Employers Offer Workers Fewer Health Care Plans

November 17, 2008

It’s the annual “open enrollment” season in corporate America, when employees choose their medical plans for the coming year. But this time, even if they are fortunate enough to have a job at a company that still offers health benefits, many workers are finding that the buffet of options has been trimmed to a very short menu.

 

And typically the offerings now include a health plan with a financially daunting feature: a high annual deductible that is likely to be $1,100 or more for an individual, and much higher for family coverage. Under conventional insurance, the annual deductible — the amount an employee is obliged to spend on medical care before the insurance begins — may be only about one-third as high.

 

Employers generally try to offset the high deductible with a somewhat lower monthly premium than workers pay with conventional insurance. Another deal sweetener is the opportunity for the worker to put money in a tax-sheltered health savings account whose balance can grow year after year. Many employers also make contributions to those worker accounts.

 

Read Article: New York Times

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

3 women win $1M in Nassau sex harassment lawsuit

Three female former Nassau police detectives have won a $1-million verdict in a federal lawsuit accusing the department of rampant sexual harassment and discrimination, their attorney said yesterday.

The jury verdict against the county was reached late Friday after a six-week trial in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, said Rick Ostrove, the attorney for the three women.

A news conference is scheduled today in Mineola to announce the verdict. A spokeswoman for the county could not be reached for comment yesterday.

In 2006, the female employees accused more than a dozen male employees - including several high-ranking officers - of posting pornography in a precinct house, making lewd remarks and disobeying orders from women, according to two federal lawsuits and a federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint.

 

Read Article: Newsday

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Some firms eye energy to shrug off bad times

A handful of law firms have looked beyond the current economic downturn to take advantage of potential legal work involving the growth of California’s alternative energy generation and new state toxic chemical regulation.

California’s expected “green rush” in legal business stems from two sources: the push to expand renewable power sources and the governor’s signing of the Green Chemistry Initiative on Sept. 29, creating a toxic chemicals database and giving the state new authority to regulate chemicals in consumer products.

 

Read Article: Law.com

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

First of Many Lawsuits Filed Over Minn. Bridge Collapse

The first of what is expected to be many lawsuits stemming from the collapse of a Minnesota freeway bridge was filed on Nov. 12.

 

The suits were brought by the Minneapolis firm of Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben on behalf of three people who were injured and the family of one person who was killed when the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River on Aug. 1, 2007. Wagner v. URS Corp., District Court of Hennepin County, Minn.

 

“This is a 40-year old bridge that gave out a lot of warnings before it fell into the Mississippi,” said James Schwebel, attorney for the plaintiffs. “There was bulging and bulking quite visible in photographs as early as 2003, but the engineering firm either did not see that or did not attach enough consequence. The contractor had 587 tons of equipment stored on the weakest point of the bridge when it collapsed.”

 

 

Read Article: Law.com

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Judge Throws Out Paxil Test Case

One of Philadelphia’s bellwether cases in litigation over whether the maker of the drug Paxil failed to warn about an increased risk of suicide from its drug has been dismissed following a Common Pleas Court judge’s decision to grant summary judgment on statute of limitations grounds.

 

Collins v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. d/b/a GlaxoSmithKline survived summary judgment in March when defendant GlaxoSmithKline argued that the doctrine of federal pre-emption precluded the plaintiffs from pursuing their state products liability claim.

 

While Judge Allan L. Tereshko, coordinating judge of the Complex Litigation Center, denied summary judgment on the grounds of federal pre-emption in March, Tereshko granted summary judgment on the more run-of-the mill grounds regarding Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations Oct. 29.

 

Read Article: Law.com

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

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