COVID-19 UPDATE: IT’S TIME TO COMPLY WITH THE OSHA ETS VACCINE OR TEST MANDATE
Update 1.14.22 | The Supreme Court issued a stay of OSHA's ETS on January 13, 2022. Read more here. Without a stay from the Supreme Court, employers with 100 or more employees must comply with the majority of the OSHA ETS beginning yesterday, January 10, 2022. Click...
NEBRASKA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT RATE RISES IN 2022
Effective January 1, 2022, the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Mileage Reimbursement Rate will rise to 58.5 cents per mile for travel to seek medical treatment or while participating in an approved vocational rehabilitation plan. This rate has jumped from 2021 when the...
ATTORNEY SUSAN FOSTER PUBLISHED IN THE NEBRASKA LAWYER FOR FEATURE ARTICLE, “THE POWER OF WORKPLACE CULTURE: LESSONS FROM A PANDEMIC”
Baylor Evnen Attorney Susan Foster wrote a feature article for The Nebraska Lawyer November/December 2021 issue entitled “The Power of Workplace Culture: Lessons From a Pandemic”. It is often through crises that we learn critical lessons about the importance of being...
IOWA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION DEPUTIES SPLIT ON BILATERAL INDEMNITY OWED FOR PERMANENT IMPAIRMENT TO SHOULDER INJURIES
Recently, a Deputy Commissioner caused quite the stir by breaking with the prior consensus among the Commission about how to compensate an employee who sustains bilateral shoulder injuries from a single accident. In Carmer v. Nordstrom, Inc., the claimant injured both...
COVID-19: IOWA COMMISSIONER JOSEPH CORTESE POSTPONES IN-PERSON HEARINGS UNTIL APRIL 29, 2022
On November 29, 2021, Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Joseph Cortese extended the postponement of in-person hearings by the commission from January 31, 2022 to April 29, 2022. This is the same order that has been in effect in Iowa since March 16, 2020. As part of...
NEBRASKA’S MAXIMUM WEEKLY BENEFIT RATE TO INCREASE TO $983.00
For work-related injuries and illnesses that occur on or after January 1, 2022 the new maximum weekly benefit rate under the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Act will increase to $983.00. The Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court announced the change on November 17,...
COVID-19 UPDATE: OSHA ISSUES ETS REQUIRING EMPLOYEE VACCINATION OR WEEKLY TESTING
This morning, The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released its emergency temporary standard (ETS) requiring businesses with 100 or more employees to develop, implement, and enforce a mandate requiring employees to either get vaccinated or to...
CBD OIL IN IOWA, COMPENSABLE?
In many shops and stores you will find CBD Oil being advertised as a legal substance that has health benefits. CBD Oil has been legalized in Iowa in a limited capacity for medical use only. Iowa Code § 124E. However, in the context of workers’ compensation, insurers...
MEDICAL MARIJUANA AND CBD OIL, COMPENSABLE?
In Nebraska you will find CBD Oil and other Marijuana extract products in various locations. Medical Marijuana is not currently legal in this state but the prevalence of these Marijuana extract products, which promise health benefits, begs the question: Are these...
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF AN EMPLOYEE IS EARNING THE SAME OR GREATER WAGES UNDER SECTION 85.34(2)(V) TO PRECLUDE ASSESSMENT OF INDUSTRIAL DISABILITY?
Section 85.34(2)(v) can be used to limit an employee’s permanent disability indemnity recovery for a body as a whole injury to just the amount of functional loss sustained by the injury (as opposed to assessment based on industrial disability which is typically...