San Antonio Employment Discrimination Lawyer & Attorney : McKinney Law Firm : Sexual Harassment, Wrongful Termination : Texas

In completely coincidental and unrelated development, American Airlines issued a press release titled: American Airlines Thanks U.S. Military Personnel By Extending Special Fares And Other Offers

I want to address a concern that has been raised concerning network care, that it is merely a discount program that will cut corners to save money. If workers' comp health networks are viewed only as a tool to reduce medical costs, without adding any value to the rehabilitation and care of the injured employee, then the networks are headed to failure. Many employers and injured workers with whom I have spoken have emphasized the need for best value, not care on the cheap or, conversely, excessive care. The more effective medical care that a worker receives, the sooner he or she will be back to productive work or to a point where their injury is manageable.

To that end, our network rules incorporate a number of quality assurance tools. Workers' compensation networks are required to be credentialed and must demonstrate that they have a formal complaint and dispute process in place. The networks are also required to track return-to-work statistics to see how well they are getting injured workers back on the job.

In addition, TDI researchers will compile data to assess each network's performance on a yearly basis in the form of a "network report card." The report card will allow comparisons between networks on a variety of measures, including access to care, health-related outcomes, return-to-work outcomes, employee satisfaction with quality of care, and health care costs and utilization of care.

Many viewed the New York City transit strike just before Christmas as an illegal powerplay by a bunch of selfish "thugs" with unrealistic economic expectations. I'd have expected most of the vast numbers of New Yorkers whose daily commutes were disrupted to have shared this view.

However, apparently many New Yorkers and other observers sympathize with the strikers and are quite willing to overlook the strike's unlawfulness, considering it morally and economically justified. Some even see it as the long-awaited resurrection of the moribund American labor movement and a turning point in American "class warfare."

Strategic HR Lawyer Blog also went after this topic:

For those of you who think I might be swayed in favor of management here - you're right. The idea the employees are striking over free health insurance when most of the world doesn't get it for free bothers me. The fact that striking is illegal and they decided to do it anyway bothers me. The fact that employees making $60,000 are on strike resulting in other workers making far less having to walk to work bothers me even more. . . Lastly, having just returned from New Orleans . . . I really have no sympathy.

C'mon, tell us what you really think! Labor Prof Blog covered an interesting recent case out of the Middle District of Alabama concerning whether an individual worker should be judicially estopped from proceeding with her gender discrimination and retaliation claim under Title VII because she failed to list her pending Title VII claim as a potential asset for purposes of her Chapter 13 bankruptcy reorganization plan.And finally, Ross' Employment Law Blog covered several interesting developments over the break. First, the $172,000,000 verdict against Wal-Mart for wage law violations. Secondly, he covers a ruling against the Sidley Austin Brown & Wood law firm in its ongoing litigation with the EEOC over whether its "partners" are actually employees and, therefore, entitled to the protections of the ADEA. And lastly, Ross has a post and links to the Department of Labor's new regulations on the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act (USERRA).