Thursday, October 26, 2006

Recent case on health benefits...Ray


On October 23rd the Colorado Supreme Court issued a decision favorable to claimants. You can access the decision yourself by going to cobar.org and clicking on the court opinions. I won't give the full name of the case but "Ray" is what I call it. If an injured worker had health benefits provided or contributed to by his employer and that insurance is terminated after his injury the cost to continue it is added to the wage calculations. This will often increase benefits by a fair amount but it is up to the worker or his attorney to make sure it gets done. This was a hotly contested matter in Colorado. The lower courts appeared to split on the issue so the Supreme Court set the record straight. The claimants side argued it should be added immediately and the other side argued it doesn't get added unless the claimant actually paid to continue coverage. Well, few claimants who are injured and also losing their job can afford to pay and seek reimbursement. My personal view has always been that if it's part of your wage package then it should be immediately counted as the employer certainly counts it on his books.

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