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Category: Workers' Compensation

2021 LexisNexis “Workers’ Compensation Emerging Issues Analysis”

I just read a wonderful resource for anyone who has dealings with any aspect of workers’ compensation law. “Workers’ Compensation Emerging Issues Analysis”, the 2021 LexisNexis volume co-authored by Thomas A. Robinson and National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network member firms contains well-written articles on multiple topics in the workers&rsquo...
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Attention Portland Employers: Updates on Mask Mandate, Hazard Pay

On Monday, Portland City Councilors took two significant actions that affect employers in Portland, Maine. First, the Council repealed an emergency order from March 2020, eliminating the hazard pay provision set forth in the city’s minimum wage ordinance. Second, the Council enacted a city-wide indoor mask mandate affecting most...
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2021 Employment Law Update: Part 12 – Tips and Trends for 2021 and 2022

In 2021, due to the ongoing pandemic, the Employment & Labor Group hosted their monthly Annual Update seminars virtually this year. For the final presentation of the series, five Verrill attorneys provide us with short video segments, detailing some of the top trends of 2021 and ways companies and...
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This Week's Show: Beth Smith – What’s Covered? Workers’ Compensation 101

On Saturday, August 7, Tawny Alvarez, Verrill attorney and co-host of HR Power Hour, interviewed fellow Verrill attorney Elizabeth Smith for this segment of HR Power Hour. For this episode, Tawny and Beth discuss pre-existing injuries, emotional wellness, stress, a skiing accident—are they covered by workers’ compensation? Beth has...
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NWCDN Workers' Compensation in a Post-COVID World

Join the National Workers' Compensation Defense Network (NWCDN) and the WorkersCompensation.com Center for Education Excellence for a live virtual seminar on November 12, starting at 10:00AM E.S.T. This year, due to COVID-19 concerns, the organization has partnered with WorkersCompensation.com to bring you two virtual stages, offering panels that will...
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Should Employers Recognize COVID-19 As A Work-Related Injury?

While we know that everyone is being bombarded with COVID-19 recommendations, advice, news and data, one area that appears to have been overlooked is the question of whether COVID-19 infection, if acquired at work and due to the work performed, might result in a workers’ compensation injury. That specific...
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Compromise Reached in Maine Workers’ Compensation Reform

Governor Mills has signed into law amendments to the existing Workers' Compensation Act that are the product of a bipartisan effort to avoid a series of proposed legislation that would have had the very real risk of dragging Maine back to pre-1992 status. With the election of a Democratic...
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NCCI Maine Advisory Forum 2018

On Thursday, March 22, 2018, Attorney Beth Smith attended the morning session of the National Council of Compensation Insurance (NCCI) State Advisory Forum for Maine, held in Portland, Maine. Justin Moulton and Jim Davis hosted on behalf of NCCI, and there were roughly thirty attendees. The session opened with...
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On Air with Ken and Matt: An Employment Law Update

HR Puzzle
In case you missed it, labor and employment attorneys Benjamin Ford and Tawny Alvarez were live on air in the Newsradio WGAN studio on the morning of Friday, December 22, discussing the firm's upcoming 2018 Annual Employment Law Update on January 25 in Portland. The morning news segment with...
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Medical Marijuana: Is it reasonable and necessary?

Verrill Dana Labor & Employment attorney Beth Smith discusses the anticipated decision in Bourgoin v. Twin Rivers Paper Company that should provide some clarity about whether or not workers' compensation insurers will be compelled to compensate for medicinal marijuana expenses incurred by injured workers. Stream the podcast online here...
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Podcast: Workers Compensation in a Modern Marine Economy

The so-called "blue economy" is evolving at a rapid pace. As a result, innovative marine-based businesses are finding themselves exposed to risks when technological development outpaces legal development. This podcast discusses the risk of worker's compensation exposure that modern marine businesses face and how best to manage that exposure...
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Straight to the Heart of Dixie: Alabama Workers' Compensation Act Ruled Unconstitutional

On Monday, May 8, a Jefferson County (Birmingham) Circuit Court Judge found two specific provisions of the Alabama Workers' Compensation Act unconstitutional, and because one or more provisions of the law were unconstitutional, the entire law was struck down. The two provisions at issue were a maximum cap of...
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Breaking News on Medical Marijuana in Maine Workers' Compensation

We have just learned that the State of Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, has accepted Bourgoin v. Twin Rivers Paper Co., L.L.C., and Decision No. 16-26 , one of a pair of Administrative Law Judge decisions addressing medical marijuana that the Appellate Division affirmed last...
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Breaking News on DOL “Threats” to Federalize Workers’ Compensation

On Wednesday, October 5, 2016, a much-anticipated report generated by the NASI (National Academy of Social Insurance) was released. The report had been shrouded in secrecy, with even supposed "insiders" complaining of having been shut out of the process. Then, over the weekend, the Department of Labor held a...
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Letters from the Workers' Compensation Trenches

I am just back from an invigorating seminar put on by the national group to which we belong as the sole Maine member, the National Workers' Compensation Defense Network and want to share some highlights. This year's seminar, held in Chicago on September 22, included presentations on lots of...
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Calling All Workers' Compensation Attorneys!

As the sole Maine representative to the National Workers' Compensation Defense Network, Beth Smith , will be attending the NWCDN Annual Conference in Chicago later this week. Why? Fellow NWCDN member Bob Wilson explains in a blog post entitled "The NWCDN Road Show Hits Chicago and I Won't Miss...
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“Capturing” the Affect of Pokemon Go in the Office

This is reality. This is not a test. There are Pokémon in your office. Well, maybe; it's more like there are not real Pokémon chilling outside your door, but more that in an augmented reality there are graphical elements placed within your real world. The thing is, either way...
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CDC Issues Opioid Guidelines

On March 18, the CDC finally issued much-anticipated guidelines for the prescription of opioids in chronic pain management "outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care." Over-prescription of opioids in the realm of workers' compensation has long been an issue of national importance. 47,055 lethal drug overdoses...
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