Search Our Site

October 27, 2025 Olympia, WA — The deaths of 11 landscaping services workers in a four-year period has prompted a hazard alert from the Washington State Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program.   The alert states that most of the workers were tree trimmers who died as a result of a fall. It details three cases, all of which took place between 2020 and 2024. It adds that struck-by injuries are another common cause of death in the landscaping industry, and pushes for “proper policies, training and equipment.”   The alert provides two “tips to live by”: Develop and enforce policies in your accident prevention program: This program requires tree trimmers to perform a site-specific job hazard assessment and make a safety plan before any trimming or removal begins. The APP should emphasize the use of top-quality, reputable and arborist-certified equipment and techniques, especially for lifelines and rigging. Have a qualified arborist or Certified Tree Care Safety Professional: These professionals can make decisions about safety and controlled tree trimming and removal practices, as well as directly supervise workers involved in tree work. They also provide initial and recurring training in hazard identification; fall protection; safe use of equipment; and Section C of ANSI Z133-2017: Manual Tree Felling Procedure. The alert includes links to an  OSHA fact sheet  on safe tree trimming and a  Solutions for Tree Care Hazards  chart.

October 24, 2025 Since claim outcomes affect employers financially, Human Resources teams must stay engaged, ideally in partnership with their insurance broker, to help drive better results. This article highlights best practices in WC claims communication and handling, along with practical tips on how to set your team up for success.   The Key Role of Personal Communication Technology and email templates have improved communication and streamlined processes for claims adjusters by reducing their administrative workload. However, the use of AI and automated, legal-heavy boilerplate messages can come across as confusing, impersonal, and frustrating for both injured workers and employers.   While written communication is both necessary and often legally required, relying too heavily on it without balancing it with live discussion, clear and simple explanations, active listening, and empathy can erode personal relationships and reduce trust in the process. WC claims bring uncertainty, and when that uncertainty isn’t properly explained or put into plain language, it can heighten stress, anxiety, and doubt for both the worker and the employer.   This breakdown in communication can lead injured employees to hire attorneys, which increases claim costs. Additionally, employers may lose faith in the adjuster’s capabilities and respond by micromanaging the process, which adds pressure on adjusters and can lead to burnout and staff turnover.   Personal Touch Point A helpful practice is for employers to ask adjusters to personally call injured workers—introducing themselves, explaining the benefits, and preparing them for any official notices. This can ease the worker’s anxiety and clarify the process.   In the business world, a 24-hour response time is generally standard, with faster replies expected for time-sensitive matters. That said, urgency is often subjective. To assess whether an issue truly requires immediate attention, adjusters will evaluate if the situation poses a risk of harm or significant negative outcomes. For example, an injured worker showing signs of infection or expressing suicidal thoughts would require immediate action. Time-sensitive legal events, like an upcoming hearing or deposition within a week, may be considered urgent. In contrast, routine matters like getting approval for physical therapy don’t fall into the urgent category.   HR professionals can smooth communication expectations by helping distinguish urgent from non-urgent concerns and reassuring injured workers that their needs are being addressed. Clear and detailed communication from both injured workers and employers also helps adjusters fully understand the situation and take timely, appropriate action.   Another key pain point is when adjusters fail to respond to status update requests, whether about disability payments, treatment approvals, or work restrictions. Sometimes, adjusters delay replies because they’re still waiting on information. Employers can request that adjusters provide a quick response explaining what they’re doing to get the information and when they expect to have it.   Promoting Proactive Follow-Through A well-crafted action plan is meaningless without proactive follow-through. A common frustration arises during claim reviews when it becomes apparent that the adjuster is simply going through the motions, repeating the same status and action plan presented in the previous meeting months earlier, with no explanation for the lack of progress. This can feel like déjà vu or being stuck in a loop. Here are a few scenarios where adjusters may fall short in following through: Read More

October 23, 2025 Agricultural workers recount working in extreme heat while expecting. Advocates say more protections are needed to ensure the health and well-being of the expectant moms and their babies.   One hot day last summer, Clarisa Lugo was inspecting and counting corn and soybean plants in the middle of a 300-acre farm field in Illinois when she started throwing up and panting. Her heart raced, she stopped sweating and a pounding headache didn’t go away for hours.   The heat index — a blend of temperature and humidity — had hit 105 degrees, and Lugo, who was eight months pregnant, was suffering from heat illness.   “I remember that that day it was hard for me to go back to normal” despite drinking water and putting ice on her body, she recalled.   Agricultural workers are already among the most vulnerable to extreme heat, and pregnant workers are coming under greater risk as temperatures rise because of climate change. Many in the U.S. are low-income Latino immigrants who toil under the sizzling sun or in humid nurseries open year round. Heat exposure has been linked to many extra risks for pregnant people, and while protections exist, experts say they need better enforcement and more safeguards are needed.   Compounding these risks is the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. Many people are too afraid to seek medical and maternal care, according to research and interviews with advocates and health care providers, and are increasingly fearful of retribution if they advocate for safe work environments.   The Associated Press interviewed four agricultural workers who recounted experiences of working in extreme heat while pregnant. Three spoke under the condition of anonymity because they’re in the country illegally or fear reprisals from their employers.   Temperature rise in big agricultural states California, one of the nation's most agriculturally productive states, employed more than 893,000 agricultural workers in 2023, according to state data. Iowa, also among the top 10 agriculture-producing states, provides more than 385,000 jobs in the agriculture industry, according to a 2024 study.   Since the start of the 20th century, California temperatures have increased almost 3 degrees, according to state and federal data. Warming has accelerated, and seven of the past eight years in that state through 2024 were the warmest on record. Iowa has seen temperatures increase by more than 1 degree during the same period while in Florida, another big agriculture state, average temperatures have increased by more than 2 degrees.   When it comes to how the body reacts, even small temperature increases can make a difference.   One study found that agricultural workers had more than 35 times the risk of heat-related deaths than other workers. But deaths are hard to track and are likely undercounted. In the U.S., an estimated one-third of farmworkers are women — an increasing share of the farm workforce.   Lugo and her baby ended up fine. But others haven’t been so lucky.   As one nursery worker in Florida put it: “I’ve wanted to leave this work,” but “I have to fight for my children.”   Dangers of heat and exertion An agricultural worker recalled working in a Florida nursery in 2010 amid intense heat. She was four months pregnant and would spend hours carrying heavy pots of plants and bent over weeding and planting indoor foliage such as monsteras. At work one day, she felt painful abdominal cramping. She knew something was wrong when she saw blood in the toilet.   “(At the hospital) they told me that I had already lost the baby,” she said. She believes the physical work combined with heat caused her miscarriage.   Another nursery worker in Florida worked four months into her pregnancy in 2024, vomiting — sometimes after drinking water — and feeling nausea and headaches in part because of the heat.   Her baby was born prematurely, at seven months.   “(The doctor) told me that I spent too much time bent over ... and I wasn’t eating well for the same reason, because of the heat," she said.   Pregnancy increases the risks of extreme heat because the body has to work harder to cool down. Heat exposure has been linked to increased risk of miscarriages, stillbirths, preterm births, low birth weight and birth defects.   Combining pregnancy and heat with physical labor can more quickly overwhelm the body's cooling system, increasing the likelihood of dehydration, heat illness and heat stroke. Even short-term exposure to heat can increase the risk of severe maternal health complications, such as high blood pressure disorders of pregnancy, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.   In the worst cases, it can kill.   Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez was 17 and two months pregnant when she died in 2008 from heatstroke after pruning grapes in a California farm. Her supervisors failed to provide shade and water while she worked for hours in nearly triple-digit heat, authorities said.   California’s outdoor heat standard, enacted in 2005, was later named in Jimenez's honor.   Unclear how sporadic regulations may benefit farmworkers No federal heat protections exist in the U.S., although the Trump administration appears to be moving forward with a proposed rule. Some states, including California and Washington, have their own protections, while others, like Texas and Florida, have barred local governments from implementing their own. In states with protections, advocates say they’re not adequately enforced and pointed to a widespread distrust of reporting systems.   Read More

October 22, 2025 Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspections will continue during the federal government shutdown, but rulemaking and other processes, including informal conferences between employers and officials, have been halted, legal experts say.   The conferences, which occur between employers and OSHA officials after a citation is issued, ceased after Congress failed to pass funding legislation for 2026, furloughing many federal workers and shutting down many government operations.   Under OSHA rules, at the request of an affected employer, employee or representative of employees, an assistant regional director may hold an informal conference “to discuss any issues raised by an inspection, citation, notice of proposed penalty or notice of intention to contest.” Such proceedings are used to negotiate settlements with the agency or provide or extend abatement after an alleged violation.   “The fact that the area offices are not holding informal conferences is very significant, because the vast bulk of citation cases do not go to contest and do not get litigated,” said Andrew Brought, a Kansas City, Missouri-based attorney with Spencer Fane. He added that the agency is working with a “skeleton crew” and that statutory deadlines — such as the 15 days to contest a citation — still apply.   “This is a real challenge, as employers are not getting the opportunity to have an informal conference,” he said. As a result, employers have to agree to the citation or contest it and wait for the government to reopen.   At least 75% of OSHA staff were furloughed, leaving most of the work to area directors and assistant area directors, said John Ho, New York-based co-chair of the OSHA workplace safety practice at law firm Cozen O’Connor.   The OSHA employees still working are charged with inspecting imminent dangerous situations, serious violations, fatalities, whistleblower complaints and time-sensitive inspections, Mr. Ho said in an email.   OSHA spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment.   There will likely be a backlog of complaints to address when the shutdown ends, said Peter Vassalo, Washington-based senior counsel at Littler and a former OSHA attorney.   “There are still mechanisms for people to report things to the agency that are referrals and non-formal complaints that are going to be backed up in the inboxes of everybody,” he said. “One thing employers should really understand is that this is only a temporary situation that we have right now. So, they should continue to comply” with workplace regulations.   Employers in states with state OSHA plans are not affected by the shutdown, Mr. Vassalo said. Twenty-nine states have their own OSHA plans in accordance with federal law.   The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development has opened an investigation into the Oct. 10 explosion at ammunition maker Accurate Energetic Systems that killed 16 people, a Tennessee OSHA spokesman confirmed.

October 22, 2025 Woodinville, WA — Do you go to work when you’re sick? Nearly 1 out of 3 people would prefer you didn’t, results of a recent survey show.   Energy drink producer Zipfizz commissioned an online survey of 2,000 Americans to learn about their approaches to cold and flu and the “evolving etiquette around rest and recovery.”   Thirty-one percent of respondents said going into work while coughing or fighting through sickness shouldn’t be considered a badge of honor. Despite this, around 1 out of 4 said they strongly believe showing up sick would impress bosses or superiors.   Although 20% of the respondents said they had attended a work or social gathering in the past year while feeling ill, 86% are concerned for their own well-being when a colleague comes to work visibly sick.   Other findings: Only 22% of the respondents who are employed feel pressure from an employer to show up when they aren’t feeling well. The top reasons for coming to work sick: “I had already committed” (28%) and “I couldn’t afford to miss work” (27%). 42% said their relationship with someone would be negatively affected if they showed up sick, with 64% saying the behavior is “selfish.” 57% agreed that expectations of others coming in sick have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. 70% are more cautious about hygiene and illness now than before the pandemic.   “As we continue to adapt to new expectation around health, it’s clear that people are becoming more mindful of how their actions affect others,” Zipfizz spokesperson Marcela Kanalos said in a press release.   “The rise in remote work and virtual meetings, combined with an increased focus on hygiene and personal well-being, reflects a broader understanding that health isn’t just about feeling better – it’s about respecting the health of those around you.”

October 20, 2025 The National Council on Compensation Insurance is again recommending a reduction in workers’ compensation rates in Florida and Alabama, and regulators in both states have scheduled public hearings about the proposed changes. In Alabama, the NCCI recently called for a 4.5% average reduction in loss costs, effective March 1, 2026. That follows a 6.1% decrease for 2025, approved late last year. The NCCI also is recommending a 3.6% decrease in the assigned risk rate level in Alabama for next year, the Alabama Department of Insurance said in a bulletin. To contemplate the falling rates, Alabama Department of Insurance will hold a hearing on Thursday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m. Central time, at the DOI offices on Monroe Street in Montgomery. NCCI representatives will attend remotely, through an online computer link. Other prospective attendees should notify the department of their attendance by 5 p.m. on Nov. 28, via email to john.mcdonald@insurance.alabama.gov. Written comments should be sent by that deadline to Alabama Department of Insurance, Legal Division, Post Office Box 303351, Montgomery, AL 30130-3351. In Florida, NCCI has proposed a 6.9% decrease in rates for the voluntary market, effective Jan. 1. If approved by Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation, the decrease would mark the ninth straight year for workers’ comp rate reductions in the Sunshine State. Regulators approved a 1% average decrease for 2025 – the smallest cut in years. That followed decreases of 15.1% in 2024 and 8.4 % in 2023. Since 2003, when Florida lawmakers made historic changes to the state’s workers’ compensation system, overall rates have fallen by a cumulative 85%. The Florida public hearing will be Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 10 a.m., the OIR said in a bulletin. Participants can register here to participate online or can tune in by telephone by calling 877-309-2074; the access code is 806-883-902. Public comment may be submitted at the rate hearing or emailed to ratehearings@floir.com with the subject line “NCCI.”

October 17, 2025 A Florida appellate court upheld a determination that an injured worker was fired for misconduct and not entitled to disability benefits after losing his job.   As documented in Cobb v. TECO Energy Inc., Leroy Cobb Jr. was working for TECO Energy in 2023 when he injured his wrist. He was released to light-duty work after the accident, and TECO accommodated his restrictions.   The company fired Cobb in May 2023 based on reports that he had been sitting in a truck, doing nothing, while on company time, according to the ruling. After his termination, a dispute arose over his entitlement to temporary partial disability benefits.   Florida law provides that temporary partial disability benefits are not payable if an employee is fired from post-injury employment based on misconduct. The law defines misconduct as that “evincing such willful or wanton disregard of an employer’s interests as is found in deliberate violation or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of the employee; or carelessness or negligence of such a degree or recurrence as to manifest culpability, wrongful intent or evil design, or to show an intentional and substantial disregard of an employer’s interests or of the employee’s duties and obligations to the employer.”   A judge of compensation claims found that Mr. Cobb was not entitled to benefits because he was fired for misconduct.   The Court of Appeal for the 1st District of Florida said there was competent, substantial evidence in the record to support the judge’s factual findings that Mr. Cobb was “an average employee at best” who was not a “team player” and “simply refused to follow policies and rules.”   The claims judge further found that TECO presented “cumulative and redundant testimony” that detailed numerous instances of behavior by Mr. Cobb that were contrary to the company’s code of conduct and that he had repeated violations of explicit policies, even after several warnings. That judge concluded that the “repeated problems with his behavior” amounted to misconduct by Mr. Cobb.

October 17, 2025 Over the past decade, employers have faced an increasing number of employees who take prescribed medication for a variety of conditions, including pain, anxiety, depression, and other long-term conditions. The employees may disclose their prescription drug use as part of return-to-work discussions or in conjunction with a drug screening.   In some situations, employers become concerned over the impact of prescription drugs on safe and effective work performance. These concerns are often based on the manufacturer’s generic warnings, including cautions against driving or operating heavy machinery when using the drugs. In some cases, employers attempt to use such warnings as grounds for refusing to reinstate a worker while they continue to use the medication.   Reliance on generic side effect information can conflict with the employee’s own doctor’s assessment of their ability to perform the job. The manufacturer warnings fail to take into account the dosage, timing of use of the drugs, and other factors that can determine whether such use will interfere with job performance. When faced with a disability discrimination claim, a doctor’s individual analysis about the employee’s fitness will usually trump generic warnings about potential side effects.   This does not mean that employers should ignore their concerns over the ability of an employee using prescription drugs to safely and effectively perform their job duties.   Once the employer learns of such use, it can ask for information from the worker’s physician, explaining the job duties and asking whether the drugs present any issues with job performance.   The employer can also observe the employee’s performance to determine if there are indications of adverse effects from the medication. These observations can form the basis for a request for additional medical information or even removal from the position pending resolution of these concerns.   For employers, relying on a drug manufacturer’s general warnings cannot substitute for an individualized analysis of the actual impact of prescription drug use on that employee.

October 17, 2025 For those thinking that classifying workers as independent contractors is a cheaper way of doing business, beware.   A California court just ordered a home healthcare business to pay $10 million in restitution and civil penalties for misclassifying its home care workers as independent contractors.   The judgment in the case states that the company already was on notice for the misclassification and also had represented to its customers that the workers were actually employees.   The misclassification resulted in loss of overtime pay to the workers, loss of workers’ compensation coverage and benefits, and loss of various tax withholdings that were for the benefit of the workers and the state.   Be Sure to Apply the Independent Contractor Test We blogged recently on the relaxation of the federal independent contractor test under the Trump administration. This is the Department of Labor test that applies to the Fair Labor Standards Act for federal wage issues.   As we stated in that post, however, there are other tests for issues arising under other agencies and for issues arising under state law. This California case is a good reminder of the danger of ignoring state law.   The California Test The California test is simpler and arguably more employee-friendly than most other tests, but it is a helpful guide even if it does not apply to you. It is called the “ABC Test.” Under this test, for a worker to be an independent contractor, all three of these criteria must be met:   A.     The worker must be free from control of the company; B.     The worker must perform work outside the course of the company’s usual business; and C.    The worker must be customarily engaged in an independent business of the same nature as the work performed for the company.   While many of our readers will never be subject to this ABC Test, it is a good self-check to use in evaluating the status of a company’s workers.   Takeaways Do not assume that independent contractor lawsuits and agency audits have gone away — they have not. All employers should evaluate seriously whether this classification route actually is cheaper in the long run.

October 17, 2025 Washington — Nearly 60% of small-business employees have witnessed a workplace injury in the past year, and almost half of those injuries were considered preventable, results of a recent survey show.   Pie Insurance, a commercial insurance provider for small businesses, commissioned a survey of more than 1,000 full- or part-time workers at businesses with 500 or fewer employees.   It found: Two-thirds of the respondents have ongoing safety concerns at work, but 17% are hesitant to report them. 44% of the workers don’t know how to report an injury and 65% don’t know how to file a workers’ compensation claim. Only 29% of workers said they regularly receive safety training, even though 63% of employers say they provide structured training. 28% said they’ve never received formal safety training. Mental health is the workers’ top safety and health concern, with 32% in agreement. Physical injury (20%), environmental hazards (9%) and equipment safety (4%) followed.   “What I find most meaningful about this data is that it shows the gap between what employers think they’re providing and what employees actually experience, and that’s where the real opportunity lies,” Carla Woodard, senior vice president of claims at Pie, said in a press release. “Small businesses that close this divide by genuinely engaging employees in safety decisions won’t just prevent injuries, they’ll build modern safety cultures that attract top talent and deliver measurably safer outcomes. That’s the kind of competitive advantage you can’t buy.”