Tag Archives: Unicameral

Want to really be “open for business”? Outlaw discrimination against younger workers in Nebraska

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One way to attract and keep young workers in Nebraska; stop discriminating against them/

Last week, the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce joined their companion organizations in Omaha and Lincoln in endorsing amending Nebraska’s fair employment statute to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Proponents of expanding civil rights protections to LGBT Nebraskans have pitched this proposition as an economic development tool meant to keep and attract younger Nebraskans who would otherwise flee a state that allows discrimination not allowed in other states.

Maybe I’ve spent too much time tangling in the trenches with lawyers for Nebraska’s big businesses. Maybe I’m just a Bernie Bro. Maybe both, but I have a hard time keeping my eyes from rolling when I hear the “Open for Business” approach to civil rights parroted by professional progressives in our state’s unicameral and mini-Beltway. (Lincoln has a K Street with tons of lobbyists offices, just like D.C.)

I mean for-you-know-what’s sake, any employment protections endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce are bound to be milquetoast at best.

But let’s assume some merit to the “Open for Business” approach. Let’s assume civil rights laws are an economic tool. How else could civil rights laws in Nebraska be amended to help attract and keep young people in Nebraska?

How about amending our age discrimination laws to prohibit discrimination against younger workers?

Miami (of Ohio) University Professor Megan Gerhardt argued for this in a recent opinion piece for NBC News. I made a similar argument in a blog post last year. In that post, I pointed out that at least Canadian province protects workers as young as 18 in their age discrimination laws. I also pointed out that since younger workers tend to get hurt more, anti-youth bias is a way to discriminate against injured workers.

I can tell you from first hand experience, that many business types talk about “millennials” or young people in a way that would get them successfully sued even in a jurisdiction like Nebraska, if they spoke like that about a group protected under our civil rights laws.

If Nebraska really wants to keep and attract younger workers, we should amend our age discrimination laws to protect younger workers. While I support expanding our state’s employment laws to protect LGBT Nebraskans, any comparative advantage Nebraska would get in expanding those laws would be lessened if the Supreme Court expands federal civil rights law to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Questioning by Justice Neil Gorsuch at oral argument in October 2019 on the issue has many LGBT rights advocates optimistic that the court will expand Title VII.

By expanding our age discrimination laws to include younger employees, Nebraska would truly be innovative. Nebraska is unique among states in having a one house (unicameral) and non-partisan legislature. This unique legislative body should start passing some more unique laws.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

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Why can’t I find a workers’ compensation lawyer in Kansas?

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I received a call from a former client one afternoon.

“My sister got hurt at work in Kansas, but she can’t find a lawyer. Do you know someone?”

I had a similar question a few months earlier. So why is it harder to get a workers’ compensation lawyer in Kansas than it is in Nebraska?

The short answer to the question is Nebraska has much better workers’ compensation laws than Kansas, so more lawyers are willing to take workers’ compensation cases in Nebraska than they are in Kansas.

Because of a quirk of legal history, explained more in depth here, workers’ compensation laws developed as state-based laws. Bordering states can have vastly different workers’ compensation laws –Nebraska and Kansas are a prime example

Kansas v. Nebraska: Prevailing cause vs. contributing factor

Medical causation is a crucial issue in a workers’ compensation case. Causation standards are tougher for employees in Kansas. In Kansas work duties must be a prevailing factor for an injury to be covered under their workers’ compensation act. In Nebraska work just needs to be a contributing factor to the injury. 

In Nebraska, aggravation of an old injury is routinely covered by workers’ compensation. If a work combines with personal health conditions to cause an injury, that is covered by workers’ compensation in Nebraska. In Nebraska, in most workers’ compensation cases the parties aren’t arguing over whether workers’ compensation will pay, they are arguing over how much workers’ compensation will pay.

In Kansas, there are many more arguments about whether workers’ compensation will pay because of the more difficult causation standards in their workers’ compensation law.

The practical effect of the difference in laws is that it is hard to find a lawyer willing to take a workers’ compensation case in Kansas. Some Kansas attorneys view calls about workers’ compensation cases as borderline nuisance calls.  The shortage of lawyers in Kansas willing to take workers’ compensation claims particularly hurts injured workers that are far away from metropolitan areas that require lawyer travel.

In contrast, in Nebraska, lawyers who specialize in workers’ compensation usually have significant client bases outside of Lincoln/Omaha and travel to the less populated parts of the state on a regular basis. Nebraska pays many types of injuries on a loss of earning power basis, which means that injured workers in parts of the state that are remote from population centers potentially have more valuable cases. Lawyers in Nebraska are willing to travel to represent those employees. In Kansas that distance from a population center is hurdle to a lawyer accepting a case.

Sometimes employees can get get a good outcome in a Kansas workers’ compensation case. This also isn’t to say that there aren’t good workers’ compensation lawyers in Kansas. Tough laws can make for tough lawyers. But Kansas workers’ compensation laws are worse for workers than Nebraska laws, so fewer lawyers are willing to represent injured workers in Kansas than in Nebraska.

How to claim Nebraska workers’ compensation if you were hurt in or live in Kansas?

In order to bring a workers’ compensation case in Nebraska, Nebraska has to have jurisdiction over the employee and the employer. If you were hurt in or hired in Nebraska, you can bring a Nebraska workers’ compensation claim. If your employer is based in Nebraska or does business in Nebraska, your employer is subject to the Nebraska workers’ compensation act and you can bring a case in Nebraska.

Why are workers’ compensation laws better in Nebraska than in Kansas?

This is more of a political question than a legal question. Nebraska and Kansas are both conservative “red states”. I believe the difference between Nebraska and Kansas when it comes to workers’ compensation, and other issues, can be explained by the unique nature of Nebraska’s legislature. Nebraska is unique among the 50 states in having a one house or Unicameral legislature. More important are legislative rules in Nebraska that require a broad consensus to enact legislation. Nebraska also elects legislators on a non-partisan basis which further re-enforces the need for consensus to pass laws. These rules are further enforced by norms and customs within the Unicameral that make it difficult to push through legislation without broad support.

The current Governor has pushed to change those rules, but has not been able to bend the Unicameral to his will.

While big business interests will gripe about workers’ compensation in Nebraska, Nebraska has a business-friendly litigation climate in general which blunts the pressure to reduce workers’ compensation benefits in Nebraska. This is particularly true as workers’ compensation claims continue to decline. In short, there doesn’t seem to be the political will — at this time — to push for making Nebraska’s workers’ compensation laws like Kansas workers’ compensation laws.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Nebraska, Workers' Compensation and tagged , , , .

The good, bad and so-so of workplace law in this year’s session of the Unicameral

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State law impacts the workplace as much if not more than federal law. Nebraska workers gained some protections in the recently adjourned legislative session. Equally important, Nebraska workers didn’t lose any rights or protections in the recently adjourned session.

However, most legislation that would have benefited employees stalled. Nebraska’s low threshold for filibusters and traditional deference to committees makes it difficult to pass legislation without broad support. Most of the proposed legislation that would have affected the workplace lacked that broad support in the legislature.

Nebraska will likely retain its business-friendly litigation climate and middle of the pack ranking in comparative costs of our workers compensation systems (Overall costs of workers’ compensation are declining)

So here is the good and so-so of enacted legislation effecting workplace laws in Nebraska. I will also touch on what didn’t pass and talk about some interim studies that might affect legislation down the road.

The Good

LB 217 introduced by Lincoln Senator Patty Pansing Brooks, would make it illegal for an employer to retaliate against employees for discussing salaries. A few years ago, I would have thought the bill would be unnecessary because the National Lanor Relations Act (NLRA) broadly protected concerted activity in the workplace. But in 2018 the Supreme Court handed down the Epic decision which narrowed the definition of concerted activity under the NLRA. Workers in Nebraska will get back some of those pre-Epic protections.

LB 418 — This law, introduced by Omaha Senator Machaela Cavanaugh would prohibit debt collection of medical bills related to a work injury during the pendency of a workers compensation claim. Nebraska has drawn national media attention for how our laws favor aggressive debt collection. This law protects injured workers.

The law requires injured workers and or their attorneys put in a fair amount of work to comply with the new rule. Employees are required to file a petition to invoke protection of the law, so I would be interested to see if the number of petitions filed in the workers compensation court increases.

The collections bill was also paired with a bill that made it easier for non-resident aliens to receive agreed upon settlement proceeds.

On a side note, Cavanaugh has asked for an interim study by the Business and Labor Committee to study the effectiveness of Nebraska’s anti-discrimination laws

The Bad

The bad news of this legislative session for workers’ in Nebraska is that most legislation that could have helped workers did not get enacted into law. Here are some highlights (or lowlights):

LGBT rights — Legislation to include sexual orientation and gender identity within the Nebraska Fair Employment Practices Act fell well short of the necessary votes to overcome a filibuster.

Omaha’s municipal human rights ordinance prohibits discrimination on gender identity and sexual orientation grounds. Lincoln city council member Jane Raybould hinted at a recent town hall type meeting that Lincoln’s “fairness ordinance” that would include sexual orientation and gender identity within Lincoln’s human rights ordinance might be a ballot question in 2020.

The LGBT community may have some protections from discrimination on the job under a “sex plus”  theory of discrimination which outlaws sex stereotyping.

Employee classification — LB 577 ntroduced by Omaha Senator Tony Vargas would have expanded the power of the Nebraska Department of Labor to shut down worksite suspected of misclasfiying employees as independent contractors. The state loses out on tax revenue through misclassification, while workers miss out on workplace protections like workers compensation and unemployment through being misclassified.

Senator Vargas has also proposed an interim study about workers classification that will bear close scrutiny as it will certainly discuss how to classify gig economy workers and discuss so-called portable benefit laws in Nebraska 

Workers compensation — The legislature shelved legislation that would have clarified when temporary disability ends and permanent disability begins. I’ve blogged extensively about the gap or squeeze that can arise when an injured worker isn’t receiving any types of benefits but can’t work or aren’t allowed to return to work.

The legislature also shelved legislation that would have provided death benefits in workers compensation cases, to workers without dependents.  increased funeral benefits and would have limited expenses charged for medical reports. Likewise the legislature also didn’t pass legislation that would have made it easier for firefighters and other first responders to collect workers’ compensation benefits.

Wage and hour and unemployment — Legislation that would have provided paid leave and prohibited retaliation under Nebraska’s Wage Payment and Collection Act didn’t pass. Legislation limiting mandatory overtime for overburdened corrections workers also did mot pass. Legislation that would have expressly included quitting to take care of a family member as a good cause for a quit. was rejected  Lawmakers also rejected a propsal to increase the minimum wage for tipped employees and to index the state minimum wage for inflation.

The so-so

LB 428 exempted highway constriuction employees on seasonal layoff from job search requirements as a condition of receiving unemployment compensation. I pointed out that while business as a whole likes tough work search requirements as a condition of receiving unemployment, construction employers who have seasonal layoffs don’t like them as it gives employees incnetive to switch jobs.

I believe this was somewhat of a missed opportunity. Like other states with weak rural internet connections, Nebraska’s internet-based system to log job search information with the state is difficult to navigate for rural employees. The legislature needs to fix the mechanism that eligibile workers use to receive their unemployment benefits.

 

 

 

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in employment law, Nebraska, Unemployment, Wage and Hour, Workers' Compensation and tagged , , , .

Bill would eliminate workers’ compensation squeeze

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An Omaha senator seeks to limit or end the time many injured workers in Nebraska receive no workers’ compensation benefits due to insurance companies unfairly interpreting Nebraska case law about when payment for temporary disability benefits end and when payment for permanent disabiliy begins.

LB 526 introduced by State. Senator Mike McDonnell would add language to Neb. Rev. Stat. §48-121 that would continue temporary disability until the later of a) any permanent disability as measured by permanent impairment for a scheduled member disability has been determined or, in the event of a claim payable under a loss of earning power basis when a loss of earning power evaluation is complete or b) 30 days after the employee has been given notice of termination.”

The bill also requires employers to provide copies of evidence used to end temporary disability and give the employees the right to a medical examination at their employer’s expense in certain circumstances when temporary disability payments are halted.

Our firm strongly supports this new bill. Roger Moore wrote a good post in 2015 about the human cost of the temporary-permanent squeeze. Last year I wrote a post about how the squeeze came about through case law.

The argument underlying the squeeze is that temporary disability ends when a doctor states a worker has plateaued medically. That means temporary disability benefits stop. But permanent disability has needs to be ascertained before permanent disability benefits start. This could mean waiting for a permanent impairment rating or it could mean waiting for an FCE, having a doctor endorse the results and then having a vocational counselor determine disability. This can take weeks or even months. If an employee isn’t working that means weeks or months without income. I think allowing insurers to exploit the gap between temporary and permanent disability is an incorrect reading of the law because doesn’t effectuate the beneficent purpose of the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Act to pay benefits in a timely manner to injured workers.

I also like the notice provision of the legislation. Once an injured worker starts receiving temporary disability benefits, they have some expectation that they will continue which would arguably create a constitutional property interest in continued receipt of those ongoing workers’ compensation benefits. Ending those benefits with no notice or explanation would arguably violate due process.

Critics of the legislation may point out there are cases involving multiple scheduled members that can also be paid on a loss of earning power basis which could cause uncertainty about the period of when temporary disability should continue. In such cases I believe that prompt payment of scheduled member impairments helps to eliminate the gap issue. However impairment ratings under the AMA 6th may undercompensate injured workers and be less likely to address the gap issue.

Our firm encourages our clients and others in Nebraska to contact their state senators and tell them to support LB 526. You can find out who your state senator is here and find their contact information here.

 

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Nebraska, Unicameral, Workers' Compensation and tagged , , , , , , .

Changes to Nebraska workers’ compensation laws could speed up settlements

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Our firm was active in drafting recent changes to Nebraska workers’ compensation law

Two changes to Nebraska workers’ compensation law that became effective today could speed up receipt of settlement proceeds for injured workers.

LB 953 will allow settlements to be approved quicker if lawyers representing the injured worker certify the settlement is in the best interest of the worker. These changes should result in more settlements being paid within weeks rather than months. The current law requires court approval of many final settlements.

Another change this year to workers’ compensation laws came with the passage of LB 957, which allows for electronic payment for workers’ compensation indemnity benefits. As of July 19, 2018, if a worker is entitled to indemnity workers compensation benefits, he or she may be paid via direct deposit, prepaid card, or other electronic means. The employee must agree to be paid via electronic payment and the employer must notify the employee of each electronic payment. If handled properly, this could mean quicker payment of workers compensation benefits to the employees.

Workers compensation law was created by the Nebraska legislature. The legislature changes the law occasionally. Rehm, Bennett, Moore, Rehm & Ockander monitors those proposed changes and was involved in drafting these changes working on behalf of the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in legislature, Nebraska, Settlements, Unicameral, Workers Compensation and tagged , , , , .