| Second Injury Funds |
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| Oftentimes, an employee may be suffering from an injury or disability and then be subsequently injured while working for the employer. Generally, the states have addressed this issue by creating a second injury fund. For the most part, the employer is only responsible for the workers' compensation benefits attributable to the injury incurred while the employee was working for the employer. The second injury fund would pick up where the employer left off by paying the difference between what the employer pays and what the employee is entitled for the total effect of all of his injuries.More... |
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| Social Security Benefits |
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| The central question of whether a given state can apply its workers' compensation statute focuses on various factors including the place that the employment contract was entered into, the place of the employee's injury, and the employee's usual place of employment. For example, an employee who entered into an employment contract with a construction company in California, and who was subsequently injured on a construction site in Nevada, may be able to seek workers' compensation benefits in both California and Nevada. However, double recoveries are generally not permitted.More... |
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| Judicial Review of Social Security Administration Action |
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| Aggrieved parties may seek judicial review of final Social Security Administration (SSA) decisions by filing a civil action in federal court. Generally, aggrieved parties must first exhaust their administrative remedies prior to initiating an action for judicial review. In juxtaposition to the administrative exhaustion rule, aggrieved parties may file a mandamus action to compel the performance of a duty owed by the SSA. The appropriateness of mandamus relief is based on considerations of 1) whether the party has any other adequate way to obtain the necessary relief, 2) whether the SSA has a clear duty to act as requested, and 3) whether the party is entitled to have the SSA so act.More... |
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| Injury by Exposure and "Arising Out of the Employment" |
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| Workers' compensation for injuries resulting from exposure to the elements is not forestalled merely because a natural event was at the root of the injuries. Exposure injuries, such as heatstroke, freezing, frostbite, and pneumonia, may be compensable if the nature of the employee's work increased the level of exposure over that of other members of the public. Some jurisdictions allow compensation if the risk of exposure to the employee was caused by his employment. In other words, regardless of whether the general public would or would not suffer the same exposure, it was the employee's work that precipitated or caused the exposure.More... |
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| Standard of Conduct for Representatives of Social Security Claimants |
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| Those individuals undertaking to represent a social security claimant, whether an attorney or a non-attorney, must adhere to a certain standard of conduct. In particular, representatives appearing on behalf of a claimant before the Social Security Administration (SSA) must comply with the SSA's Rules of Conduct and Standards of Responsibility for Representatives (Rules of Conduct).More... |
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