Compensable Consequence Injuries in Workers’ Compensation
By John A. Ferrone Esq.Ferrone Law Group Workers’ compensation has a principal known as the ”compensable consequence” or secondary injuries, where a subsequent injury is the direct and natural consequence of an original industrial injury. The subsequent injury is considered to relate back to the originalinjury and it is not treated as a new and […]
An Officer’s Guide for Stress Related Injuries
By John A. Ferrone Esq.Ferrone Law Group California public safety officers are subject to a challenging and at times stressful environment. Peace officers are frequently exposed to stress related injuries like suspect assaults, officer-involved shootings and severe orthopedic injuries. What if the stress from the job is caused by other factorssuch as supervisory conflict or […]
Work Comp Road Map for Fire Fighters
By John A. Ferrone Esq. Adams, Ferrone & Ferrone Fire fighters face dangers every day. It is no surprise the job is one of the toughest in California. With these dangers comes the increased likelihood of an injury on duty (IOD). There are countless examples of exposures, lifting patients, motor vehicle accidents, and the daily […]
Negotiating a Workers’ Compensation Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Program for Public Safety
By John A. Ferrone Esq.Ferrone Law Group Safety officers, who have claimed a work injury, will be faced with a host of complex work comp laws that have been designed to delay and deny benefits. This article will outline an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) system that can be negotiated into a Labor-Management workers’ compensation agreement. […]
2021 Updates for Public Safety
Disciplinary UpdateAttorney Robert Baumann AB 392/Use of Force: Responded to multiple officer involved shootings, both occurring with Southern California agencies. In both instances Attorney Baumann was able to successfully navigate the new Use of Force law in California, particularly as it relates to officer involved shootings. In one of instance there was a potential concern […]
OFFICER PREVAILS IN “FREEWAY THERAPY” RETALIATION CASE
By: Michael A. McGill, Esq. In March 2010, Santa Barbara County District Attorney Investigator Rick Prancevic was punitively transferred from one county office to a different office, much further away from his home. The transfer was the result of a letter to the editor Prancevic wrote in a local newspaper criticizing the City of Santa […]
FF Workers’ Comp May 2020 Update: Firefighting Foam & Cancer
Chemical-based firefighting foam has been sold for decades because of its effectiveness in extinguishing jet fuel and petroleum fires. However, it may cause various types of cancer — most notably kidney, testicular, and pancreatic cancer — in firefighters who were regularly exposed to the foam. Known officially as aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), firefighting foam creates […]
Off Duty Injury Covered by Workers’ Compensation
Labor Code section 3600(a)(9) provides that an injury is not compensable if it arises out of ‘voluntary participation in any off-duty recreational, social or athletic activity not constituting part of the employee’s work-related duties’. An exception to this principle exists ‘where the activities are a reasonable expectancy of, or are expressly or impliedly required by […]
Corona-Virus Covid19 and Labor Code Section 4850
March 20, 2020 – It is not a matter of if, but when, a safety officer will come into contact with the coronavirus in performance of their duties. The natural question is how that safety officer will be treated, particularly if that safety officer is quarantined. If the employer requires a safety officer to remain […]
STRESS-RELATED INJURIES: AVOIDING THE NEVER-ENDING LITIGATION
California public safety officers are subject to a challenging and, at times, stressful environment. Peace officers are frequently exposed to situations likely to cause stress-related injuries, such as inmate assaults, in-custody deaths, or riots. However, what if the stress from the job is caused by other factors, such as supervisory conflict or an investigation? What […]