Declarations

Something for Nothing

“Sometimes a few bad employees try to get something for nothing, scamming the people we serve. This task force will help prevent those instances.”

—New York State’s Broome County Executive Debbie Preston on a new initiative to crack down on workers’ comp fraud. Her county has created a task force to oversee workers’ comp claims and make sure they are legitimate from the very beginning to the end of the process.

Undocumented Not Excluded

“If the Legislature intended the definition of a worker or employee to exclude undocumented workers, it would have done so by adding undocumented workers to the excluded list…”

—The Iowa Supreme Court, in finding that a West Liberty woman, an immigrant from Mexico who stayed in the United States after her visa had expired, is entitled to receive workers’ compensation benefits for a work-related injury.

A Common Theme

“The common theme is apparent here. … How are we going to handle workers’ compensation cases?”

—Attorney Robert McCampbell, representing The State Chamber, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce, defended before a state Supreme Court referee legislation signed in May by Gov. Mary Fallin that overhauls the state’s workers’ compensation system. A lawsuit filed by two state lawmakers and a firefighter’s organization alleges that parts of the new law are unconstitutional.

A Pleasure

“It gives us pleasure to financially reward our policyholders who have invested time, money and efforts to create a safer workplace for their employees.”

—Laurence Hubbard, president and CEO of Montana State Fund, said he was happy to give more than 23,000 qualifying policyholders a part of a $12 million dividend from the workers’ compensation insurer.