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According to a news report on WRAL, OSHA records show that the company responsible for the scaffolding at the downtown Raleigh construction site where three construction workers were killed and another seriously injured Monday morning had previously been cited twice in the last ten years for violations related to scaffolding. […]

The Department of Labor has recently instructed more than 1,100 coal miners to re-apply for black lung benefits indicating that the miners may have been wrongly denied. The medical review of x-rays for these miners by a doctor at The Johns Hopkins Hospital has been called into question. According to […]

Since the economic crisis of 2008, I have been predicting that North Carolina politicians would declare a ‘crisis’ over the cost of workers’ compensation claims for State employees, teachers, and school-bus drivers. (Currently, the State is responsible for the workplace injury claims of all these groups.) I have also predicted […]

A story published today in the Raleigh News & Observer notes that Democratic lawmakers are objecting to Governor McCrory’s appointment of Charlton Allen as a Commissioner of the North Carolina Industrial Commission. The six Commissioners of the Industrial Commission, including Chairman Andrew Heath, govern the agency. Perhaps their most important […]

I am late with an update on House Bill 1011, which I originally blogged about here. As noted in the previous post, the Full Commission is the governing body of the Industrial Commission, setting policy and procedures and deciding cases appealed from the deputy commissioners’ decisions. House Bill 1011 clears […]

One of the most common questions my clients with workplace injuries ask me is whether they can sue their employer for negligence. This question is not surprising, and it doesn’t mean that my clients are litigious gold-diggers. The workers’ compensation system provides only a limited recovery to injured workers, without […]

On Thursday, the General Assembly confirmed Andrew T. Heath as Governor McCrory’s first appointed Commissioner to the North Carolina Industrial Commission. We have learned today that Mr. Heath has begun his duties. Mr. Heath will assume the role of Chair of the Commission, essentially the head of the agency. He […]

The six Commissioners of the North Carolina Industrial Commission are the chief administrators and judges of the Commission. Guided by the Workers’ Compensation Act, the Commissioners manage the Commission and help set its policies and procedures. The Commissioners also act as the final judges of all contested cases that go […]

In a recently issued case, Evans v. Hendrick Automotive Group, the Court of Appeals affirmed the Industrial Commission’s decision to award workers’ compensation benefits to a woman who was severely injured while returning to her hotel after a dinner party sponsored by her employer. The dinner party was part of […]

It is common knowledge, especially in these dismal economic times, that businesses often hire temporary workers, or “temps,” to cut down on labor costs. By contracting with a temp agency to provide workers, a business can avoid the expenses of hiring a new employee – such as payroll taxes and […]