RI court to hear arguments in pension case

Court Watch

Attorneys for the state of Rhode Island will ask a judge to dismiss a legal challenge to the state's landmark pension overhaul filed by public-sector unions.

The hearing in Judge Sarah Taft-Carter's Providence courtroom on Friday is the highest profile one yet in the legal dispute over the year-old pension law. Unions argue the changes to state retirement benefits are unconstitutional and unfair.

State leaders insist that without the changes, ever-escalating pension costs would swamp state finances. They say the pension law — which passed overwhelmingly in 2011 — was carefully crafted to withstand legal scrutiny.

The litigation could have far-reaching implications as states around the country seek to rein in pension costs. Collectively, states face a $1.4 trillion gap between what they've promised workers and what they've set aside to pay for those benefits.

Rhode Island has attracted a high-profile defender: New York attorney David Boies has asked to join the legal team defending the law because of what he has said are the case's implications for other governments dealing with their own pension problems.

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Does a car or truck accident count as a work injury?

If an employee is injured in a car crash while on the job, they are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits. “On the job” injuries are not limited to accidents and injuries that happen inside the workplace, they may also include injuries suffered away from an employee’s place of work while performing a job-related task, such as making a delivery or traveling to a client meeting.

Regular commutes to and from work don’t usually count. If you get into an accident on your way in on a regular workday, it’s probably not considered a work injury for the purposes of workers’ compensation.

If you drive around as part of your job, an injury on the road or loading/unloading accident is likely a work injury. If you don’t typically drive around for work but are required to drive for the benefit of your employer, that would be a work injury in many cases. If you are out of town for work, pretty much any driving would count as work related. For traveling employees, any accidents or injuries that happen on a work trip, even while not technically working, can be considered a work injury. The reason is because you wouldn’t be in that town in the first place, had you not been on a work trip.

Workers’ compensation claims for truck drivers, traveling employees and work-related injuries that occur away from the job site can be challenging and complex. At Krol, Bongiorno & Given, we understand that many families depend on the income of an injured worker, and we are proud of our record protecting the injured and disabled. We have handled well over 30,000 claims for injured workers throughout the state of Illinois.

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