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Alabama Sales Rep and Clinic Owner Sentenced in $28M Billing Fraud Scheme

A medical sales representative and a pain clinic owner in Alabama have been sentenced to years in prison for their roles in a long-running, $28 million fraud scheme that involved a compounding pharmacy, unneeded nerve tests and a former workers’ …

North Carolina Labor Chief Rejects Infectious Disease Rules for Workplaces

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s elected labor commissioner has declined to adopt rules sought by worker and civil rights groups that would have set safety and masking directives in workplaces for future infectious disease outbreaks like with COVID-19. Commissioner …

Dollar Tree Down Most Since May on Plan to Shut 1,000 Stores

Dollar Tree Inc. plans to shutter about 1,000 stores in an effort to improve profitability as the discount retailer battles a spate of litigation and other headwinds. The company expects to close about 600 Family Dollar stores in the first …

Worker Caught in Conveyor Belt at Georgia Plant While Retrieving Earbuds

An investigation is underway after a worker at a golf cart manufacturer in Georgia was caught in a conveyor belt and fatally injured. Multiple news reports said a contract worker, Alyssa Drinkard, age 21, had dropped one or more of …

Moonlighting Cop Not Independent Contractor? NC Supreme Court Says Hold on

The North Carolina Supreme Court has temporarily put the brakes on an appeals court decision that had upset years of workers’ compensation case law on when a moonlighting law officer is considered an independent contractor. In the case of Stephen …

Kentucky House Passes Bill to Reduce Medically Trained Workers in Smaller Mines

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky House voted Monday to allow the state’s smallest coal mining operations to reduce the number of miners with emergency medical training assigned for each underground shift. In a state once known as a coal …

Miami Labor Supplier Charged With Underreporting Payroll to Travelers

Florida authorities charged a Miami contractor with vastly underreporting his payroll and skipping out on $253,000 in workers’ compensation insurance premiums to Travelers Property and Casualty Co. Gustavo Antonio Munguia, 48, owner of American Iron Group Corp., was arrested Thursday, …

WV Governor’s Coal Company Found in Contempt, Must Pay BrickStreet for Comp Loss

A coal company owned by West Virginia’s governor has been found in contempt of court and must face fines of $2,500 a day until it pays its contractual obligations to its workers’ compensation insurance carrier, a federal judge decided. BrickStreet …

Florida Senate Panel Advances Bill Making it a Felony to Expose Responders to Fentanyl

A Florida Senate committee on Tuesday approved an amended bill that could potentially reduce workers’ compensation costs for first responders in the state, people who are at increasing risk of exposure to accidental fentanyl overdoses. Senate Bill 718, by Sen. …

Mother of Teen Killed at Mississippi Poultry Factory Sues Company for Negligence

(AP) — The mother of a 16-year-old who died in a workplace accident at a Mississippi poultry factory is suing the companies that hired and employed him, accusing them of failing to follow safety standards that could have prevented his …