Worker`s Injuries Essays - Employment Compensation,

Worker`s Injuries One million times a year, California workers seek help from their employers for an on-the-job injury. Most believe the state's workers compensation laws -- created at the turn of the century and overhauled four years ago -- will be a safety net. Instead, many will step into a world where, at perhaps one of the most vulnerable times in their lives, they will wander for years with little help. This is a world where doctors can earn $500 an hour writing reports, lawyers can earn $100 an hour arguing about benefits that are set by law, judges can make $85,000 a year and insurance chief executive officers can be paid $2 million a year. All while hundreds of thousands of injured workers -- among them school teachers, laborers and office workers -- face years of frustration and delays to get medical care and $39 to $490 a week. That's the California workers compensation system. And it is damaging lives. ''This system chews people up, and I don't like it,'' said Edward C. Woodward, president of the California Workers' Compensation Institute, the research arm of the insurance industry. ''This would be a scandal anyplace else in the world.'' After 1993 legislation made the most sweeping changes in workers compensation in 20 years, The Press Democrat conducted a 12-month investigation to see how well the reorganized system is serving California workers injured on the job. It found a system that serves the powerful voices of employers, insurance companies, doctors and lawyers, while workers remain unheard. Among the findings: * Benefits are the lowest in the nation for six out of 10 workers with a permanent injury. Overall, benefits are so low that California ranks 45th out of 50 states. * Injured California workers must go to court to get benefits 20 percent of the time, double the rate 12 years ago and more than four times the national average. * Insurers mishandle half their claims. In one of every five cases, the insurer won't properly notify workers of benefits, and in one of every six cases workers won't be paid all the money they're owed, according to state audits. * Fraud is overstated. While some insurance companies claim one out of three workers lie about their injuries, or 33 percent, the actual number of fraud cases sent to prosecutors is less than 1 out of 100, or less than 1 percent. * The state has one information counselor for every 20,000 workers comp cases, symptomatic of a bureaucracy that greets half of worker calls with a busy signal and can't even say how many claims are filed each year. * No state agency regularly monitors claims to see, for instance, whether insurance payments are received on time or whether injured workers are receiving appropriate medical care. Conflict and confusion To assess how claims are handled, The Press Democrat conducted the first-ever media analysis of state computer data, analyzing 26,400 North Coast workers compensation claims covering six years, as well as another 77,800 cases in central and southern California at the Santa Barbara and Long Beach appeals boards. It found that conflict and confusion are imbedded in a system that is taking longer to resolve disputed cases every year, while the number of disputed claims is increasing faster than the growth in the work force. One out of five injured workers will spend almost three years struggling with claims adjusters and doctors and lawyers to get the benefits they are guaranteed by law. The nature of claims is changing as well, moving from warehouse to office with a growing number of cumulative strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, which are more difficult to assess and harder to quantify. ''I wouldn't want to be an injured worker in this system, due in huge part to the inherent complexity, subjectivity and inefficiency,'' said Doug Widtfeldt, vice president of the Association of California Insurance Companies. ''Delays and disputes are an endemic problem.'' The California program -- funded by employers and run by insurance companies, or employers who self-insure -- covers 13 million workers, almost twice New York or Texas. Every year, it costs employers roughly $8 billion, pays insurance companies about $1 billion in profits, pays doctors and medical providers $2 billion for medical care, pays workers $2 billion, and spends the rest on administration. And it makes everyone unhappy. Worker's comp in California is an equal-opportunity headache. Employers worry about costs. They resent workers who take advantage of the system. They resent insurance companies that make generous profits. They wonder how they

Teaching to the Test in ESL Class

Teaching to the Test in ESL Class There are many issues surrounding the idea of teaching to the test. On the one hand, many feel that teaching makes it more difficult to test students knowledge because the focus is on the particular test at hand, not on holistic learning. Once learned, students can discard test-based knowledge and then begin to study for the next test. Obviously, this approach doesnt encourage language recycling, which is essential to acquisition. On the other hand, students who are thrown into a test without knowing exactly whats on the test might not know what to study. This presents a conundrum for many teachers: Do I pragmatically meet objectives or do I allow organic learning to take place?   For the English teacher, luckily, exam results wont lead to success or failure in life as is the case with the SAT, GSAT or other big examinations. For the most part, we can concentrate on producing and measuring the relative success or failure of each student. For example, I find giving students grades based on project work to be a highly accurate means of testing.   Unfortunately, many modern students have become accustomed to a test-based mode of study. In some cases, students expect us to give them clearly-defined tests. This is especially true when teaching grammar classes.   However, at times, students dont do very well on these tests. This in part is due to the fact that students are often not familiar with the importance of directions. Students are already nervous about their English and jump right into an exercise without clearly following the directions. Of course, understanding directions in English is part of the language acquisition process. However, it sometimes gets in the way.   For this reason, when giving any kind of standard assessment test, I like to teach to the test by providing a quick mock test in a review session leading up to a test. Especially at ​lower levels, this type of review will help students focus on their true abilities because theyll understand whats expected of them.   Example Review Quiz to Help Teach to the Test Here is an example review quiz I provided before a big grammar final. The test focuses on the present perfect, as well as difference in usage between past simple and the present perfect. Youll find notes and tips listed below the example quiz.   Part 1 – Circle the correct helping verb. 1.  Ã‚     Have / has he had lunch yet?2.  Ã‚     Have / has they played soccer today?3.  Ã‚     Have / has you eaten sushi? Part 2 – Fill in the blank with the PRESENT PERFECT verb. 1.  Ã‚     Fred (play / ) __________________ tennis many times.2.  Ã‚     She (have / -) __________________ breakfast this morning.3.  Ã‚     Peter and I (eat / ) _______________ fish this week.   Part 3 – Make a present perfect QUESTION with this answer. 1. Q ______________________________________________A: No, I haven’t seen Tom today.2. Q _______________________________________________A: Yes, they have flown to Chicago.3. Q ________________________________________________A: Yes, she’s worked for Google.   Part 4 – Write the correct V3 (past participle) in the blank. played  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     quit  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     driven  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     bought 1.  Ã‚     I haven’t ___________ a Lamborghini in my life.2.  Ã‚     She has _________ smoking cigarettes to be healthier.  3.  Ã‚     They’ve ____________ soccer two times this week.4.  Ã‚     I have _______________ three books today.   Part 5 – Verb forms: Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb.   Verb 1  Ã‚     Verb 2  Ã‚     Verb 3make  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     sang  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     Forgotten   Part 6 – Write ‘for’ or ‘since’ to complete the sentences.   1.  Ã‚     I have lived in Portland _____ twenty years.2.  Ã‚     She’s studied piano _________ 2004.3.  Ã‚     They’ve cooked Italian food _______ they were teenagers.4.  Ã‚     My friends have worked in that company _________ a long, long time.  Part 7 – Answer each question with a complete sentence. 1. How long have you spoken English?A: _______________________ for _________. 2. How long have you played soccer?A: _______________________ since ___________. 3. How long have you known him?A: ____________________________ for ___________.   Part 8 – Write the correct form of the verb. Choose simple past or present perfect.   1.  Ã‚     She ___________(go) to New York three years ago.2.  Ã‚     I __________________ (smoke) cigarettes for ten years.3.  Ã‚     He _______________ (enjoy / -) the movie yesterday.4.  Ã‚     _________ you __________ (eat) sushi before?   Part 9. Circle the correct answer. 1. Fred _________ cake yesterday afternoon. a. has eatenb. eatedc. ated. was ate 2. I __________ at PELA for two months. a. studyb. am studyingc. have studyd. have studied   Part 10 – Fill in the blanks in these conversations. Use present perfect or simple past.   Peter: Have you ever ________ (buy) a car?Susan: Yes, I have.Peter: Cool! What car ___________ you _________ (buy)Susan: I _________ (buy) a Mercedes last year.   Teaching to the Test Tips Project each section onto a whiteboard to make sure that each student  actually sees whats expected.Ask students to come up and complete individual sections of the quiz. Have other students state whether they have completed the exercise correctly or not.  On the whiteboard, circle keywords in directions to make sure that students take notice of specific instructions.For the first question in each exercise, ask a student to complete the question on the whiteboard. Ask the student to explain why they answered in that manner.  Pay special attention to time expressions. Students tend to forget how important these are. For example, in exercise six students need to decide whether for or since should be used. Ask each student why they chose for or since.  On multiple choice questions, ask students why each incorrect answer is incorrect.  Dont worry about making a review quiz the same length as the actual test. Keep it short as the focus is on understanding how to take the test.