Before June 24, 2011, injured employees were eligible for lifetime Temporary Total Disability (TTD) benefits for the duration of their disability. In 2011, the North Carolina legislature passed revisions to the Workers’ Compensation Act. One of the revisions altered N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-29(b), which now states: The employee shall not be entitled to compensation […]
On 2/3/2021, Pete Buttigieg was sworn in as the 19th Secretary of Transportation. On 1/20/2021, President Biden issued an executive order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis. On 4/22/2021, in response to PresidentBiden’s executive Order, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposedwithdrawing the SAFE I […]
In our last article, we discussed the status and potential impact of AB5, a law recently passed in California which went into effect on January 1, 2020, addressing the classification of certain workers. By way of review, prior to AB5’s passage, the decision on whether a worker should be classified as an employee or an […]
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reports that the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate has reduced hours-of-service (HOS) violations by 50% since the initial rule took effect in December 2017. Over 8.8 million roadside inspections were conducted since that time with less than 1.25% resulting in citations for HOS violations or for failure to […]
One issue that has come up numerous times in the setting of the trucking and transportation industries is the classification of workers as either employees or independent contractors. Concerned with workers who werebeing misclassified as independent contractors and who were not getting the benefits afforded to employees, the State of California passed a law, which […]
On 9/29/20, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) final rule updating Hours of Service (HOS) regulations takes effect for normal, nonexempt operation. The key provisions include: The final rule may be found here: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/2020-05/HOS%20Master%20050120%20clean.pdf. On 9/4/20, the FMCSA announced a new pilot program allowing drivers between 18 and 20-years-old to operate commercial motor vehicles […]
On 5/01/20, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced a change to the Crash Preventability Demonstration Program and Safety Measurement System (SMS) that will permanently exclude no-fault crashes when calculating a carrier’s safety score. Effective immediately, if the FMCSA determines that a crash was not preventable,it will no longer be included in the carrier’s […]
In our last post, we discussed the issues posed by ERISA liens and how the presence of an ERISA lien can complicate a potential settlement. Another similar issue that complicates settlements is the potential presence of a Medicare lien. This applies to workers’ compensation and liability cases. The Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSPA), 42 U.S.C. […]
On 3/13/20, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an unprecedented national emergency declaration to provide hours of service (HOS) relief to drivers transporting goods needed to respond to the Coronavirus Pandemic. Those commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operations exempted include those meeting needs for: Medical supplies and equipment related to testing, diagnosis and treatment […]
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a federal law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established retirement and health plans in private industry to provide protection for individuals in these plans. In the context of workers’ compensation claims or civil litigation, the subject of ERISA is usually raised when an […]
