I wish I could say I'm surprised by the lame response by DIR (Division of Industrial Relations) to the Petition I file d in July for DIR to do its job and have an actuary review the discount rate used to convert permanent partial disability awards to present value lump sums.  After you read DIR's response, denying the petition, you will note that the director of DIR fails to mention that the law requires DIR to have an actuary review the present value table every year. No excuse is offered as to why it hasn't been done since 2000.  Instead, he says DIR complied with the law that requires a...

The fifth annual Division of Industrial Relations Workers' Compensation conference, held on August 19 and 20, 2015, was attended mostly by people servicing employers , insurers,  and third-party administrators in the workers' compensation industry in Nevada.  Few of the speakers focused on educating the attendees about the needs of injured workers, with the notable exception of the fire fighters who spoke about the risks of toxic chemical exposures to fire fighters. I had expected DIR to cater to the insurers, as usual, but I had hoped to hear something from DIR about what it was doing...

I have a lot of information on my website, blog posts, and Youtube videos for those injured workers in Nevada who want to represent themselves at hearings.  But it appears that I haven’t addressed an important topic for those of you who successfully contest a claim denial and win your case in front of a hearings officer or an appeals officer.  I have already addressed what to do if an insurer or employer files their own appeal of a hearings officer’s decision that is favorable to you in by blog post that discusses motions for stay orders in “When Is a Win Not a Win”. Now let me tell you...

The following is an article from WorkCompCentral, an online workers' compensation news reporting service and resource center for the work comp industry and injured workers.   I haven't received a response from DIR to the Petition to Amend Regulation that I filed on July 29.  DIR has 30 days to respond to that Petition.  I am posting the below article, because the reporter spoke to DIR about the Petition, and I thought you would be interested in what DIR had to say.  Virginia Monday, August 10, 2015 DIR Undertakes Long-Overdue Review of Discount Rate by Sherri Okamoto (Legal...

Question:  Why is the PPD lump sum so much less than the total  installment amount?   Answer:  An injured worker may take up to a 25% whole person permanent partial disability award in a lump sum reduced to  present value under Nevada law (NRS 616C.495).  Present value means the current worth of all the installment payments after discounted at a particular discount rate.  The higher the discount rate, the lower the present value of the installment payments.  Theoretically, if the injured worker didn't touch the annual or monthly installments paid on the PPD award until the...

The 2015 legislative session made a major change in SB 153 to the heart and lung statutes regarding the application of a conclusive presumption of compensability. A conclusive presumption means that the ill police officer or firefighter does not have to prove that an occupational exposure caused a disabling heart or lung disease. It also means that employers cannot try to prove that the claimant had a preexisting illness or that something other than occupational activity caused the heart or lung disease if the conclusive presumption applies. The new conclusive presumption in NRS 617.455...

Thank you to Katherine Godwin, Supervisor of the Medical Unit, at the Devision of Industrial Relations-Workers Compensation Section, for providing me with the number of rating evaluations in Nevada for fiscal year 2014 (July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014). A total of 5405 ratings were assigned by DIR, with 1249 in the North, 3749 in the South, and 407 in the Rural part of Nevada.   The official statistics reported to the U.S. Labor Department for the number of all claims filed is only published for 2013, so I cannot give accurate information on the percentage of Nevada claims that...