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• Kansas Injured Workers Required To Make Good Faith Effort In Finding Jobs

  James B. Biggs | March 15, 2006 9:18 AM | 0 CommentsTopeka, KS

  The Kansas Workers Compensation Appeals Board has changed the way injured workers, seeking a work disabilty, will look for jobs. Essentially, the Appeals Board has placed a burden on the injured worker to show that a good faith effort has been made to find employment within their given work restrictions. In the case of Thomas v. Dollar General Corp., W.C.A.B. 1,008,265 (February 2005), the...

• Millions Lost Due To Workplace Injuries

  James B. Biggs | March 13, 2006 10:00 AM | 0 CommentsTopeka, KS

  Workplace injuries result in the loss of millions of dollars to Kansans and their employers, both from medical costs and from work absenteeism.Most businesses have workplace safety rules in place, even those businesses that don't seem like they are at high risk for injuries, such as offices.Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, being in the insurance business, is particularly aware of how much...

• New Workers Compensation Rule on Drugs and Alchohol

  James B. Biggs | March 09, 2006 10:00 AM | 0 CommentsTopeka, KS

  Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has signed a bill aimed to keep businesses from paying workers' compensation benefits to employees for drug or alcohol-related accidents.The change was spearheaded by business groups looking and should clear up what rules apply when an employer suspects alcohol or drug played a part in a worker's injury.Current Kansas law states that an employer doesn't have to...

• Topeka Requires Contractors To Have Insurance

  James B. Biggs | March 05, 2006 10:00 AM | 0 CommentsTopeka, KS

  The city has minimized the risk to Topekans building or remodeling homes of being preyed upon by fly-by-night or fraudulent contractors.Since December 2004, the city of Topeka has required general contractors to have a minimum of $300,000 in liability insurance, a general contractor certification and workers compensation insurance, if they have employees."Before December of 2004, anyone walking...

• Hot Debate Over Work Comp Benefits In Kansas

  James B. Biggs | February 28, 2006 10:00 AM | 0 CommentsTopeka, KS

  Sen. Karin Brownlee and Doug Allen sharply differed Wednesday on merits of proposed changes to the Kansas workers' compensation law.Brownlee, R-Olathe, supports a bill sponsored by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce that relieves companies of part of their financial obligation to employees hurt at work. Allen, of Spring Hill, takes a view that compensation for Kansans in job-related accidents --...

• Cell Phone Toy Sold at Target Recalled

  Shannon Weidemann | May 07, 2007 1:30 PM | 0 CommentsTopeka, KS

  A Parent's Magazine toy cell phone has been recalled after reports of the hinge pin falling out and possibly causing injury. The toy cell phone was sold at Target stores and is the Record a Voice model. Target stores nationwide sold the phone between September 2006 and January 2007.Only items bearing the date codes 090106 through 101206 are being recalled. The date code can be found on the...

• Hit And Run Leaves Man In Critical Condition

  Matthew Bergmann | April 26, 2007 8:22 AM | 0 CommentsTopeka, KS

  A dangerous intersection in North Topeka has claimed another victim as a man riding his bicycle was involved in a hit and run accident late Tuesday evening. Authorities have yet to identify the man, who suffer severe head injuries, but have confirmed that the incident took place in the 1300 block of N.W. Harrision. Apparently, a vehicle traveling northbound veered across the southbound lanes of...

• One Dead And Two Injured In Three Motorcycle Accidents

  Matthew Bergmann | April 18, 2007 11:32 AM | 0 CommentsTopeka, KS

  A rash of motorcylce accidents left one person dead and two others seeking medical treatment on Sunday. William John Moser, 57, a resident of Liberty, Mo, was killed in Leavenworth County when he lost control of his motorcycle and slid under an oncoming vehicle. The accident occured on Kansas Highway 5 at approximately 4:40 p.m. Authorities say that Moser, who had just purchased the the...

• Head-on Collision Kills One Man

  Shannon Weidemann | February 07, 2007 9:43 PM | 0 CommentsTopeka, KS

  A man was killed late Monday night when he drove over the center line on Kansas Highway 4 and was hit by another vehicle. John Michael Nunn, age 43, was driving his 1991 Honda Accord in the southbound lane. He was hit by a 2003 Ford pickup truck that was going north. The driver of the pickup truck Thomas J. Henniger, age 71, was injured and taken to St. Francis Hospital in Topeka. He is in...

• Son Continues to Collect Workers Compensation Benefits Intended For Mother After She Dies

  Matthew Bergmann | August 30, 2006 3:02 PM | 0 CommentsTopeka, KS

  A New Jersey man has been charged with third degree theft after he continued to recieve more than $14,000 in workers compensation benefits that were intended for his mother, after she died in December 2000. Officals were alerted by investigators working for the compensation insurance carrier last year that James G.Spaziai, 63, may still be collecting benefits for his mother, Philomena, rather...