Lawmakers Debate Workers’ Compensation Reform

So far, it’s been a rather bumpy ride for House Bill 296, as the workers’ comp legislation is currently in a Senate committee. Many of the proposed changes are largely technical. For example, in most cases, the bill would cut off medical benefits when the victims reach age 70 or have collected benefits for four…

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Renovation Plans? Proceed With Caution

Many people in Kentucky are proud of their older homes. If you’re one of them and you plan on doing any do-it-yourself remodeling this spring, watch out for dangerous asbestos. Any dwelling constructed prior to 1970 probably contains asbestos in the floor tiles and pipes, because back then, asbestos was a cheap, reliable, and plentiful mineral that…

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House Passes Workers’ Compensation Reform Measure

House Bill 296 cleared that chamber along a largely party-line vote and now heads to the Senate for consideration; this measure is the first comprehensive workplace injury bill that Kentucky lawmakers have considered in nearly two decades. Chief sponsor Rep. Adam Koenig (R-Erlanger) said that he and other lawmakers “worked incredibly hard to pass a…

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Another Employer Fraud Scheme And Another Arrest

A Kentucky woman extradited to New York now faces serious workplace injury fraud charges, but are these kinds of cases the real problem in what many say is a broken system? According to New York State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott, 47-year-old Sheryl Colson, of New Concorde, began receiving her mother’s workers’ compensation checks in 2011, because…

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Are More Pro-Business Reforms Coming?

Erlanger Republican Rep. Adam Koenig is spearheading an effort to pass a comprehensive workers’ compensation reform package in the House of Representatives that he says will remove “additional burdens” on state businesses that “drive up costs” on state employers. Although Rep. Koenig said the forthcoming plan will “really not affect workers very much,” his record…

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New ALJs May Reduce Workers’ Comp Logjam

Workers comp claims

A Franklin County Circuit judge, who Governor Matt Bevin derided as a “political hack,” cleared the way for six new administrative law judges to being hearing workers’ compensation cases in Kentucky. Since he took office in December 2015, the GOP governor and Judge Phillip Shepherd have repeatedly butted heads over state government restructuring.  In June 2016,…

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