Employee obesity has long been an issue that employers have kept at arm’s length, and for good reason. The potential legal and public relations ramifications of calling an obese employee into the office for a heart-to-heart chat about their weight are devastating. Workers’ compensation administrators have tended to shy away from the issue as well, fearing lawsuits and preferring to concentrate on body part injuries rather than the whole person. But now, driven by the costs associated with obesity, employers and workers’ compensation underwriters and administrators are beginning to take obesity into account when determining workers’ comp benefits.  According to a study by NCCI Holdings of New Jersey, workers who are morbidly obese, defined as having a Body Mass Index of 40+, filed 45% more claims, missed 8 times the workdays and incurred over 5 times the medical costs and 8 times the indemnity costs than did non-obese workers. By comparison, those who were merely ove... [Read Full Article]

Government and Economy Gregg Nominated for Commerce President Obama has nominated Republican Judd Gregg to be Commerce secretary, a bipartisan gesture that the President insisted was necessary with such a troubled economy. Banks Failing to Lend Despite BailoutsThe federal government has invested nearly $200 billion in the US banking industry to spur new lending to consumers and businesses. So far, three months in, it has been a failure. Your Tax Dollars at Work: Wells Fargo's Vegas Casino JunketsWells Fargo & Co., which received $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money, has plans for a series of corporate junkets to Las Vegas casinos this month. Once a leader in subpr... [Read Full Article]