Jersey Supreme Court may have opened the door for providing workers' compensation benefits in same sex relationships. In Mark Lewis and Dennis Winslow, et al. v. Gwendolyn L. Harris, etc., et al. (A-68-05), the Court said"Disparate treatment of committed same-sex couples, moreover, directly disadvantages their children. We fail to see any legitimate governmental purpose in disallowing...

• Owens Corning To Emerge From Bankruptcy and Pay Asbestos Victims

  Ricky Bagolie | October 28, 2006 11:30 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  Owens Corning announced that Judge Judith Fitzgerald of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved the company's Plan of Reorganization. The Bankruptcy Court's approval of the plan paves the way for Owens Corning to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of October 2006 while making arrangements to compensate the thousands of the victims exposed to it's asbestos...

• Thousands Flee Toxic Chemical Explosion In North Carolina

  Ricky Bagolie | October 06, 2006 1:44 PM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  A massive chemical fire has forced thousands to flee their homes in Apex, North Carolina, just outside Raleigh. The explosion took place at the EQ Industrial Services plant late Thursday and the fires and explosions continue.According to the Houston Chronical:EQ Industrial Services handles a wide array of industrial waste, from paints to solvents, and houses chemicals such as chlorine,...

• Medicare Recovery Procedure and Workers' Comp

  Ricky Bagolie | October 06, 2006 2:30 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  Medicare receipients have had to wait to receive their workers' comp benefits due to delays in the Medicare Secondary Payer investigation. Hopefully, that will change.The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is consolidating all of the functions and workloads related to Medicare Secondary Payer post-payment recoveries into one recovery contract. The contract for the new national MSP...

• NJ Division of Workers' Comp Adopts New Medicare Policy

  Ricky Bagolie | September 02, 2006 9:35 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  The State of NJ, a State that has not accepted the invitation of CMS to data match via computer connection, has adopted a new policy of retaining jurisdiction to avoid delay in processing claims pending CMS review. This may help with the current delay in resolving workers' compensation matters that involve Medicare. The full memo may be viewed at: ...

• State Farm Wrongfully Denied Katrina Claims

  Ricky Bagolie | September 01, 2006 10:08 PM | 1 CommentJersey City, NJ

  Is anyone surprised that a giant insurance company has defrauded it's customers to increase profits? A Houston Chronicle article reports that two sisters working for a State Farm contract company revealed the company's fraudulent tactics to deny Katrina victims' claims. According to their lawyer, the company manipulated engineers' reports of storm damage. Several reports were based on a...

• Testing urged for ex-Texas Vermiculite workers

  Ricky Bagolie | August 21, 2006 10:20 PM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  In another example of employers poisoning their workers and nearly a year after federal authorities revealed that hundreds of employees at the former Texas Vermiculite plant in West Dallas could have asbestos-related lung diseases, the state is getting ready to begin health screenings on the former workers.Workers exposed should be tested and those with disease may be eligible for treatment and...

• Toxic Dust Found at WTC Site

  Ricky Bagolie | August 05, 2006 10:03 PM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  According to 1010 Wins, Demolition work at the Deutsche Bank building was suspended for one day this week after high levels of toxic dust were detected on the skyscraper's roof. Demolition was suspended Thursday and restarted yesterday after testing on July 28th revealed unacceptable levels of silica, which causes lung diseases."Any worker who contracts silicosis, asbestosis or any type of lung...

• Overtime Lawsuits On The Rise

  Ricky Bagolie | July 27, 2006 11:39 PM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  Workers whose employers fail to properly pay them the overtime they deserve may be able to file an overtime lawsuit. Generally, all workers are eligible for time-and-a-half overtime, except for those in the executive, administrative and professional categories. Changes in federal regulations in 2004 defined more clearly those exempt categories by using new job descriptions such as "exercises...