Payment of cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) by the Division of Workers’ Compensation are the sort of “compensation” outlined in § 440.15(1)(f), held the Supreme Court of Florida. Accordingly, where an employer inexplicably stopped paying...
The W.C.A.B. has issued an en banc decision addressing one of the consequential issues to the two-year limitation on payment of temporary total disability benefits contained in Labor Code § 4656(c). In Brower v. David Jones Construction , the W.C.A.B. has...
By Marianne Tancor, J.D. How to calculate and award reasonable attorney’s fees has long been a hotly disputed issue confronting the WCAB. Adding to the fire in cases where attorney’s fees must be calculated on lifetime awards of PTD or life pensions...
The US Department of Labor has issued its 1st Quarter Unemployment statistics for the State Average Weekly Wages (SAWW) used for calculating statutory increases in Minimum and Maximum TD benefits under Labor Code §4453(a)(10) and also Life Pension Cost of...
When a workers’ compensation practitioner talks about the appropriate COLA, he is usually not discussing his favorite soft drink! Rather, Labor Code Section 4659 (c) indicates that certain awards of permanent disability shall be increased annually by something...
Calculation of attorneys’ fees has always been a hot-button issue for the WCAB. When the calculation involves a lifetime award of permanent total disability (PTD) benefits, the issue ratchets up a notch. Lately, several conflicting panel decisions have issued...
[ Editor's Note: This blog post has been corrected .] Unfortunately when I initially looked at the Dept of Labor site for this information, the link for last year’s information took me to the 4th quarter, not the first quarter. This resulted in a rather...
The California Supreme Court has issued its decision denying the Petition for Rehearing filed by applicant in Baker v W.C.A.B. (XYZZX) . The court did make some modifications to its opinion that to some extent addressed the issues raised in applicant attorney’s...
The California Supreme Court has spoken again about COLAs. Call it Baker Redux. In response to a Petition for Rehearing filed by San Jose attorney Arthur Johnson, the California Supreme Court issued a modified opinion that can be found here: Baker v. W.C...
LexisNexis Announces New Editors-in-Chief: Richard Jacobsmeyer, Julius Young, Barry Bloom This 31st edition marks a transition in the history of Herlick, California Workers’ Compensation Handbook . Longtime author Stanford D. Herlick passed away in 2010...
By Robert G. Rassp, Esq. The year 2011 has been noteworthy for many events in our workers’ compensation system and as much for events that did not occur. So this year, we will add a bonus – the Top Five Events In 2011 That Did Not Occur But Should...