Author Archives: Roger Moore

I’M A 10!!!!

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This article will not be discussing Bo Derek’s memorable jog down a beach in that memorable movie of the same name.  Instead it discusses the reliability of pain scales in the context of injury cases, a much less interesting topic!

According to the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, “Though the accuracy of the 5th vital sign for pain assessment is moderate, it is much lower in practice than under ideal research circumstances. Uniquely, we found that nurses may not always use the 0 to 10 scale to properly quantify pain levels and that informal screening practice leads to underestimation. Efforts to improve routine pain management can confidently use NRS, but provider training, education, and monitoring in screening techniques are needed, as are efforts to link the 5th vital sign to clinician action for better pain managementReading between the lines, this organization found nurses and doctors need more education in order for pain scales to be reliably used.

Typically, patients are asked to rate their pain from 0-10.  However, how those numbers are described seems to vary widely.  One clinician may describe a “10” as the worst pain imaginable, while another may describe it as the worst pain you have ever felt.  Of course, that can result in very different ratings depending on one’s history of prior injury and pain tolerance.  The results may be further complicated by cultural distortions, difficulties in interpretation, psychological factors including depression, education level which could impact understanding and an individuals pain tolerance in general.   Additionally, many injured people may generally feel that they must exaggerate their symptoms in order to be believed or to get the necessary medical treatment they require.  It’s important for us to emphasize to our injured clients that exaggerating symptoms is never a good idea and could result in some very real credibility consequences with the Court, employer and medical professionals.  On a similar note, it’s not uncommon to have some clients underestimate the symptoms they experience, and this also can result in difficulties related to being assigned appropriate work restrictions, getting necessary medical treatment and giving a full picture of the injury itself.

It’s not uncommon in trial for defense attorneys to make light of what they characterize as “exaggerated” pain ratings of 9 or 10.  Additionally, if you are arguing that a condition has gotten worse, it’s difficult to do so when 9 or 10 pain ratings have been given previously.  One colleague recently recounted an exchange during trial which is illustrative.  A client was discussing non-operative back pain to a Judge and had told him his pain was a 10.  When told to imagine Jesus Christ on the cross as the last spear thrust that ended his life as a “10”, and to compare his pain to that the client noted again his non-operable back pain was a “10”.  One can imagine how this client’s credibility may have been negatively impacted by this statement.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Workers' Compensation, Workplace Injury and tagged , , .

Department of Labor Weighs In on New Age of Salary Servitude for ‘Executives’

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Most of the U.S. workforce has the right, provided by the Fair Labor Standards Act, to be paid overtime for working more than 40 hours in a week. Before the federal government set rules for overtime, most employees worked longer hours, and millions of Americans worked six or seven days a week, as Chinese factory workers do today. Salaried workers also have the right to be paid a premium for overtime work, unless they fall into an exempt category as a professional, an administrator, or an executive. Exempt employees must be skilled and exercise independent judgment, or be a boss with employees to supervise. However, many companies have worked to get around these overtime rules by classifying employees like cooks, convenience store employees or restaurant workers as “managers,” “supervisors,” or “assistant managers or supervisors,” so that their employer can deny them overtime under this exception. 

In May 2016, the Department of Labor issued its final rule establishing a new minimum salary threshold for the white-collar exemptions (executive, administrative and professional) under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This new threshold of $913 per week ($47,476 annualized) more than doubles the current minimum weekly salary threshold of $455 per week ($23,660 annualized).  While that may seem like a huge increase, the old threshold level is only $2 a week above the poverty level for a family of four. Twenty-one states have filed suit to challenge this rule, citing the rule will force many businesses, including state and local governments, to unfairly and substantially increase their employment costs. 

The old rule allowed companies to put employees on “salary” at a low rate and require them to work sometimes significant overtime. The fact that so many government entities are concerned about this new rule substantially increasing their employment costs underscores the extent to which even government entities have taken advantage of employees in this fashion. Can you imagine earning $25,000/year and having to work 50, 60 or 70 hours a week? Even at 50 hours a week, that equates to an hourly wage of only $8.01!

In the first year, the department estimates that the new rule may affect, in some manner, over 10 million workers who earn between $455/week and the new $913/week threshold.  

The median worker has seen a wage increase of just 5 percent between 1979 and 2012, despite overall productivity growth of 74.5 percent (Mishel and Shierholz, 2013), according to the Economic Policy Institute. One reason Americans’ paychecks are not keeping pace with their productivity is that millions of middle-class and even lower-middle-class workers are working overtime and not getting paid for it. Before this rule change, the federal wage and hour law was out of date. This change purports to correct this modern day servitude that the law – for the last 30 years – has carved out a huge exception, allowing workers to be taken advantage of simply by assigning them a title and paying them a salary.  

 

Sources:

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in employment law, Government, Legislation and tagged , , , .

What Could You Possibly Know About Your Own Disability?

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disability self reportingIn 1991, the Social Security Administration drafted a rule that explained that controlling weight was given to medical opinions from treating sources about the nature and severity of claimants’ impairments if they are well-supported by medically acceptable clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques and are not inconsistent with other substantial evidence in the record. This rule is commonly known as the “treating physician rule.”

The SSA has recently proposed a number of changes to this rule based upon a 2013 study (downloadable PDF). Among the recommendations were to no longer apply controlling weight to doctor opinions addressing the following issues:

  • Statements that an individual is or is not disabled, blind, able to work, or able to perform regular or continuing work;
  • Statements about whether or not an individual’s impairment(s) meets the duration requirement for disability;
  • Statements about whether or not an individual’s impairment(s) meets or equals any listing in the Listing of Impairments;
  • Statements about whether or not an individual’s impairment(s) functionally equals the Listings.

The SSA will also not use a diagnosis, medical opinion, or an individual’s statement of symptoms to establish the existence of impairment. A physical or mental impairment would now need to be established by “objective medical evidence.”

It’s easy to understand how discounting a treating source could adversely affect applicants for disability. These physicians have the most interaction with their patients in terms of frequency and duration of involvement. When you contrast a treating physician’s opinion with a doctor chosen by the SSA who most often never even meets or speaks with the claimant, you can see the problem. Putting these two entities on the same footing legally seems misguided at best and purposefully devious at worst.

However, when you add in that the SSA will not use an individual’s statement of symptoms as a basis for finding disability, particularly in the mental-health field, you make proving disability a much more difficult proposition than it already is. Individuals who are applying for disability typically face difficulty seeing doctors on a regular basis due to obvious financial considerations.  They often cannot afford the “objective” tests to fully explore the extent of their diagnoses. Moreover, there are no objective tests to diagnose depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, etc. The very nature of these claims requires a thorough examination of the claimant’s expression of disability to diagnose, evaluate and treat. The SSA cannot possibly ignore the claimant’s accounts of their disability and do an adequate job of evaluating these claims, especially the ones based upon mental illness.

The SSA needs to jettison these proposed rule changes, and stick with the controlling weight standard that has been in place for 25 years. Furthermore, they need to allow the judges to evaluate claimant testimony without rigid rules that discount their personal evidence.

To comment on the SSA proposal, follow this link: Regulations.gov – Docket Folder Summary and press the “Comment Now!” button. Comments are due Nov. 8 (next Tuesday, aka Election Day).

Please contact an experienced Social Security Disability lawyer with specific questions about the details of your case.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Government, social security disability and tagged , , , .

I Can’t Do My Old Job, So I Qualify for Disability, Right?

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dib1It’s not uncommon for workers to expect to qualify for disability when they are unable to work in a job that they have held for years. The question becomes does that mean they are disabled under Social Security Administration rules? As in most cases in dealing with the law, the answer is maybe!

For workers under the age of 50, applicants must prove that they are also unable to obtain any work in the general economy, even if they can’t do their typical jobs. This includes unskilled work, and the SSA makes no distinction for what type of pay cut a worker must accept to remain gainfully employed. For instance, let’s assume a worker was earning $20 an hour as an electrician, but could no longer handle the rigors of that employment. If that person can do a minimum-wage job full time or at the level of substantial gainful employment as set by the SSA, then a person is not considered disabled under the SSA rules. Many people are surprised that the SSA would require this. Even if jobs don’t exist within the current labor market, the SSA would require a worker to move herself to a larger market to continue to be employed.

For individuals over the age of 50, the primary question is did they acquire skills from prior employment that would enable them to transition into other employment areas. If those skills would allow the worker to transition to alternate employment, then they are not considered disabled. If those skills are too specialized and don’t easily transition to alternate employment, the worker may very may well be disabled, according to SSA rules.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Disability, employment law, U.S. Department of Labor, Work Injury, Workers' Compensation, Workplace Injury and tagged , , .

Hurt at Work? Here’s Your Eviction/Foreclosure Notice

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For too many of our clients, an injury at work means certain financial distress. Even for clients whose benefits are paid in a timely manner, there are certain built-in time frames when they will receive no benefits or benefits at a much lower rate than a full paycheck (sometimes as little as 5 or 10 percent of a typical paycheck).  

In Nebraska, temporary benefits are paid only until maximum medical improvement is reached. We try to have a report waiting for the doctor when it appears as if he may conclude an injured worker is at that point. However, due to the workload of the doctors and sometimes the need for a Functional Capacity Evaluation, a worker can go months without any benefits coming in before the receipt of the report. There is no interim benefit payable to get a worker and his or her family by until permanent benefits are paid.  

This situation is made worse when a claim is denied. In that situation, a worker may find herself unable to work for several reasons. First, an employer may not think it’s their responsibility to accommodate work restrictions for a non-work-related injury. This may also ultimately result in a worker being fired for missing too much work. Second, a doctor may not allow the worker to work due to the severity of the injury. Typically an employer will refuse to pay temporary benefits since the claim was denied.  

Most families in this country live paycheck to paycheck or with only a month or two of built-up savings.

“Forty-four percent of Americans are either in debt, have no savings at all, or have only enough savings to tide them over for up to three months if they lose their jobs, according to an Assets and Opportunity report last year,” according to this article on the Fiscal Times website

Too often in this country, families of injured workers are being evicted or losing their homes due to gaps in the compensation system for work injuries.  “In reality, the costs of workplace injury and illness are borne primarily by injured workers, their families, and taxpayer-supported safety-net programs. … Workers’ compensation payments cover only a small fraction (about 21 percent) of lost wages and medical costs of work injuries and illnesses; workers, their families and their private health insurance pay for nearly 63 percent of these costs, with taxpayers shouldering the remaining 16 percent,” according to a recent OSHA report titled Adding Inequality to Injury: The Costs of Failing to Protect Workers on the Job

Legislatures should endeavor to create a payment system to alleviate the built-in financial woes for even compensable injuries.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Government, Legislation, Workers' Compensation and tagged , , , , , .

Workers’ Compensation Basics: Understanding Social Security Disability Offsets

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This is the next post in the series that looks at the basics of workers’ compensation. If you receive both workers’ compensation benefits and Social Security Administration disability benefits, please be aware of the concerns raised here.

The most important thing a worker who is entitled to receive both workers’ compensation and SSA disability benefits can do is report the amount of workers’ compensation benefits to the Social Security Administration, in writing if possible. Failure to do so can result in an overpayment that may not be uncovered until years later and may be thousands of dollars.

However, the reporting of these benefits doesn’t ensure the SSA will make the proper adjustment to your SSA monthly benefit. As such, it’s important to follow up with the SSA once you have reported your benefit amount to ensure they adjust your SSA benefit to account for this. This will help ensure an overpayment is not found years later. Be sure to ask an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer if you have questions.

Please read the previous blog posts in the workers’ compensation basics series by clicking on these links: 

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in social security disability, Workers' Compensation and tagged , , , .

Workers’ Compensation, Social Security Offset and Overpayments

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Social Security disability benefits are subject to an offset, or reduction, when paid to a claimant who is also receiving workers’ compensation benefits. Technically, the reduction applies if the total of the two benefits exceeds 80 percent of the worker’s “average current earnings” or ACE. The worker’s ACE is calculated as the largest of three averages:

  1. average monthly wage used for purposes of computing Social Security benefits;
  2. 1/60 of the total wages for five consecutive calendar years for which such wages were the highest; or
  3. 1/12 of the total wages for the calendar year in which the worker had the highest such wages during the period consisting of the calendar year in which he or she became disabled and the five consecutive calendar years preceding that year. Clearly this is not a simple calculation that most workers can undertake.   

In most instances, when a worker is receiving temporary or permanent total disability payments, they will not be entitled to receive any disability pay from the Social Security Administration. When a worker is receiving permanent partial disability payments, they likely will be entitled to receive at least a portion of their SSA disability pay. In many cases, settling a workers’ compensation case can increase the monthly SSA disability benefit.   

At any rate, the most important thing a worker who is entitled to receive both workers’ compensation and SSA disability benefits can do is report the amount of his workers’ compensation benefits to the Social Security Administration, in writing if possible.  Failure to do so can result in an overpayment that may not be uncovered until years later and may be thousands of dollars. However, the reporting of these benefits doesn’t ensure the SSA will make the proper adjustment to your SSA monthly benefit. As such, it’s important to follow up with the SSA once you have reported your benefit amount to ensure they adjust your SSA benefit to account for this. This will help ensure an overpayment is not found years later.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in social security disability and tagged , , , , .

Workers Can’t Wait to Cash In?

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Worplace-Safety-Workers-Compensation-Worker-Injury-ConstructionIt’s not uncommon in the workers’ compensation arena that we hear allegations of malingering or workers being hurt on purpose to reap the monetary rewards of a work injury. Some employers refuse to settle a case as long as the worker is still employed by the company, fearing a large monetary settlement will encourage other workers to get injured.  The limited benefits of a workers’ compensation claim make these assertions ridiculous.  Specifically, no benefits are paid for the pain and suffering.  Additionally, the reality is that many states compensate a permanent injury for only a matter of weeks or years.  The worker and his or her family are left to deal with the ongoing effects of these injuries for the balance of their lifetime.

The Insurance Journal listed the top 10 leading causes “of serious, nonfatal workplace injuries” from “2012 claims data for injuries lasting six or more days and ranked the injuries by total workers’ compensation costs,” according to a recent article.

Not surprisingly, horseplay or purposefully getting injured was not among them. In fact, the leading cause of workplace injuries is ironically enough – overexertion! Overexertion and other exertion-related injuries made up almost a third of all workplace injuries. So much for the theory of money-hungry workers playing around or purposefully getting injured. Falls comprise two of the top 10 leading causes of workplace injuries, making up a total of just over 24 percent of all injuries.  Being struck by or striking objects combined for around 15 percent. Motor vehicle accidents (5.3 percent) and repetitive movements (3.1 percent) round out the top 10 list. The full list is detailed below. In total, the 10 most common work injuries accounted for almost 84 percent of all injuries.

  1. Overexertion 25.3 percent
  2. Falls on same level 15.4 percent
  3. Struck by object or equipment 8.9 percent
  4. Falls to lower level 8.6 percent
  5. Other exertions or bodily reactions 7.2 percent
  6. Roadway incidents 5.3 percent
  7. Slip or trip without fall 3.6 percent
  8. Caught in or by equipment or objects 3.5 percent
  9. Repetitive motions 3.1 percent
  10. Struck against object or equipment 2.9 percent

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that workplace deaths have decreased from 38 per day in 1970 to 12 per day in 2012, according to the article. Additionally, OSHA reports occupational injury and illness rates have declined 67 percent since 1970, all while employment has almost doubled.

Despite these accomplishments, insurance companies and large employers continue to lobby state legislatures about the injustice and cost of workers’ compensation benefits. In reality, workers and their families continue to bear the real burdens of workplace injuries.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Disability, employer fraud, fighting fraud, Fraud, Work Injury, Workers' Compensation, Workplace Injury, Workplace Safety and tagged , .