West Virginia workers’ compensation news continues in June 2018. An announcement by the West Virginia Offices of the Insurance Commissioner and an opinion handed down by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals have employers paying attention. First, the Insurance Commission has released the Workers’ Compensation Benefit Rates for the 2019 fiscal year. And second, the appellate court handed down its opinion in Reed v. Exel Logistics, Inc., creating questions about how to recover a WV workers’ compensation overpayment.

On May 17, 2018, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals issued a decision applying the WV workers’ compensation statute of limitations to bar an untimely. The court’s decision has broad implications for workers and employers across West Virginia. While it gives employers solace in that it is an employee's responsibility to initiate the claim process by filing a timely WC-1 form, it also reminds employers that a worker’s reliance on conduct by the employer or a claim administrator regarding the filing of a claim may prevent the employer from relying on the statute of limitation to deny an untimely filed claim. 

In a very rare WV workers’ compensation rehearing, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has reversed its earlier decision denying a workers’ compensation claim for a secondary injury. In the first opinion, the court determined that the injury was not compensable because it was not work-related. On rehearing, the court withdrew its earlier decision, finding it was based on an inappropriate re-weighing of the facts. The court affirmed the determination by the West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Board of Review, which had concluded that when job activity worsens a noncompensable injury, the resulting new injury is compensable.

Many people correctly think of benefits for seniors as including retirement accounts and Social Security benefits, but few carefully consider how to incorporate all available elder benefits into their retirement plans. This blog is the first in a series of five outlining basic types of elder benefits to consider in establishing a comprehensive retirement plan. The first blog covers the importance of including employment benefits in your estate planning. The remaining blogs in the series cover other essential elements to be included in your overall retirement plan:

Estate planning is one of the most valuable steps you can take to ensure your health care wishes are respected and your family is provided for in your absence. However, the thought of meeting with an estate planning attorney can be overwhelming. An estate planning intake form is designed to prepare you and help alleviate the stress associated with that first meeting.