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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration may have the authority to order employers to abate hazards across all their worksites, even ones it has not inspected for safety and health violations, according to a recent administrative decision that could lead to a significant expansion of the agency's regulatory powers. Click here to read more:

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has ordered a New York trucking company to pay a fired employee more than $45,000 in lost wages, damages and fees after finding he was illegally terminated for notifying regulators of a workplace safety violation. An OSHA investigation found that Meridale, New York-based Brindi Trailer Sales and Services Inc. and owner Robert Urbina Brindi violated the anti-discrimination provisions of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, according to an agency news release issued Thursday. The 1982 legislation protects employees who file complaints about unsafe operation of commercial motor vehicles. Click here to read more:

In ruling that Florida's mandatory cap on attorney fees is unconstitutional, the state Supreme Court has opened the door to higher claims costs, a workers compensation rate increase and additional litigation. In Marvin Castellanos v. Next Door Co. et al., the Florida Supreme Court ruled 5-2 in April that the state's law on attorney fees hinders an injured worker's ability to get legal representation. Click here to read more:

Nearly one-fourth of U.S. workers who were exposed to noise on the job experienced difficulty hearing, according to a study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Occupational hearing loss is one of the most common work-related illnesses in the United States, affecting about 22 million people, NIOSH said in a statement last week. Click here to read more:

Florida's workers compensation insurance may be seeing rate increases in the double digits by August due to the fallout of a recent Florida Supreme Court decision. ​ The National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc., which files rates on behalf of Florida's workers comp insurers and other stakeholders, proposed a 15% rate increase Friday in response to a recent Florida Supreme Court decision deeming it unconstitutional to cap claimant attorney fees. The increase accounts for the potential impact the court ruling could have. Click here to read more:

Oklahoma's Employee Injury Benefit Act, which allows employers to opt out of the state's workers compensation system if they provide alternative benefits for injured employees, is unconstitutional, Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Commission has unanimously ruled. The commission on Friday ruled that provisions of the Oklahoma Employee lnjury Benefit Act are “inoperable,” unconstitutionally depriving injured workers of equal protection and access to the court. Click here to read more:

The owner of a Florida staffing firm has been arrested for allegedly stealing more than $1 million from clients who thought he was providing workers compensation and payroll services, the state's Department of Financial Services said. ​ Ivan Hernandez, the owner of Professional Staffing and Payroll Services, formerly Global Staffing Services L.L.C., in Ft. Myers, Florida, was arrested earlier this month and transported to Lee County Jail for alleged fraudulent conduct, the department said in a Friday statement Click here to read more:

The highest fines employers can face for workplace safety violations will increase by 78%, which will help deter some employers from violating health and safety rules but will not have much impact on the largest employers, according to the head of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. ​ The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, signed by President Barack Obama in November 2015, required all federal agencies with civil monetary penalties covered by the statute, such as OSHA, to update their fines and adjust them going forward to keep up with inflation. Click here to read more:

The National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. has proposed a nearly 20% workers compensation rate increase in Florida to cover the projected impact of recent state Supreme Court rulings and a new health care provider reimbursement manual, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said. ​ Employers have been bracing for skyrocketing workers comp rates since the Florida Supreme Court issued decisions in Marvin Castellanos v. Next Door Co. et al. and Bradley Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg et al., which deemed the state's attorney fee schedule and temporary total disability provision unconstitutional, respectively. Click here to read more:

The National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. estimates that an increase in unfunded liabilities for FLorida workers' compensation is expected to exceed $1 billion, resulting from three state Supreme Court rulings. ​ Insurance companies, individual self-insured employers, and employers with deductible policies are expected to saddle the $1 billion debt. ​ That increase is in addition to the almost 20% rate increase proposed earlier this year, an NCCI news release said. Click here to read more:

A long-standing principle governing workers compensation cases provides access to an attorney who will help the injured worker litigate the case efficiently and capably. To give attorneys incentive to take on such cases and to ease the burden on an injured worker to find a capable attorney, attorneys receive their fees from the worker's damage award. Jim Woods and Jeyshree Ramachandran of Mayer Brown L.L.P. discuss states' attorney fee schedules and their effect on these comp cases. Click here to read more:

The White House has signed off on a controversial new regulatory rule that proposed to expand electronic recordkeeping requirements for workplace injuries and illnesses and make such records publicly available. The Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs completed its review on Friday after receiving the proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Labor on Oct. 5, 2015. The final rule has not yet been published, but the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has gotten authority from the office to publish the rule with unknown changes. Click here to read more: