THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS WILL BE MOVING ON FRIDAY JULY 26, 2019!

Please see the attached bulletin detailing the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents Boston Regional Office's move, which will occur on Friday July 26, 2019.

In summary:

  • There will be no proceedings held in the Boston regional office beginning Monday July 15, 2019 through Friday August 2, 2019.

  • There will be no proceedings in the other regional offices (Springfield, Fall River, Worcester and Lawrence) from Wednesday July 24, 2019 through Monday July 29, 2019.

  • There will be no network (including DMS), email communications, or telephone services for the entire DIA beginning at 5:00 p.m., Wednesday July 24, 2019. All systems are scheduled to be back online as of Monday, July 29, 2019. 

  • All documents must be uploaded by 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, July 23, 2019.

  • Any mail postmarked after July 23, 2019 should be addressed to the new location:

Lafayette City Center
2 Avenue de Lafayette
Boston, MA 02111

  • The parties have until 12:00 noon of Wednesday, July 24, 2019 to reschedule any impartial examinations with a date of July 25, 2019 through July 30, 2019.


The full bulletin issued by Senior Judge Omar Hernandez can be found here .


Our annual seminar will be
held at
Gillette Stadium on
Tuesday August 6, 2019!

(full agenda will be released shortly)


** New Hampshire Update **

Please see the following bill
" Bill 99-FN " w hich has been passed by the House and concurred in the Senate
(but not signed by Gov. Sununu),
which states:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
 
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nineteen

AN ACT relative to gainful employment and partial disability in workers' compensation.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
 
1 Workers' Compensation; Definitions. Amend RSA 281-A:2, X-a to read as follows:

X-a. "Gainful employment" means employment which reasonably conforms with the employee's age, education, training, temperament and mental and physical capacity to adapt to other forms of similarly remunerative labor than that to which the employee was accustomed.

2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2020.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If the bill is passed then similar compensation to which an employee has been accustomed would be required as a criteria to have that employee's benefits terminated or suspended under RSA 281-A:48. 

This could have a significant negative impact on indemnity exposures and will make it more difficult to obtain a reduction in TTD benefits at hearing.

If you disagree with this bill, we suggest you contact Governor Sununu and urge a veto.



TKCK is a workers' compensation and civil litigation firm handling cases in all six New England States (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont) and at the Federal level for Longshore Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act and Defense Base Act claims.

We are approved panel counsel for most major insurers, including AIG, ACE/Chubb, Travelers, Liberty Mutual, Zurich, PMA, Utica, XL Specialty, Starr, The Hartford, CNA, Berkley, Acadia and others. We have longstanding partnerships with most major Third Party Administrators and Self-Insured Groups and we are designated counsel for many of the largest employers in New England.


Experience Matters. Results Count.


CONTACT US:

Tentindo, Kendall, Canniff & Keefe LLP
510 Rutherford Avenue
Boston, MA 02129
(617) 242-9600 (phone)
(617) 242-0800 (fax)