Workers Compensation

What happens when an employee is injured at work, is eligible for workers’ compensation, and is prescribed medical cannabis to treat their work-related injury in a state that authorizes medical cannabis?

A number of states, including California (by executive order on May 6, 2020), have made it easier for essential workers who contract COVID-19 to obtain workers’ compensation benefits by creating a rebuttable presumption that the infection occurred at work.

Unsurprisingly, this last week saw plaintiffs’ attorneys filing the first of what we expect will be a series of wrongful death lawsuits over employees who purportedly contracted the virus while at work.

Giving employees raises and bonuses can be complicated. When workers unionize, an additional wrinkle is added to the complex landscape of bonuses and raises – whether or not an employer must continue to give raises and bonuses to its employees after they unionize. <BR>

Although the interplay of the ADA, FMLA and WC can be challenging, conducting the analysis in a systematic and thoughtful way helps to manage the process and lead to a decision that is legally compliant with all three.