|Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation| & Disability Lawyer

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has recently published its 2005 United States Life Tables. Effective April 12, 2010, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin referencing the CDC’s Table 1: Life table for the total population: United States, 2005, for WCMSA life expectancy calculations. This means that for any newly submitted WCMSA proposal received by CMS’ Coordination of Benefits Contractor (COBC), or where any WCMSA case is reopened on or after April 12, 2010, CMS will apply the CDC’s 2005 Table 1 for life expectancy calculations.

You may access the CDC’s United States Life Tables here.

 Source: CMS Website Page: Overview Workers Compensation Agency Services

Do you work in an occupation that exposes you to the sun? Your cancer may be related to your work, and you may be entitled to workers compensation benefits

.…workers compensation boards have quietly come to accept claims for sunlight-linked cancer over the past 10 years, so long as a dermatologist or oncologist can testify that the employee’s outside work may have brought on the disease, said Gary Newhouse, a Toronto lawyer specializing in workers-compensation claims.

Source: Skin cancers redefining workplace hazard

An alarming number of low-wage workers in Los Angeles County (Calif.) are subject to “wage theft” and other labor violations, researchers said. The report by the University of California-Los Angeles’ Institute for Research on Labor and Employment highlighted the findings of a 2008 survey of 1,815 low-wage workers in Los Angeles County. According to researchers, this population regularly experiences violations of basic employment laws that govern minimum wage and overtime pay, payroll documentation, and employer retaliation.When it comes to workers’ compensation, the study found that only 4.3 percent of low-wage respondents who experienced a serious on-the-job injury during the previous three years had filed a claim. Of those who were seriously injured, 42.3 percent reported that they were required to work despite their injury, 30.3 percent said their employer refused to help them with the injury, and 12.6 percent were fired shortly after the injury.Researchers found that slightly over half (51.3 percent) of respondents who experienced a serious injury at work sought medical attention. However, within this group, only 48.6 percent indicated that their employers paid any part of their medical bills.Workers in Pennsylvania are reminded that workers compensation insurance is mandatory.

If your employer does not have insurance, it is committing a crime. A special fund (Uninsured Employer’s Guaranty Fund) was created recently to make sure you get paid if your employer is not insured. Don’t be pushed around, talk to a workers compensation lawyer about your rights.Source:  Risk and Insurance Online - Story