Administrative Law Judge Covette Rooney has recently ruled to uphold the U.S. Department of Labor’s eight citations for excavation violations, numerous construction hazards, and $91,200 in fines issued to a Boston contractor for insufficient work safety at a jobsite in Newton, Massachusetts. Shawn Telsi, doing business as Life Time Homes,…
Failure to carry workers’ compensation coverage for employees in Massachusetts is currently only a misdemeanor. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has recently pushed for more serious punishment against employers who do not provide workers’ compensation for their employees. Under Coakley’s proposed bill, failure to carry workers’ compensation will be a…
Here in the Bay State, authorities have recently updated the paperwork requirements for workers’ compensation for some out-of-state contractors doing business in Massachusetts. The Division of Industrial Accidents started requiring a Form 154 this summer to verify workers’ compensation insurance for businesses that had no physical location in the state.…
A Freetown man and former Massachusetts prison guard is accused of worker’s compensation fraud. Prosecutors allege that the 45-year-old man collected over $50,000 in worker’s comp benefits between January 2009 and Mach, during which time he ran a half-marathon and a full marathon. He’d apparently sustained a work-related injury in…
Several towns in Massachusetts, including Brockton, Pittsfield, and New Bedford, will receive thousands of dollars in damages from CVS, which was found to have overcharged state residents for prescription drugs under the workers’ compensation insurance system. The Division of Health Care Finance and Policy uses the same methods to price…
A settlement has been reached with a Stoughton, Massachusetts strip club that allegedly misclassified dancers and massage therapists as independent contractors, denying them overtime pay and workers’ compensation protections. According to reports, roughly 50 women have asked to share in the settlement, which set aside $400,000 for the women and…
This Friday, an 18-year-old golf course employee drowned while cutting grass at a Massachusetts golf course. The victim, a college student, was operating a ride-on lawn mower at a Lakeville golf course when he drove into a manmade water hazard. The worker was pinned by his ride-on lawn mower under…
According to the Star Gazette, railroad companies often ship deadly chemicals across the country on a daily basis, yet the companies refuse to publicly disclose exactly what those substances are or how frequently they are transported through certain areas. A spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) reported that only…
Governor Deval Patrick recently passed an amendment to Massachusetts’ workers’ compensation statute that allows any three private citizens to file a civil suit against employers who fail to follow workers’ compensation laws. The amendment incentivizes plaintiffs with a monetary award, compensatory and liquidated damages, and costs and attorney’s fee. The…
The head flight instructor for the Beverly Flight Center was killed this past week after being struck by a moving propeller. The victim, a Weymouth resident, had been an instructor for the past ten years at the Beverly Airport. The Essex District Attorney’s Office stated that the pilot’s death appears…