Workers' Comp

President Barack Obama recently spoke to America's school children (well, most of them, anyway) about the importance of working hard to achieve their goals. Perhaps this 21st Century president also should have mentioned a significant new-century problem.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), a not-for-profit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting insurance fraud and vehicle theft, has released its analysis of reported suspicious activity for the first half of 2009.

In the workers' compensation system, medical case management has typically been either "telephonic" or "field." But today we are seeing a third type: catastrophic international case management.

The new workers' compensation whistle-blower web site, which allows citizens to submit referrals of alleged violations of workers' compensation rules, has produced hundreds of new complaints and over $500,000 in penalties since its launch in June.

Befitting its financial impact on a company's bottom line, large corporations have long had options as to how they secure their required workers' compensation coverage.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, each year an estimated 1.7 million employees are the victims of violent crimes committed in the workplace.

The sweeping changes in the newly enacted ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) have severely altered the economic and legal landscape for many companies.

It was dueling lawyers at the annual Workers' Compensation Educational Conference in Orlando in mid-August.