CALIFORNIA MELTDOWN CONTINUES--Garamendi Takes On Workers' Comp Reforms--"Lawyers and doctors in all too many cases are abusing the system," he said. California's insurance chief, saying the Legislature's recent overhaul of the state's workers' compensation system was "inadequate," on Wednesday called for additional reforms including further cutbacks to outpatient surgical centers and a crackdown on costly litigation

In our great state of California today there is perhaps no greater peril to jobs and future economic growth than the burden of our broken workers’ compensation system. Soaring costs led Costco Wholesale Corp. to seriously consider moving some of its 29,000 jobs out of California. Before that, premium increases drove Buck Knives to Idaho in search of relief. I recently learned that the Los Angeles Unified School District’s workers’ compensation costs are so high that the premiums could pay for 10,000 new teachers

 Jon Gelman's Presentation Remarks to Lois J.Gregory. This is presented to Lois J. Gregory in recognition and of the many years she has served as Senior Deputy Attorney General of the State of New Jersey representing the Second Injury Fund. Her high level of professionalism, as well as her wisdom, intellect and friendship have been warmly appreciated by the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation bench and bar. 

For 42 years I worked with asbestos on Navy ships and in factories. Now I’m dying of cancer. The asbestos companies knew their product was deadly. It’s there in black and white. That’s why the jury awardedmy family a settlement. ow Congress may pass a law that would bail out these companies by throwing my settlement out the window. I’d have to stand in line and wait for compensation from agiant new federal bureaucracy, which won’t have enough to pay me in the first place.

Female flight attendants are more likely to experience disruptions in circadian rhythm - the body clock—than a comparison group of women who do not frequently fly, and the disruptions are linked with flights across different time zones, a new study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) suggests.

 CASES--The compensation judge denied)petitioner’s motion for temporary disability and medical benefits regarding a rotator cuff tear in his right shoulder and problems with his left knee. where the compensable injuries he sustained in his work—related accident had to do with his left shoulder, neck and lower back assessing the conflicting medical testimony the compensation judge found that the new problems were not causally related to the work—related, and that conservative treatment, rather than surgery, was recommended for petitioner’s lower-hack problems.

The ILO’s Sectoral Activities Department has organized a Meeting of experts to be held from 8 to 15 October 2003 in Geneva, to consider and review a draft and to adopt a Code of practice on Violence and stress at work in services: A threat to productivity and decent work. In services sectors, downsizing, freezes or cuts in salaries, increasing workloads and performance targets, longer hours, and more subcontracting and temporary work are among the potential stressors that can foster a climate of tension driven by uncertainty, exasperation and vulnerability

The number of people with health insurance rose by 1.5 million between 2001 and 2002, to 242.4 million, and the number of uninsured rose by 2.4 million, to 43.6 million, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.

HEALTH CARE--Many California Employers Face Health Care Mandate
With the ranks of the uninsured rising rapidly across the country, California — where the problem is especially acute — is on the verge of requiring thousands of employers to provide health benefits for their workers.

 Almost seventy percent of the U.S. work force -- approximately 89 million persons -- work in non-industrial, non-agricultural, indoor work setti...