The U.S. Supreme Court accepted a landmark challenge to mandatory union dues which it will hear this month as its new term begins. This case could have a significant impact on unions’ political contributions and potentially alter the balance in Sacramento. First, the background.

California recently figured prominently in several high court decisions! "Obamacare," same-sex marriage and congressional redistricting....and the U.S. Supreme Court is not finished with California yet! It accepted a landmark challenge to the California Teachers Association’s state-sanctioned collection of mandatory union dues from its members. The CTA is huge. With about 300,000 members, it is arguably the single most important player in Sacramento. Routinely spending tens of millions of dollar on lobbying and electing friendly legislators. In addition, they finance statewide ballot measures...most notably the 'split property tax roll:' making business property more expensive.

The Supreme Court’s acceptance of the case is not really surprising since the conservative wing on the courts has implied in past cases that is was open to erasing compulsory union dues. If the court sides with the plaintiff, the CTA could lose over $100 million in annual revenue....now that is real money!

Previously, the court declared that teachers could refuse to pay that part of union dues designated for political purposes, which is roughly one third of the CTA’s approximately $1,000 in individual dues. However, the argument being made in this case is that it is impossible to separate out that portion spent on political causes, this forcing teachers to pay for political activities that they don’t support.

As you can see this case has very significant implications for the business community.

Stay Tuned!

For PCOC Legislative Agenda 2015, please click here.

MOST WORKER ANTS ARE SLACKERS

Ants and bees have reputations as efficient team players. In Temnothorax rugatulus — a small brown ant found in pine forests in North America — division of labor is common, with workers specializing in tasks like foraging, building, and brood care. But new research shows that many ants in a colony seem to specialize in doing nothing at all.

To get a closer look at how these ants filled their time, researchers marked every member of five lab-based colonies with dots of colored paint. Over the course of two weeks, a high-definition camera recorded five-minute segments of the ants in action six times a day, capturing their behavior (or lack thereof). Out of the "workers," 71.9 percent were inactive at least half the time, and 25.1 percent were never seen working. A small fraction of the ants, just 2.6 percent, were always active during observation, the researchers wrote last month in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

Previous studies have postulated that inactivity might be temporary, with ants working in shifts dictated by circadian rhythm. But the new results show that the lazy workers stay lazy no matter the time of day. According to the team, this suggests that inactivity isn’t merely a break between tasks, but might be an important part of the ants’ division of labor. Just what part remains unclear, but one theory is that the inactive ants are either too young or too old to work. Future studies over longer periods of time could capture the ants switching between busy and lazy modes.

MOST COMMON INJURIES

In their September 2015 edition, PCT magazine reported the most common injuries for 2013 in the pest control industry. Here are the results:

• Slips/trips and falls account for about 22% of injuries usually occurring when an employee is walking backwards around a perimeter or get tangled up in their gear or traversing uneven surfaces.

• Auto Accidents account for about 17% – rear-end collisions where employees ran into the back of other vehicle made up about 42% of total auto injuries.

• Sprains and strains made up about 13% of workplace injuries.

• Falling from a higher level made up about 12%, covering situations like technicians falling through ceilings.

• 10% of injuries are categorized as struck by / against. This occurs when a part of the body hits either against something or is hit by a moving or flying object.

• Insect stings and dog bites each constituted about 6%.

�• Falls from ladders made up 4%

• The other 10% were categorized as other or miscellaneous.

It is not typical for technicians to be injured by the chemical products they use. Most risk managers equate this to the vast amounts of time and resources spent properly training employees in the use of their materials and use of personal protective equipment.

Welcome to a new section of Newsbriefs! Here, we will give news from our members: new hires, retirements, etc. If you have some news you would like to share, please send a short sentence or two to breann@pcoc.org.

Click here for more details.

When horseplay occurs in a work environment, does workers’ compensation apply?

Generally, an injury must 1) occur in the course of employment and 2) arise out of the worker’s employment to be compensable. Merriam-Webster defines horseplay as "rough or loud play: energetic and noisy playful activity." Most job descriptions don’t include play, so should employees receive workers’ compensation for injuries occurring due to recreational activities or horseplay?

In the past, courts usually ruled against compensation, because horseplay and other non-work activities do not arise out of the course of employment. Even non-participating employees were denied compensation for injuries caused by another employee’s horseplay.

Today, courts tend to be more liberal in awarding benefits, particularly when situations fall into a gray area. According to OSHA, an injury is presumed to be work-related if it results from an event occurring in the work environment. The work environment includes any location where one or more employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment. For example, what about injuries that occur at work-related recreational events, such as a company picnic or softball game? If the employer expects or encourages attendance or participation, then the injury could be compensable.

Whether a court decides that these types of injuries occur in the course of employment could hinge upon four factors:

When it comes to horseplay claims, some courts apply "Larson’s Rule." Named after Larson’s Workers’ Compensation, a 17-volume covering workers’ compensation law, relevant court cases, and analysis, Larson’s Rule on horseplay considers several factors:

To prevent horseplay-related injuries, employers should take the following action steps:

For more information on preventing horseplay or improving workplace safety, please contact the PCOC Insurance Program department of EPIC at (877) 860-7378 or, email us @ ProPest@epicbrokers.com. Also check out: www.pcocinsurance.com

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