Under Oklahoma’s retaliatory discharge statute, 85A O.S.Supp. 2013 § 7, a worker who claims that he or she was fired for filing a workers’ compensation claim must seek relief from the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission; he or...
Reversing the state’s Court of Civil Appeals, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma has reinstated a decision by a three-judge panel of the Workers’ Compensation Court that earlier held a workers’ compensation claimant was entitled to additional compensation...
Construing Oklahoma’s hernia statute [85A O.S. Supp. 2013 § 61], which permits an award of up to six weeks of TTD for each hernia suffered by a claimant, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma held that where an injured worker had sustained a bilateral inguinal...
Supreme Court of Oklahoma addresses “crafty gamesmanship” We have asked our expert in Oklahoma, Jacque Brawner Dean, Esq., at Jacque Brawner Dean Law, PLLC , about the recent decision in Meeks v. Guarantee Ins. Co . In that case, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma...
At the National Workers’ Compensation & Disability Conference last November, Brad Bleakney, a partner with Bleakney & Troiani, and Lora Northen, a Shareholder with Capehart Scatchard, led a seminar on recent trends in workers’ compensation....
The Supreme Court of Oklahoma held that there were material issues of fact as to whether the decedent’s employer knew that injury or death was substantially certain to result from the task decedent and his coworkers were directed to complete and the conditions...
A divided Supreme Court of Oklahoma held that a university employee sustained injuries arising out of and in the course of her employment when she slipped and fell on ice in a campus parking lot where she had been instructed to park. The majority found that the...
Labor Official Touts 10th Anniv. of Mine Improvement/New Emergency Response Act . Implant Approved to Help Fight Opioid Dependency . CA: DWC to Enforce Lien Claimants’ Use of Uniform Assigned Name . CA: DWC Announces Temporary Total Disability Rates...
PCI Issues New Report on Medical Cost Shifting From WC Opt Out Systems . PCI Insurers Support Town Hall to Discuss Florida Workers’ Comp System . WCRI Study Finds Large Decreases in Opioids Received by Injured Workers . AZ: Arizona Adopts IC Rules for...
CA: Ins. Dept. Announces 10.5 Percent Workers’ Comp Rate Reduction . CA: New Round of Charges Filed Against Medical Providers in WC System . CA: Sen. Mendoza Calls for Study, Investigation of WC Fraud . CA: UnitedHealth Exits ACA Market in California...
In ERISA Congress has created a “lock-box” in which it both carefully defines and limits state exclusions from the statute and aggressively sweeps up through preemption anything that remains. Thus, if an employee welfare benefit plan is not clearly and exactly...
Oklahoma’s Workers’ Compensation Commission is appropriately empowered to determine whether a provision of the state’s workers’ compensation law [Title 85A] is being constitutionally applied to a particular party in a proceeding before the Commission, held the...
Senators Slam Obama Directive for Sick U.S. Nuclear Workers . AK: WCD Posts Director’s Interpretation on Issues Impacting Medical Fee Schedule . AZ: Governor Signs SB 1323 Pro Se Vexatious Litigant . CA: WCAB Chairman Ronnie Caplane to Retire From State...
In a split (7–2) decision, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma has struck down yet another provision of the state’s controversial 2013 “reform” of its workers’ compensation law. The provision, Okla. Stat. tit. 85A, § 45(C)(5), defers...
OSHA Issues Final Rule on Silica Exposure . NAMSAP Proposes Evidence-Based Limits on Opioids for WCMSAs . OSHA Workplace Safety Violation Penalties to Increase 8/1/2016 . Stanford Professor Claims Costs Drop 44 Percent for Companies That Opt Out . HHS Release...