Written by: Daniel Richardson, Esq. Rochelle Frett worked as a claims associate for State Farm. Each workday she had a mandatory unpaid 45-minute lunch break. During her lunch break she was free to do as she pleased, including leaving the office for lunch. She was not expected or asked to do any work on her lunch break. Her habit was to go the breakroom, prepare her food, then go outside

y: James G. Smith, Esq. Effective January 1, 2019, the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation will begin actively enforcing the requirement to timely file a Form WC-1 in all claims, including those deemed “medical only.”  Although Board Rules already require that a WC-1 must be filed and provided to the employee within 21 days of the date of injury or the date of the Employer’s knowledge of disability, the

Written by: Rayford Taylor, Esq. LINGO V. EARLY COUNTY GIN, INC. GEORGIA COURT OF APPEALS EMPLOYER WAS NOT ENTITLED TO STATUTORY PRESUMPTION CONCERNING DRUG USE Analysis An employer which seeks to use the statutory presumption that a workplace accident was caused by drug use must strictly comply with the statutory requirements. If not done properly, the presumption cannot be used to defend or defeat a workers’ compensation claim. Facts In this case, a faulty chain of

Written by: Byron Lindberg Several revisions to the Claims Handling Standards (0800-2-14) went into effect, on August 2, 2018, with new rules ranging from a requirement that adjusting entities designate a liaison between the entity and the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation to new regulations governing contact/interaction with injured employees. Some of the revisions to be especially aware of include: 0800-2-14-.03(2) Each adjuster agency must designate at least one liaison between the entity

Written by: Rayford Taylor, Esq. Analysis Plaintiffs seeking damages from employers or co-employees allegedly arising from the negligence in a workplace accident must properly plead and prove facts which support intentional or grossly negligent conduct to defeat workers’ compensation immunity. Facts Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay, as personal representatives of their son’s estate, sued the employer and a co-employee for the death of their son, Randy. The trial court ruled that workers’ compensation immunity

Written by: Daniel Richardson, Esq. One of the most important avenues to control the medical costs and overall exposure of your worker’s compensation claims is to utilize the control given to Employers by O.C.G.A. § 34-9-201, which requires that the Employer maintain a valid Panel of Physicians. The statute requires that you list at least six physicians or professional associations or corporations of physicians who are reasonably accessible to the

By: Denise Dawson, Esq. Firefighters, police officers and other first responders who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will qualify for a full array of workers’ compensation insurance benefits effective Oct. 1, 2018, under a bill that Gov. Rick Scott signed into law, at the Tampa Firefighters Museum on March 27, 2018. Three Central Florida first responders who were at the Pulse shooting in June 2016 were instrumental in getting the

By: Dale Slemons, Esq. Georgia’s House Bill 249 , which was signed into law by Governor Deal last year, has put new teeth into Georgia’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). Specifically, the law shifts control of Georgia’s PDMP from the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency to the Georgia Department of Public Health. The law further requires that by January 1, 2018 every prescriber who has a DEA registration number be

By: Dale Slemons, Esq. As you know, one of the most important avenues to control the medical costs and overall exposure of your workers’ compensation claims is to utilize the control given to Employers by O.C.G.A. 34-9-201, which requires that the Employer maintain a valid Panel of Physicians. As you may know the statute requires that you list at least six physicians or professional associations or corporations of physician

Written by: Lissa F. Klein, Esq. The Court of Appeals chipped further away at the “idiopathic fall” defense and overruled a key case concerning this defense in the recent decision of Cartersville City Schools v. Johnson, A17A1469 (March 16, 2018). By way of background, the claimant in Johnson was a teacher who was instructing her students when she walked to her desk to put an image up on a smartboard. She then turned