A Massachusetts Appeals Court has recently ruled that two employers can be held jointly responsible for an injured employee´s workers’ compensation benefits, despite them each having classified the worker as an independent contractor. In Leo Whitman’s Case, No. 10-P-71, Sept. 6, 2011, the court affirmed an earlier decision by the…
The Massachusetts State Auditor has revealed that a non-profit human services provider in Western Massachusetts that serves mentally ill and emotionally disturbed children has corruptly used over $1 million in state taxpayer money. They are additionally accused of paying an employee´s workers´ compensation insurance claim with state money during a…
The Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) has recently conducted an assessment of workplace safety at Angelica Textile Services, operating under the name of Royal Institutional Services, in Somerville, Massachusetts. The investigation was prompted by multiple worker complaints in regards to illnesses, injuries, and long-term health problems due…
A fire in which an employee was badly burned at Monro Muffler Brake Inc. in Hyannis on February 2nd prompted an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA has since charged Monro Muffler Brake Inc., a company from Rochester, N.Y., for 10 alleged violations of workplace safety…
The Walgreens Company (Walgreens) has agreed to pay the Commonwealth and approximately 75 Massachusetts cities and towns $2.8 Million in a settlement with Attorney General Coakley’s Office. An ongoing investigation by the Attorney General’s Insurance and Financial Services Division exposed that the pharmacy company was overcharging public entities for prescription…
A trash collector has died after falling off the back of a trash truck and was run over by the vehicle in Methuen. On the morning of July 12, Keimani Bell, 28, from Dorchester, was working for F.W. Russell & Sons of Somerville, when he grabbed a trash bag from…
In a July 5th work-related accident, a 58-year-old street sweeper from Penacook, New Hampshire, was killed in his street sweeping vehicle at an intersection in Norwood, Massachusetts. According to David Traub, spokesman from the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office, the street cleaner, Patrick J. MacDonald, was killed after getting trapped…
Royal Institutional Services Inc., a commercial laundry service in Somerville, has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration after a mechanic had his hand compressed by an ironing machine on January 26. The company faces four alleged violations of workplace safety standards and a…
Bostik Inc. reported yesterday that they had determined the cause of their plant´s explosion and 4-alarm fire at their adhesive manufacturing plant in Middleton on March 14. They asserted that the explosion which injured four of their workers was due to open valves that let flammable gas permeate throughout the…
An important decision has recently been made by a Massachusetts Chief Justice who has ruled that the wife of a deceased Massachusetts construction worker can sue the contractor who oversaw a construction site where her husband was killed and son was injured, despite the fact that the contractor has already…