The Chartwell Chronicles: Permanent Disability
Physician Employment Agreements: Focus on Financial Planning
An Overview of New Jersey Workers' Compensation
An Overview of Massachusetts Workers' Compensation
Workers' Compensation Academy: Requests by Defense Counsel – A Defense Analysis of Materials Needed from Carriers and Clients for NJ Workers' Compensation Claims
An Overview of New York Workers' Compensation
Workers' Compensation Academy: Pennsylvania COVID-19 Update: Layoff or Furlough from Light Duty as a Result of COVID-19
New York’s two-year 2025-2026 legislative session hit its midpoint in June, with lawmakers wrapping up the first year by passing a slew of workplace-related bills that now await action from Governor Hochul. As federal labor...more
When an employee becomes disabled, a variety of questions arise regarding that employee’s entitlement to compensation and benefits. As a member of your company’s human resources or employee benefits department, employees and...more
This month’s Friday Five examines recent court rulings on both short- and long-term disability benefits, focusing on key interpretations—including how "earnings" are defined under an employer’s plan....more
This month’s Friday Five explores decisions from around the country discussing the concept of reasonableness in various forms. One court rejected the parties’ proffered definitions of the term “working” and instead determined...more
The April Friday Five covers cases determining futility of exhausting administrative remedies, the nuances of the pre-existing condition exclusion, ERISA preemption, and genuine issue of material fact over an employee’s...more
Bowman v. Allen Harim Foods, IAB No. 1541176 (Dec. 18, 2024) - On November 4, 2023, the claimant injured his left knee in a compensable work accident that required surgery to his patella. He had to switch doctors after his...more
Since the holidays and the start of the new year, there have been no new New Jersey appellate decisions in workers’ compensation. Below are some of the more notable pending New Jersey workers’ compensation bills in the...more
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows eligible employees working for covered employers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, protected leave during a 12-month period for absences resulting from covered family or medical...more
This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions including the impact of a COVID furlough on eligibility for LTD benefits, what constitutes a breach of an employer’s fiduciary duty, what defines total proof of disability or...more
According to the California Department of Industrial Relations, California had 680,152 workers' compensation claims in 2023, based upon first reports of injuries. This translates to 3.6 worker injuries per every 100 employees...more
This month’s Friday Five discusses cases addressing the effect of continuing to receive benefits during the period of alleged disability, reliance on an employer’s records in making a disability determination, the...more
Tuesday, the North Carolina Court of Appeals released an unpublished opinion addressing temporary partial disability (“TPD”) benefits and the application of the Russell v. Lowes Prod. Distribution factors, which assist...more
This month’s Friday Five explores decisions from around the country discussing differences between the scope of discovery and ability to add documents to the record on a claim for review challenging the denial of LTD...more
This month’s Friday Five explores decisions addressing the burden of proving accidental death, policy language and “any occupation” disability, an interpleader case where the insurer was not dismissed from the case, the...more
This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions with issues spanning physician power of attorney to preexisting exclusions and the fiduciary duty of an insurance company....more
Life Policy Lapse Shortly Before Insured’s Death - In Simon v. USAA Life Insurance Co. (Mar. 29, 2024), the insurer denied death benefits under a term life insurance policy, which had lapsed for nonpayment of premium two...more
This month’s Friday Five explores decisions from around the country discussing differences between LTD and LWOP policies, the breadth of discretion available to claims administrators and the always important topic of timely...more
This month’s Friday Five covers the treatment of job-related stress in assessing an attorney’s disability, the requirements surrounding the qualifications of a medical professional to review a claimant’s medical records in...more
In Steigleman v. Symetra Life Ins. Co., 2023 WL 7413668 (D. Ariz. 2023), a court considered whether a package of various welfare benefit insurance policies an individual business owner arranged for herself and her employees...more
This month’s Friday Five explores decisions regarding the transfer of an ERISA action that was filed in a state where an insurer did not maintain sufficient minimum contacts, an award of attorneys’ fees, costs, and...more
On January 2, 2024, McDermott filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) and the United States Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) in United Behavioral Health v. David K., No. 23-586, in the US...more
On Halloween, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $100,000 settlement under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) with Doctors’...more
Howard Dunetz v. Charles H. Sacks, D.M.D., P.C. (WCAB); No. 302 C.D. 2022; filed Oct. 26, 2023; Judge Cohn Jubelirer - The claimant sustained a work injury in May 2007. Subsequently, the status of his benefits was changed...more
The Superior Court addressed a rather convoluted fact pattern in determining whether an injured worker is entitled to a resumption of their temporary total disability benefits even though they have left the time of injury...more
This month’s Friday Five explores a decision ordering an IME prior to a ruling on summary judgment motions, the extent claims reporting records can be sealed, the scope of ERISA preemption in the context of removal, and two...more