Workers’ Compensation & COVID-19 Pandemic
Featuring Mack Babcock’s interviews on radio, podcasts, newspapers, and TV
by The New York Times and Baltimore Sun
After Saul Sanchez tested positive for the coronavirus at a hospital in Greeley, Colorado, he spoke to his daughter on the phone and asked her to relay a message to his supervisors at work.
“Please call JBS and let them know I’m in the hospital,” his daughter Beatriz Rangel remembered him as saying. “Let them know I will be back.”
The meat-processing company JBS had employed Sanchez, 78, at its plant in Greeley for three decades. He was one of at least 291 people there who tested positive for the coronavirus, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Sept. 20, 2020
by Enjuris
Q: Are law firms and legal services considered “essential businesses” in Colorado?
A: Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, and the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment have issued a Public Health Order requiring Coloradans to stay at home. However, the Order indicates that “critical businesses” are exempt, subject to some limitations.
The Order outlines 13 categories of critical businesses. One of those categories — Financial and Professional Institutions — explicitly states that legal services are exempt from the Order. As such, law firms may continue operating in the state of Colorado.
Sep. 13, 2016
by Colorado Trial Lawyers Association (CTLA) Monthly Magazine “Trial Talk”
Denver, Colo. – Sep 1, 2016 – The Colorado Trial Lawyers Association (CTLA) publishes a bi-monthly publication called Trial Talk®. In each issue, the CTLA profiles one of the association’s “Eagle donors,” which are members who significantly support the associations’ legislative and political efforts. R. Mack Babcock of The Babcock Law Firm was recently profiled in the June/July issue.
In the profile, Babcock shares how his life experiences prepared him for being the dogged legal advocate he is today – beginning with having to overcome intense bullying during his elementary and early adolescent years.
May 10, 2017
by Enjuris
Meet R. Mack Babcock, Esq. – our Colorado content partner gets real with Enjuris
When asked why he became an attorney, all that Mack Babcock could do was laugh.
“I wish I had a good answer,” he said. “I’m a firm believer that most of us have no idea where we’re going in life.”
Babcock can certainly attest to that. His path in life has taken so many unexpected turns that if you’d asked him at age 17 where he would end up, he probably would have said, “working at a restaurant in Hawaii” – which he almost did after traveling there on a family vacation and going as far as to set up a job and lodging.
Apr. 7th, 2017
Updated Apr. 16, 2017
by Huffington Post
Harold had a spinal fusion that went very wrong.
His surgeon accidentally hit a nerve cluster in his thoracic spine and left him in irreversible, intractable agony. Harold was left unable to stand, sit or move without pain, and his sister needed to move from another state to assist him with daily tasks. He was declared disabled by his doctor after six months – a shadow of his former self.
Harold is a fictional character who will help us paint the picture of what could happen to others in a similar situation. Like them, he was advised that he should file a medical malpractice claim to help cover the crushing medical bills.
But how much he (and others like him) can rely on this avenue to recover damages may be about to change.
Apr. 1, 2020
by Workers’ Comp Matters podcast hosted by Alan Pierce and featured on Legal Talk Network
(27 minute interview with Alan S. Pierce)
Q. As a claimant attorney, what are the first questions if a particular client came to you having suffered from the disease or experienced time off from work, medical expenses, etc, how would you make a decision on if the exposure is covered?
A. In Colorado, there are some questions on if these incidents are related to an injury or an accident, which is what it sounds like, a specific event leading to the exposure. Or, what is called an occupational disease, a condition that a worker gets due to exposure over a certain period of time.
Jan. 30, 2020
Hosts: “David I’ve been doing this since September and each month we try to bring to you guys news of national interests news of Alabama case law and we’re starting to bring on some of our friends from different parts of the country and our friend today is Mack Babcock he is out in Colorado works out of Denver Mack if you would and I appreciate you stepping out of your conference for a little bit to have some time with us but if you would tell us about yourself and you in your practice what do you guys do out in Denver?”
Mack Babcock: “Well, I’ve been practicing law for, I guess i’m in my 18th year. I graduated law school in 2002, a fairly typical story, although I think you guys are a little bit different. Actually, my first job out of law school was as a defense attorney.
by WorkCompCentral
Regulators from around the country Wednesday congratulated employers on managing COVID-19 claims without the need for litigation while court and comp systems have been slowed by the pandemic.
“In general, the employer and carrier community has responded pretty well, considering the statutes they have to abide by,” said Andrew Sabolic, deputy director of the Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation.
Sabolic was one of 16 state comp agency heads who spoke at a Regulators’ Roundtable, part of the Southern Association of Workers’ Compensation Administrators…
Full story for $7.99
by WorkCompCentral
The Colorado Senate Finance Committee narrowly passed a rebuttable COVID-19 presumption bill that would cover essential workers who contract the virus over the next two years.
The committee on Monday night voted 4-3 to pass Senate Bill 216.
SB 216, by Sen. Robert Rodriguez, D-Denver, would create a presumption that COVID-19 is compensable for specified workers diagnosed with the disease before June 21, 2022. The employee must test positive for the virus or be diagnosed by a licensed physician. The presumption would also cover workers with a cause of death listed as COVID-19, according to the…
Full story for $7.99
Mar. 31, 2020
by Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group (WILG)
SeminarWeb DVD by request with Membership
Mar. 26, 2020
by WorkCompCentral
When Oklahoma claimants’ attorney Bob Burke woke up Wednesday, he wasn’t sure whether…
Full story for $7.99
Mar. 20, 2020
by Colorado Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Spring Update
This year, Stephanie Tucker, Member Attorney here at The Babcock Law Firm, has been invited to join a panel of three — that also includes a judge and a local defense attorney — to present a Case Law Update.
Some of the topics that will be covered throughout the day include:
- Case law updates
- Litigation practice tips from the Office of Administrative Courts
- The psychology of pain and how it impacts medical outcomes
- The Colorado Uninsured Fund for employees of uninsured employers
- Interpreter challenges
- Ethics: redactions, privilege logs and in-camera review
Full Audio CD of the Event for $550.95
Mar. 30, 2020
by WorkCompCentral
The Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group is hosting a webinar Tuesday addressing workers’ compensation issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speakers will discuss what to do when an injured worker has trouble accessing non-emergency care, and how to keep a case moving forward when in-person hearings are postponed.
Other topics for discussion include when COVID-19 is covered by workers’ compensation and how the U.S. Department of Labor is dealing with workers not covered by state comp systems.
Three attorneys presenting the webinar are Amie C. Peters, of Washington state; Mack Babcock, of Colorado; and Alan S. Pierce, of Massachusetts.
Full story for $7.99
