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April 12, 2024 'Regulations promulgated in Washington or Tallahassee are less likely to be appropriate than in almost any other area of regulation.' Florida cities and counties will be barred from requiring businesses to give water breaks or other “cooling measures” to employees who work outside after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 433. The measure also removes the power of local governments to require contractors to pay higher wages, or use higher pay as an incentive in awarding bids. The new law, which takes effect July 1, also bars cities and counties from requiring employers to give workers their work hours ahead of time. Read more

April 11, 2024 Psychosocial hazards in the workplace are causing physical and psychological harm to employees at increasing rates and driving a call to improve worker well-being, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Psychosocial hazards are on the verge of surpassing many other occupational hazards, the report states. This could lead to a decrease in employee health, an increase in workplace injuries and disabilities and potentially higher workers compensation costs. “The extensive and cumulative impacts of these exposures represent an alarming public health problem that merits immediate, increased attention,” NIOSH wrote. Psychosocial hazards can also lead to burnout, cardiovascular disease, depression, high blood pressure, sleep disturbances and suicidal ideation, according to NIOSH. Read more

April 10, 2024 PALATKA, FL – As he had many other days, the morning shift welder arrived at 5 a.m. to work at St. John's Ship Building Inc. in Palatka on Aug. 28, 2023. Tasked with doing some fabrication work in a 4-foot by 8-foot space in a ship’s hull, the employee began work unaware that fatal suffocation would soon end his life. Less than two hours after entering the ship, a supervisor found the unconscious welder and signaled for help, only to fall unconscious as well. A third employee appeared, alerting EMS and the Palatka Fire Department who soon transported all three workers to a nearby hospital. Despite emergency treatment, the welder died from a lack of oxygen. The supervisor and the third worker received medical treatment and were released. Inspectors with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined St. John’s Ship Building exposed workers to oxygen deficiency by sending the welder into a confined space without first testing the air for oxygen content. The presence of welding gas in the space created an oxygen-deficient atmosphere. Read more

April 5, 2024 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Southeast Third Avenue bridge over the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale reopened Friday morning after part of a crane collapsed Thursday afternoon, killing a construction worker and injuring three people on the ground. Fort Lauderdale Police identified the worker Friday as 27-year-old Jorge De La Torre. A large, blue piece of steel from a crane at the Gables Riverwalk construction site at 333 N. New River Drive E. smashed into two cars on the drawbridge, landing on top of a van and crushing the passenger side of the vehicle. The front of a Tesla was also severely damaged. The bridge was closed to boats and cars until about 9 a.m. Friday, when the city said both car and boat traffic was restored. No signs of the accident were evident on the bridge itself Friday morning except for a remnant of caution tape. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation with Phoenix Rigging & Erecting LLC, Kast Construction, LLC, and Maxim Crane Works LP, spokesperson Erika Ruthman wrote in an email Friday morning. Kast Construction has received multiple OSHA violations over issues relating to falls and a lack of guardrails, records show. In 2023, the company was fined two separate times, totaling over $20,000, for failing its “duty to have fall protection” standard. Read more

April 4, 2024 A Florida appellate court on Wednesday reversed a decision granting summary judgment to a contractor who was sued by a worker who alleges he was injured during a fall while he was securing a tarp to the roof of a two-story residence in preparation for an insurance inspection. The Florida Third District Court of Appeal found that a trial court wrongly determined Claudio Navarro failed to establish he was working under the direction of Alfredo Borges when he was injured in October 2017. Mr. Borges sent Mr. Navarro to Palmetto Bay to place a tarp on the roof of a home damaged during Hurricane Irma, the ruling states. Mr. Navarro installed the tarp without incident. Days later, Mr. Navarro, on a different job site, overheard workers discussing problems with the tarp, after which Mr. Borges “had given the order” for Mr. Navarro to fix the issue prior to the insurance inspection, the ruling states. Mr. Navarro fell while attempting to correct the tarp problem without safety equipment and was injured. Read more

April 3, 2024 The Florida Legislature just passed a bill to loosen existing work restrictions for minors who are at least 16 years old. Governor DeSantis signed the bill on March 22, and it will take effect on July 1. You should note that both federal and state laws restrict the time of day and number of hours that minors can work, the type of work that minors can perform, and the equipment they can use. Although the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) governs child labor and sets the minimum standards, states can enact more restrictive child labor laws. Florida is one of the states that has enacted more restrictive child labor laws — but the new legislation lightens up on restrictions for older teens, allowing those workers and their employers more flexibility. Here’s what employers need to know about HB 49 and the top five questions to consider when hiring teenagers. Read more

April 1, 2024 Rising temperatures are causing problems for workers in industries such as construction, warehousing and transportation, and heat-related workers compensation claims are increasing as a result, experts say. As more claims are submitted, claims professionals are stepping up investigations to determine whether they are compensable. Safety advocates, meanwhile, are urging the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to finalize a workplace safety standard that addresses the potential for heat-related injuries (see related story below). Heat-related workplace risks are expected to increase, as insurers “across the country have identified climate change as an emerging concern,” said Patrick Coate, an economist with the Boca Raton, Florida-based National Council on Compensation Insurance, which is researching the connection between weather severity and increased worker injuries. Insurers manage heat-related workers comp claims much like other injury claims, with investigations of causation and early treatment. Read more

April 1, 2024 What an injured worker eats has become a talking point for workers compensation claims handlers as they explore the intersection of nutrition and injury recovery. Proper nutrition “is something that we identified because if there’s poor nutrition, they’re not going to recover as quickly or as well, especially if they’re having a surgery,” said Dr. Adam Seidner, Hartford, Connecticut-based chief medical officer at Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. The discussions over nutrition branched out from worker advocacy models in workers comp — where there’s more interaction between injured workers and claims handlers on issues that may not be directly related to a claim but could affect the outcome. “We know that proper nutrition is a key governor of health,” said Dr. Teresa Bartlett, Troy, Michigan-based managing director, senior medical officer, at third-party administrator Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc. It’s especially important for the aging workforce, which already faces delayed recovery, she added.\ Nutrition is “one of the key factors that determines if someone will age well, if their bones are healthy, if their muscles are healthy,” she said. “We know that if you’re having a surgery, just like the fact that you shouldn’t be smoking because you won’t recover adequately, if you’re not getting proper nutrition your bones and your skin will not heal properly.” Read more

March 29, 2024 The U.S. Department of Labor on Friday announced a final rule clarifying the rights of employees to authorize a representative to accompany an Occupational Safety and Health Administration compliance officer during an inspection of their workplace will be published in the Federal Register on Monday. The Occupational Safety and Health Act gives the employer and employees the right to authorize a representative to accompany OSHA officials during a workplace inspection. The final rule is “consistent with the law” and clarifies that workers may authorize another employee to serve as their representative or select a nonemployee, according to a statement. For a nonemployee representative to accompany the compliance officer in a workplace, they must be reasonably necessary to conduct an effective and thorough inspection, according to a statement. Read more

March 22, 2024   A Connecticut employer has the right to terminate an employee who is impaired by medical marijuana in the workplace.   The Connecticut Appellate Court on March 19 upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought against a nonprofit pre-school by a teaching assistant who used medical marijuana for treatment of her disability and was fired for violating the school’s drug-free workplace policy by showing up for work impaired.   The court ruled that even though Connecticut has a law permitting use of marijuana for medical purposes, employers still “may prohibit qualifying patients from being under its influence in the workplace.” According to the appellate court, employees making claims under Connecticut’s Palliative Use of Marijuana Act (PUMA) must show that they were terminated solely because the employee had a prescription for medical marijuana.   The court also affirmed the right of an employer to seek a drug test of an employee when the employer has a “reasonable suspicion” that an employee is violating its drug free policy.   Prescriptions Alyssa Bartolotta had a doctor’s prescriptions for Valium and medical marijuana as part of treatment for her epilepsy. She did not inform her employer, Human Resources of New Britain, Inc., of her epilepsy or her Valium or medical marijuana use until after incidents at work.   She told her employer about her epilepsy and Valium only after she had a seizure at work. Thereafter, the school made some accommodations for her including letting her leave for the day whenever she had a seizure and assigning her to a room where she would always be with another teacher.   The employer, however, declined her request to have the school nurse hold some doses of Valium on the premises for her in case she needed it. In denying her request, the school stressed its drug-free policy and that the part-time nurse was not authorized to administer medications. The school told her she could hold the Valium at work herself.   In an incident on January 2, 2019, after a fellow employee questioned her behavior at the school when she called a child by the wrong name, Bartolotta acknowledged that “her head was just not right” because she likely had ingested too much marijuana and the effects carried over into the workday. Her medical protocol called for her to take the drugs at 8 pm in the evening. Six days later she agreed to take a drug that ending up showing positive for Valium but negative for marijuana.   Termination After first suspending Bartolotta, then conducting an investigation that revealed concerns of several other employees, and obtaining the drug test, the school terminated Bartolotta. The school concluded that Bartolotta signed and was aware of the drug-free policy and violated that policy by showing for work in an impaired state, which she admitted in an interview. The school noted that Bartolotta did not disclose her medical marijuana use until an incident occurred and never requested an accommodation.   In terminating her, the school explained that her firing was not because of her epilepsy or her medical marijuana user status but for showing to work in an impaired state. Bartolotta said at the time that she understood the reason.   After the school’s grievance committee and board of directors both upheld her termination as proper, Bartolotta filed an employment discrimination complaint with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. In her accompanying affidavit, Bartolotta alleged that the her employer ”terminated her employment because of her disability” and ”failed to accommodate her by prohibiting her from working while taking prescription medication for her disability.” The commission issued a release of jurisdiction over her complaint.   After that, Bartolotta sued Human Resources of New Britain, alleging violations of the state’s fair employment practices and medical malpractice laws, including unfair discrimination and wrongful termination because of her epilepsy disability and her status as a medical marijuana user, and illegal drug testing. A trial court found she had no case and awarded her employer summary judgment.   Now the appellate court has upheld the dismissal of her suit and the actions of her employer.   Clams Denied Bartolotta had signed an acknowledgment of the school’s drug free workplace policy. In her deposition testimony, she admitted that she was aware that her employment could be terminated if she came to work impaired. But in her deposition she maintained that she was not impaired when the incident occurred on January 2, and that taking medical marijuana ”does not make her impaired.” She further averred that the results of the drug test conducted six days after the January 2 incident proved that she didn’t come to work impaired.   In dismissing her complaint, the appellate court stressed that the state’s medical marijuana law contains language making clear that it shall not restrict an “employer’s ability to prohibit the use of intoxicating substances during work hours or restrict an employer’s ability to discipline an employee for being under the influence of intoxicating substances during work hours.”   The appellate court noted that the written disciplinary notice issued by school stated that, during an interview on January 8, Bartolotta admitted that she uses medical marijuana, did show up to work impaired, and she may be abusing it. In addition, during multiple phone calls with the school’s human resources director, she did not deny showing up to work impaired.   Noting that the employer’s notice concluded that her employment was being terminated because she ”failed to follow company policy and procedures” regarding drug and alcohol use in the workplace, the court dismissed her claims that she was fired because of her disability or her medical marijuana use for lack of evidence.   ‘Bald Assertion’ Bartolotta’s complaint stated that ”terminating an employee for using medication for a disability is the equivalent of terminating an employee because of her disability.” However, the court found she provided “no legal authority for that bald assertion, which runs contrary to the plain language” of the law.   Bartolotta also failed to provide any legal authority to support the proposition that she should have been allowed to use her medical marijuana during the workday or to appear at the preschool facility in an impaired state.   The court found that the school’s denial of Bartolotta’s requested accommodation regarding holding the Valium was reasonable, and that neither Bartolotta nor her doctor ever requested an accommodation for her medical marijuana use. In addition, the court said it is unclear what—if any—accommodation the school could make “short of allowing her to appear impaired in the workplace.”   Finally, the court found that in light of reports by other employees of her behavior and her own admission of showing up to work impaired, Human Resources of New Britain had the requisite “reasonable suspicion” under the state law to request a drug test.