Comments on: Cumulative trauma law bedevils employers, hands fired employees a payday

By: Richard Rider

Richard Rider — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 16:30:52 +0000

In reply to ricky65.

You’re right counselor. The 99% of lawyers give the other 1% a bad name.
Websters Lawyer defined: The larval stage of a politician- See also: maggot

ricky65 — I find your comments deeply offensive. And funny as hell. Thanks for brightening my morning.

By: ricky65

ricky65 — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 16:18:11 +0000

In reply to Jeff. You're right counselor. The 99% of lawyers give the other 1% a bad name. Websters Lawyer defined: The larval stage of a politician- See also: maggot

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 19:29:29 +0000

In reply to Bill. Bill, Your right. Lawyers do not run businesses. They do not have employees. They do not pay rent. They do not have employees that file workers compensation claims. All attorneys are unethical and all attorneys run the show. Bill, if you need one because you were hurt at work, you got fired because you could no longer do your job, medical treatment is not being provided, you are then forced to pay out of pocket for treatment and you can no longer pay rent and then lose your house, you and Richard will sing a different tune. Come to the workers compensation courts and meet some of the people injured on the job who lost their home. Easy to say when you have never been there.

By: Dennis Thomas

Dennis Thomas — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 15:55:06 +0000

In reply to Richard Rider.

Mr. Rider.

Your opinion on attorney fees is factually unfounded.
Attorneys for injured workers receive a 15% fee from the injured workers permanent disability award.
If CA pays low benefits and we attorneys only receive 15% of one of the three benefits paid in CA your statement “much goes to lawyers” is factually impossible.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 04:07:45 +0000

None of these bureaucrats, judges, attorneys or “government leaders” has ever made a payroll. Or even had to factor invoices to make sure men get paid on time.

I hope they rot in hell for the audacity of this type of legal robbery.

By: eck

eck — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 00:54:57 +0000

This is what happens when lawyers, the ultimate kings of the parasite class, run the show. Voters are just too detached or stupid and keep re-electing them. I always vote for a non-lawyer when available.

By: Costa Mesa

Costa Mesa — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 16:47:29 +0000

I can identify with the Monteleone family’s pain and frustration.
Thanks to dishonest employees, lawyers and doctors, these fraudulent claims are being used as a “retirement package” by people who feel they are “entitled”. These dishonest doctors and lawyers have created a cottage industry based on a loophole in the W/C law that was actually meant to help the asbestos workers. My husband and I own a manufacturing business located in Costa Mesa California and employee 54 people. We had several of these claims and tried in vain to fight each one in court. One post term employee who had never missed a day of work or complained about pain, etc. received compensation of $32,000 plus medical because the judge determined as follows: “Well, she’s been working in the industry for 20 years – she’s bound to have suffered some cumulative trauma during that time”. She was 45 years old and had only worked for us for 3 years! She then called other employees who had been laid off and told them she had “won” $32,000 and 3 more claims were filed. The insurance company decided to “mitigate our losses” and settled with each one (without taking depos) for $18,000 – $20,000. My mod rate went through the roof and so did our profits and thereby the compensation funds we were planning to give back to our employees. During that time, we did not have a single legitimate claim.

I went to Sacramento with Worker’s Compensation Action Network to lobby the legislators on this issue, but you know how that goes. Lots of lip service about how important small business is to the economy, etc. I decided to re-focus my energies on my business.

I’ve spoken to many employers over the years. This issue is responsible for negligent retention which results in low employee morale and lost profits that can otherwise be put back into the business. Employers are hesitant to let employees go because they fear a post termination continuous trauma claim that can run into tens of thousands of dollars paid to the employees and increased worker’s comp costs for employers.

Until enough employers address this issue with their legislators and help tighten up the laws, employees, lawyers and doctors will continue to abuse the system.

By: Richard Rider

Richard Rider — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 16:44:16 +0000

CA has the highest/worst state workers’ compensation rates in 2013, up from 3rd in 2012. CA rates 21.3% higher than 2nd highest state, 88% higher than median state. Yet we pay low benefits — much goes to lawyers. http://riderrants.blogspot.com/2014/10/california-has-worst-workers.html

In 2012, our supply of California businesses shrunk 5.2%. In ONE year. NOTE: That’s a NET figure – 5.2% fewer businesses in CA in 2012 than were here in 2011. Indeed, in 2012, CA lost businesses at a 67.7% higher rate than the 2nd worst state! http://riderrants.blogspot.com/2013/07/in-2012-ca-lost-businesses-at-677.html

The top U.S. CEO’s surveyed rank California “the worst state in which to do business” for the 11th straight year (May, 2015).
http://chiefexecutive.net/2015/05/07/best-worst-states-business/

From 2007 through 2010, 10,763 manufacturing facilities were built or expanded across the country — but only 176 of those were in CA. So with roughly 12% of the nation’s population, CA got 1.6% of the built or expanded manufacturing facilities. Stated differently, adjusted for population, the other 49 states averaged 8.4 times more manufacturing growth than did California.
http://www.cmta.net/20110303mfgFacilities07to10.pdf — prepared by California Manufacturers and Technology Association

To see more, go to:
http://www.TinyURL.com/CA-vs-other-states

By: Richard Rider

Richard Rider — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 16:43:37 +0000

You’ll get much better odds gambling at a casino than opening a business in California.

California small businesses failed in 2011 at a rate 69% higher than the national average — the worst state in the nation.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/19/smallbusiness/small_business_state_failure_rates/index.htm (based on Dunn & Bradstreet study)

CA needlessly licenses more occupations than any state – 177. Second worst state is Connecticut at 155. The average state is 92. But CA is “only” the 2nd worst licensing state for low income occupations.
http://cssrc.us/publications.aspx?id=7707
and
http://bit.ly/1ff0OGu