Gary Schwitzer makes his hosting debut with Unwrapping early presents, wrapping up ’11 Health Wonk Review series. Gary is the publisher of the excellent HealthNewsReview.org and its associated Health News Watchdog blog – take a look around while you are there.
Absence Management – The Disability Management Employers Coalition and Liberty Mutual recently released a set of best practice for absence management and easing the transition back to work after a disability leave. Download a whitepaper on Best Practices in Return to Work or view Taming the Intermittent Beast, a one-hour webinar on managing intermittent leave.
Support a good guy – Joe Paduda explains why you should join the Friends of Sandy Blunt on LinkedIn.
Desperate Housewives – Reality just got a little harsher for a would-be reality TV star caught in a huge California workers comp scam, She and her husband were charged with $30 million in premium fraud. “The couple gained notoriety in 2010 after fraud investigators raided several properties they owned and found luxury cars including a Bentley, two Ferraris, $500,000 in jewelry and $51,000 in cash. They also found an application for Kile to appear on the television show.”
Going and coming – Injuries that occur while traveling to and from work generally are not compensable. There are several common exceptions to this “going and coming” rule – if an employer provides transportation, if traveling is part of the normal course and scope of an employee’s job (such as a salesperson), or if the employee is on a “special mission” for the employer. Risk and Insurance reports on a recent benefit denial by the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division in a case where a company president was invoking the “special mission” exception for an injury that occurred during an early trip to work for a special meeting. In denying the appeal, the court reasoned that the exception did not apply because the president was not required to be away from the restaurant’s usual place of business and he did not have “identifiable time and space limits on his employment.”
Up in smoke – Roberto Ceniceros posts about a denied claim involving a landscaper injured after a fall from a tree. Ceniceros notes that, “A urine sample taken at the hospital the day after the Tennessee man fell showed he had an intoxicant level 50 times beyond the threshold for a positive result, leading a doctor to describe him as a chronic pot user.” The court concluded that while the employee was not guilty of willful misconduct, his intoxication was a proximate cause of the injuries.
Hope for PTSD relief? – Wired has an interesting article on a how the Navy is testing neck injections to relieve PTSD. The unorthodox procedure, which is called stellate-ganglion block (SGB), has secured immediate relief for some PTSD sufferers.
NYWCB Web change – Effective December 20, the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) updated its website to use the standard “ny.gov” domain naming convention – the new web address is www.wcb.ny.gov. WorkersCompensation.com has more detail about related email changes.
On the lighter side: Holiday roundup
In honor of the holiday season, we’ve put together a grab bag of some fun holiday links. We wish all our friends the best for the season!
- Risk Managers Find Santa Exposed, Urge $1 Billion Coverage Plan
- Straight No Chaser: The 12 Days of Christmas
- I Got a Feeling, Hanukkah style
- Portable North Pole – Create a personalized video from Santa Claus for your children, friends, family members or colleagues
- Make a Flake
- Singing Christmas Hedgehogs – a cute interactive feature which shows that the holiday season is hard on hedgehogs!
- Tesla Christmas Tree – impressive, but don’t try this at home!
- Gallery of Unfortunate Christmas Cards
- Don’t Sue Me Santa Clause
Tags: absence, claims, crime, fraud, going and coming, ptsd, Sandy Blunt
