Sacks & Zolonz Employer Workers' Compensation Defense Attorneys Blog

Every week, thousands of people across the nation tune-in to watch the ABC Network's long running hit "Dancing with the Stars." While it's very easy to be caught up in the drama of the performances and the backstage intrigue, fans might not realize that the show has actually seen a very long list of serious work injuries among cast members over the past sixteen seasons.

To illustrate, consider this short list of celebrities who have suffered injuries during rehearsals or performances:

• Singer Jewel suffered fractured tibia in both legs
• Computer icon Steve Wozniak pulled his hamstring and fractured his foot
• Reality TV star Melissa Rycroft suffered a herniated disc and rib fracture
• Olympic champion Dorothy Hamill suffered a spinal condition

These injuries aren't just confined to the celebrity performers either, as several of the professional dancers charged with whipping their partners into dancing shape have also suffered debilitating work injuries. Just this season, dancer Mark Ballas was forced out of the competition after suffering a severe back injury -- compressed discs -- during an otherwise routine lift.

Over the last several months, our workers’ compensation defense blog has been closely monitoring the showdown between team owners and former professional athletes over Assembly Bill 1309, a bill designed to limit the latter’s access to work comp benefits here in California.

In recent developments, it appears as if the matchup between the two groups now sits at 2-0 in favor of the team owners following a critical vote before the full Assembly last week.

Sponsored by Assemblyman Henry Perea (D-Fresno), AB 1309 calls for the following:

• Only allows players from California-based professional franchises -- football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer -- to file work comp claims in the state (including players in the minor league systems of these professional franchises)
• Reduces the amount of time that players have to file a claim to either within a year of their retirement from the sport or a physician’s diagnosis of a condition, whichever is later
• Enables players who retired with a franchise located outside the state to file a work comp claim in the state provided they spent 80 percent of their career playing for a California-based franchise

Both private and public sector employees who suffer debilitating work injuries can take comfort in the fact that they can rely on their employer's workers' compensation insurance to provide the financial assistance they will need as they work towards a full recovery.

The unfortunate reality, however, is that employee fraud remains a relatively common occurrence in all sectors. This means that some employees are actually brazen enough to either feign work injuries or exaggerate their severity in order to collect work comp benefits.

If you don't believe it, consider a recent case from Chicago's Cook County, where a jail guard who proclaimed himself the "duty injury king" to fellow employees was recently suspended without pay for allegedly submitting a false work injury report.

In workers' compensation defense news, lawmakers in the state of Michigan are currently considering a bill that would extend much-needed benefits to those firefighters who develop a potentially deadly disease that many believe can be traced to the inherently dangerous nature of their profession.

Senate Bill 211, sponsored by state Sen. Tory Rocca (R-Sterling Heights), would mandate that any full-time firefighter who was employed by a municipality for at least five years before developing cancer -- bladder, blood, brain, kidney, lymphatic, prostate, skin, testicular, thyroid and respiratory tract -- could file a work comp claim.

Those firefighters who used tobacco products on a regular basis within ten years of developing the cancer, and whose habit clearly caused, aggravated or advanced the cancer would be excluded under the bipartisan measure.