Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Blog

BP has been cited with hundreds of violations and fined millions of dollars in the past seven years by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).The first incident came in 2005 when BP’s Texas City plant exploded killing fifteen workers and injuring 170 others. The $21 million settlement nearly doubled the largest fine in OSHA history. BP also agreed to corrective actions to eliminate potential hazards similar to those that caused the 2005 tragedy.

In 2009, OSHA issued BP $87,430,000 in proposed penalties for the company’s failure to correct potential hazards faced by employees. For noncompliance with the terms of the 2005 settlement agreement, BP has been issued 270 “notifications of failure to abate” with fines totaling $56.7 million.

Horn Packaging Corporation of Lancaster was recently cited for 12 safety violations by U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) following the death of an employee. A twenty nine year old worker was operated a box-making machine when he became entangled in the moving parts. There was no safety guard on the machine’s drive shaft and once the worker was trapped in the machine it was impossible to reverse and unfortunately he died from his injuries.

The Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) has recently done a study of 2,138 workers who were injured to see if receiving a lump sum encouraged them to return to work, or encouraged them to prolong their absence from employment. This study disproved many of the cynics who believed that lump sum settlements discourage injured workers from returning to work.Previously, some experts have expressed concern that receiving a sizable lump sum will deter people onworkers’ compensation from returning to work because workers may feel a less immediate need for income. Others believe that the lump sum settlement encourages workers to return to work because they feel a sense of closure, which will motivate them to move on with their lives and return to their careers.

Author and public policy analyst at WCRI, Bogdan Savych, said, “This is an important study because we need to find out whether settlements discourage return to work for injured workers who want to return to work or assist them in closing this chapter of their life and moving on with their career. My hope is this research will help policymakers and other stakeholders understand how workers respond to receiving a lump-sum settlement.”

Walmart and Target have agreed to pay a combined $232,000 to cities and towns across Massachusetts after allegedly overcharging public agencies through the workers’ compensation insurance system. Attorney General Martha Coakley has been investigating pharmacy chains and lower-volume alternative retailers of pharmaceuticals and has thus far recovered more than $8 million.Attorney General Martha Coakley said, “Cities and towns are under a great deal of economic pressure to provide much needed services to their residents. We are proud of our work to get money back for cities and towns and to prevent such overcharges from happening in the future.”

Under the conditions of the settlement, Walmart will pay $207,000 and Target will pay $25,000. The payments include double damages for violations of the state’s False Claims Act and restitution for the alleged overcharges. The companies are also required to implement procedures that will prevent any future overcharges from occurring.

Tribe Mediterranean Foods, a subsidiary of Nestle SA, was cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’sOccupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for 18 violations of workplace safety standards following the death of an employee at its production plant in Taunton, MA.

The employee was cleaning and sanitizing a machine used in manufacturing hummus when he was caught, pulled into the machines and crushed to death. OSHA discovered that the deceased worker, as well as six other workers who cleaned plant machinery, had not been trained on hazardous energy control or “lockout/tagout” procedures. These procedures are mandatory and teach employees to shut down machines and lockout their power sources before proceeding to clean or perform maintenance on them.OSHA requires employers to train workers so that they understand the purpose of the energy control procedures, and so that they can safely utilize them. The purpose of lockout/tagout procedures is to ensure that machines are not operating and cannot unexpectedly turn on and harm workers.

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, Dr. David Michaels, said, “The employer knew it needed to train these workers so they could protect themselves against just this type of hazard but failed to do so. The result was a needless and avoidable loss of life. In this case, Tribe Mediterranean Foods’ knowledge and continuous disregard for an obvious and deadly hazard was so pronounced that we are issuing seven willful citations for lack of training, one for each untrained worker exposed to the hazard.”

11. I work both a full-time and part-time job and was injured at my full-time job. I am able to continue working at my part-time job, how does this affect my benefits?

You would need to report your earnings from your part-time job to the insurer, and the insurer would pay you partial (§ 35) benefits, which would compensate you for a percentage of your lost wages. This compensation would more than likely be less than what you would receive under § 34, temporary total benefits. For the income from your part-time job to be factored into your average weekly wage, you would have to be covered under workers’ compensation for that job too.12. I have returned to work, but am still undergoing treatment for my injury and must take time off from work to go to my therapy sessions. Do I get paid for the time that I am out?

Your employer is not required to pay you for the time that you take off to go for medical visits; however, if these visits cannot be scheduled outside your normal work hours then the employer is required to let you have the time off from work. The insurer is required to reimburse you for reasonable travel expenses, but you are only compensated for lost work time if you are going to a medical evaluation that the insurer requested.

6. My employer doesn’t have worker’s compensation insurance. Can I receive workers’ compensation benefits or can I sue my employer?

If you were injured on or after December 12, 1985, then you can both sue your employer in a civil action and file a claim against the Worker’s Compensation Trust Fund (WCTF), which is a special fund that has been set up to pay benefits for injured employees who are working for employers that do not have workers’ compensation insurance. If you were injured before that date then your only option is to sue your employer.7. I was hired in Massachusetts, but I was injured out of state, what state do I file my claim in?

In Massachusetts, either the place of injury or the place of hire will award jurisdiction. The National Commission on State Workmen’s Compensation Laws recommends that an employee be given the choice between these two options.

1. When I am injured on the job, how long until the insurance company starts sending me checks?

When you have been unable to earn full wages for five days due to your injury on the job, your employer has seven days from the fifth day of loss, not including Sundays and legal holidays, to report your injury to the insurance company. Once the insurance company is notified, they have fourteen days to send you a check or a form with the reasons that it is contesting your claim and denying compensation. An injured employee may file an Employee Claim (Form 110) with the insurance company at any time after injury, but the Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA) can’t accept it until thirty days have passed since the injury or the Form 110 is accompanied by an Insurer’s Notification of Denial (Form 104).2. How do I find out the name of my employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company?

Ask your employer for this information. It is required by law that a Notice to Employees poster be displayed somewhere in the workplace that displays this information. Also, if your employer has filed a report with the insurance company, you should be given a copy and that will contain the name and address of the insurance company. You can also search for the name of the insurer on the DIA website by using the “Workers’ Compensation Proof of Coverage and Verification Search”.

Massachusetts employers could face a dramatic rise in the cost of employee compensation insurance this year if the proposal is approved by state regulators. The Workers’ Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau of Massachusetts represents companies that write workers’ compensation policies. They asked the state to approve an increase of 19.3 percent. If the proposal is approved, the rates would be in effect as of September.Most businesses are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance. It covers the medical treatment, rehabilitation and lost wages of employees when they are injured while at work. The Bureau claims the increase is necessary because the cost of claims continues to rise. However, the state has denied smaller proposals of 2.3 percent in 2008, 4.5 percent in 2010, and 6.6 percent in 2011.

President of the Workers’ Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau of Massachusetts, Paul Meagher, said, “If these three small increases in rates had been granted by the Commonwealth, we would not need such a significant rate increase now.” There is concern that without an increase fewer companies will offer the insurance, which will make it harder for businesses to buy workers’ compensation policies.