Frantz Ward’s Labor & Employment Group has previously written about the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s treatment of marijuana in its Drug-Free Safety Program (DFSP) following the legalization of medical marijuana in 2016. The legalization of cannabis for certain medical conditions has had no effect on the BWC’s position that a drug-free workplace meant a
Prescription medications are a necessary, albeit expensive component of any self-insured workers’ compensation program. Unfortunately, injured workers are often prescribed unnecessary prescription drugs which can lead to dangerous health conditions and increased complexity of workers’ compensation claims. Physicians continue to prescribe and dispense opioids which are the most expensive therapy class in workers’ compensation. Studies
According to recent reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up roughly 10% of jobs in the construction industry, 30% in manufacturing, and as of 2021, and 75% of healthcare and social assistance jobs.[1] Although those numbers may have dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, women are beginning to return to the workforce
The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of employees who work remotely. According to Forbes, pre-pandemic, roughly five percent of full-time employees with office jobs worked primarily from home. According to projections, twenty- five percent of all professional jobs will be remote by the end of 2022. As such, employees
The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) began the new year with a rate reduction for Ohio’s public employers, estimating that those employers will pay nearly $17 million less in workers’ compensation insurance premiums next year thanks to the cut. The BWC announced that this 10% rate reduction was made possible by a decline in injury
Since the start of the pandemic, much of the discourse regarding COVID-19 and workers’ compensation has centered around questions of compensability—that is, under what circumstances contraction of COVID-19 can qualify as a compensable workers’ compensation claim, what types of benefits are available for covered employees, and what types of defenses employers may have at their
With recent weather happenings leaving much of Ohio covered in varying degrees of snow, ice, and that all-too-familiar gray slush that ensues as it all melts, re-freezes, and melts again, now seems like a good time to discuss the workers’ compensation implications when employees get hurt trying to traverse this sometimes perilous terrain.
In Ohio,
In November, the Ohio BWC approved Governor DeWine’s request to send another $5 billion in dividends to Ohio employers. The dividend payments come in the form of paper checks, which the state began mailing out to employers on December 10, 2020, or as credits to employers’ accounts for those employers with outstanding balances owed to
Ohio House Bill 81, first introduced back in February of 2019, contains several significant changes regarding workers’ compensation law. Signed by Governor Mike DeWine on June 16, 2020, the bill is set to become law on September 15, 2020. The changes brought about by the bill include a reduced statute of limitations for Violations of
A New Jersey appellate court has ruled that a former employee’s medical cannabis must be reimbursed by his former employer. Vincent Hager was an employee of M+K Construction when he suffered a job-site injury in 2001. The injury resulted in several surgeries and chronic pain. Hager was prescribed medical cannabis in 2016, which resulted in