For Ohio employers who pay into the state fund for their workers’ compensation coverage, enrollment in the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s (BWC) Drug-Free Safety Program (DFSP) can provide significant savings by way of premium rebates, provided that all the requirements of the program are met. These requirements include developing a written DFSP policy, providing employee
Last week, the Ohio House of Representatives passed the proposed workers’ compensation budget for the next two years, but not before a controversial amendment was added at the last minute. The budget bill, or House Bill 80, was amended to require injured workers to identify themselves as either a U.S. citizen, non-citizen authorized worker, or
Oxycontin No Longer Covered
The Board of the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation at its meeting today approved an 85% premium rebate of the workers compensation premiums paid for the year ending June 30, 2017 for private sector employers and calendar year 2016 for public employers. Checks should go out to the eligible employers over several weeks in July,
An Ohio court of appeals last week confirmed that a primary benefit of using staffing companies – the staffing company’s payment of workers’ compensation premiums covering the loaned employees – shields both the staffing company and its customer from workplace negligence claims.
Ohio’s Eighth District Court of Appeals, in Thomas v. PSC Metals, 2018-Ohio-1630
Dangerous precedent with respect to the State’s use of Ohio employers’ money has just been set with the passing of House Bill 49, the state’s Biannual Appropriation Bill. Specifically, House Bill 49 contains a provision authorizing the Office of Budget and Management (OBM) to “raid” BWC and Industrial Commission budgets, transferring up to two
Since 1993, the Ohio Workers’ Compensation Act (O.R.C. §4123), has provided firefighters and police officers additional workers’ compensation benefits. Specifically, it is presumed that firefighters and police officers who suffer from cardiovascular, pulmonary, or respiratory disease after being exposed to heat, smoke, toxic gases, chemical fumes and other toxic substances during the course of their
On November 28, 2016, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas denied industry employers’ efforts to enjoin OSHA from beginning to enforce portions of OSHA’s May 2016 final rule that purports to prohibit, among other things: 1)
The Ohio Supreme Court recently held that employees need not prove they were actually injured on the job to prevail in a retaliation claim.
Employers should already be aware that, under Ohio law, they may not discharge or take punitive action against an employee for filing a workers’ compensation claim after sustaining an injury at
Is Your Business Owed a Refund?
The parties have reached a proposed settlement in the San Allen, Inc., et al. v. Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation case. This class action case, which began back in December 2007 and included a class of approximately 270,000 Ohio businesses, arose out of allegations that the Ohio Bureau of