Tag: kitten it

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Feb
10
2009
Case Law, Downloads, Free, Ogilvie, PDRater, Website Updates, Workers Compensation Resources

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California Court of Appeals, First Appellate District
California Court of Appeals, First Appellate District

The First Appellate District of the Court of Appeal of the State of California has affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board in Benson v. WCAB and the Permanente Medical Group, affirmed (2/10/2009).  The Court of Appeals held, in relevant part, that “[t]he Wilkinson doctrine is inconsistent with the apportionment reforms enacted by Senate Bill No. 899.”

The basic upshot is that barring “limited circumstances” each distinct industrial injury will require its own Award.

First Ogilvie and Almaraz/Guzman, now Benson?  Its been an exciting two weeks to be a Workers’ Compensation attorney.

Office of the Clerk
Office of the Clerk
Feb
10
2009
2005 PDRS, AMA Guides, Calculators, Free, Ogilvie, PDRater, Technobabble, Website Updates, Workers Compensation Resources

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A modern hacker #1
A modern hacker #1

I launched the Ogilvie DFEC Rebuttal Calculator on Saturday morning to a select group of beta-testers. 1 When I upgraded a person’s access to the website they had no problem seeing the workers’ compensation calculator.

Unfortunately, not one of them was able to actually use the thing.  Last night my wife suggests the problem might be, “maybe they are using a different version or its not refreshed or something”?

And you know what?  She was right.  My wife, the hacker.2

I’ve written several protections into these calculators to insulate my users from having to deal with problems or bugs from newly installed code.  I would much rather a user sees nothing than get a wrong answer.  And nothing is exactly what my users saw.  I had remembered to allow my beta testers to see the Ogilvie DFEC Rebuttal Calculator – but forgot to give them access to calculator.

So, the beta-test period will continue for another day or two while I await feedback from my users.

If you’d like to see what the Ogilvie DFEC Rebuttal Calculator looks like or want to try to use it, just sign up for free and shoot me an e-mail asking for access.

  1. By “select group” I mean anyone who asked me if they could help. [↩]
  2. Photo courtesy of gutter. [↩]
Feb
9
2009
2005 PDRS, AMA Guides, Calculators, Free, Ogilvie, PDRater, Technobabble, Website Updates, Workers Compensation Resources

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How to build a calculator: Its like smashing a calculator - only in reverse
How to build a calculator: It's like smashing a calculator - only in reverse

I’m going to delay the launch of the Ogilvie DFEC rebuttal calculator for a day or two. 1  I believe it works just fine, but I would like to test it a little more.  This said, I will grant anyone who is interested access to this calculator.

Why the delay?  Well…

The interesting thing about taking apart a set of calculations is that you find all sorts of “hidden steps” to the calculation.  The majority in Ogilvie does a respectible job of going through the steps of this new formula and even gives several examples.

When performing most calculations one will need to round numbers at some point.  However, rounding almost invariably takes place at the very end.  In the case of the Ogilvie calculations, it appears that the WCAB rounds various figures throughout the calculation.

Even though the DFEC rebuttal calculator was giving correct answers, the fourth or fifth decimal places on some intermediary figures occasionally did not coming out right.  It took me a little while to track down all the spots where the WCAB was implicitly rounding their figures (and to what decimal place!).

I am fairly confident the calculator will work without a hitch, but I’m going to test it a little more before I make it available to the public.  If you’re interested in testing this Ogilvie DFEC rebuttal calculator, please drop me a line and let me know.

If you’re not a registered user for this website, its free to sign up and free to use all the workers’ compensation calculators.  Seriously, free as in free!

  1. Photo courtesy of mhuang [↩]
Feb
7
2009
2005 PDRS, AMA Guides, Calculators, Downloads, Free, Ogilvie, PDRater, Technobabble, Website Updates, Workers Compensation Resources

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Professor, tell me more of this DFEC rebuttal calculator...
Professor, tell me more of this DFEC rebuttal calculator...

Earlier today I installed an Ogilvie v. City and County of SF DFEC Rebuttal calculator into the free workers’ compensation calculators page on this website. 123 For the moment it is only available to people who have signed up for this website and asked to be a beta tester.  If all goes well, I’ll flip a switch and make it available to the public on Monday morning.

At the moment it requires four pieces of information:

  1. FEC Rank (re: body part in question)
  2. Standard disability (re: body part in question)
  3. Post-injury earnings for Applicant
  4. Post-injury earnings for employees similarly situated to Applicant

Once you add in that information, click “Calculate” and it should crunch through the formula and give you a response.  The WCAB in Ogilvie suggested several possible outcomes to this formula:

  • The “Individualized Loss Ratio” for the injured worker is the same or within the range for the current FEC Rank for the affected body part.  In this circumstance, the 2005 DFEC has not been rebutted.
  • The “Individualized Loss Ratio” for the injured worker is within the range of one of the other seven FEC Ranks.  Here, the DFEC portion of the 2005 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule might be rebutted.
  • The “Individualized Loss Ratio” for the injured worker is outside the range of all eight FEC Ranks.  In this circumstance, you could end up with a new FEC Adjustment Factor much higher or lower than any FEC Adjustment Factor associated with the eight FEC Ranks.  Here, the DFEC portion of the 2005 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule might be rebutted.

Obviously, there are innumerable factors that go into considerations of whether a Judge (or the WCAB) would find the DFEC portion of the 2005 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule to be rebutted.  This calculation and the information relied upon in performing this calculation cannot be taken as a guarranteed method of rebutting the DFEC portion of the 2005 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule.

If you’re not a registered user for this website, its free to sign up and free to use all the workers’ compensation calculators.  That’s right: free as in free.

  1. Photo courtesy of Draggin [↩]
  2. I had this EXACT same calculator as a kid! [↩]
  3. Why, how did you spend your Friday night? [↩]
Dec
15
2008
Business, Marketing, Not Workers Compensation, PDRater, Technobabble, Website Updates

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Tonight, we dine in HELL!
He's really excited about so many users!

Just this last Saturday we reached 300 registered users – and King Leonidas couldn’t be happier.1

On August 20, 2008 the 100th person registered for this site since its re-launch on July 6, 2008.  On October 20, 2008 the 200th person registered.  In the time since this website’s relaunch, I’ve:

  1. You know, King Leonidas from the movie 300.  The really happy looking guy to the right. [↩]
  2. I’ve got at least two or three more checklists planned. [↩]
  3. More laptop advice on the way. [↩]
Dec
12
2008
Business, Free, Not Workers Compensation, PDRater, PHP, Technobabble, Website Updates

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Wordpress Upgrade
Wordpress Upgrade

I upgraded the website to WordPress 2.7 RC 1 over the weekend.

I generally do not bother installing the updates between the major upgrades.  My major concern in upgrading is eliminating possible security issues and obtaining additional program features.  I maintain a totally separate website from PDRater.com, also running on WordPress, where I install the very latest versions of WordPress and try out new variations on the look-and-feel of this website, new calculators, and new ideas about how best to present the current calculators.

Very late Wednesday night I upgraded this website to WordPress v2.7.  I’m not sure I fully appreciate how much better it might be than the various release candidates.

Thursday morning I discovered an unintended effect of upgrading is that it “broke” one of my plugins.   (Reza: Thanks for pointing it out!)  I had modified an existing plugin, EasyPayPal, to allow this website to accept credit card payments.  WordPress v2.7 changed the user profiles area of the website – and made it so that instead of seeing an option to become a paid subscriber, you just saw a cryptic PHP error.  This is nothing that would have compromised a credit card number or anything – it just would have prevented anyone from giving me money.

A little bit of bug testing, one new line of code and its back up and running.  :)

Nov
24
2008
AJAX, Javascript, PDRater, Technobabble, Website Updates

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Calculator
Calculators

Last week a website user notified me of a problem he was experiencing with this website’s rating calculators.  He’s been a regular user for nearly a year now.  When he tried to perform a calculation the calculators would just show waiting indicators without showing the answer.  If he closed the browser window and reopened it, it would sometimes fix the problem.  To complicate matters, his coworker was having a similar problem.

Worst of all, this problem had been plaguing them for two weeks.  If you have a problem with this website, let me know as soon as possible so that I can track down the last change to the site to see if its causing a problem.

My troubleshooting went like this:

  1. Get a detailed description of the symptoms.
  2. Try to replicate the problem.
  3. Reiterate the problem to make sure I’ve got it right.
  4. While working to diagnose and fix the problem, offer a temporary fix (putting up a temporary site for their use).
  5. Look into recent changes in the website (going back two weeks).
  6. Since I couldn’t replicate the problem, ask additional questions.
    • Does the problem occur at a particular time of the day?1
    • What web browser and version do they use?2
    • What operating system?  When was the last update?3
      • Explain how to figure out their version of Windows and how to install update.
    • Do they have any third-party “toolbars” installed?  Yahoo, Google, MSN, etc toolbars.4
      • Ask them to temporarily disable or uninstall the toolbar.  Give them links to where they can re-download the toolbar software.
    • Do they single-click or double-click on buttons?5
    • Are other co-workers having the same problem?6
    • Do they have this same problem on different computers?7
    • Is the browser showing javascript errors?8
    • Ask them to try out a new browser. I recommended the PortableApps.com version of FireFox.
      • If the problem disappears, its obviously in their computer or network.  If the problem persists, it could still possibly be their network or the website.
  7. Above all else: KEEP THE CLIENT INFORMED.9

As of right now, one of this client’s co-workers has contacted me to say that he’s no longer having trouble with the website.

So, problem solved?  If not, let me know, alrighty?

  1. This would indicate a data bottleneck at the server.  Time to upgrade! [↩]
  2. And, tell them how to find this information. [↩]
  3. Have I mentioned how much I loathe Microsoft Vista?  Seriously, I think people should delete Microsoft Vista because its crap. [↩]
  4. These browser helper objects are notorious for interfering with normal browser operations.  Worse, you can’t rule them out based upon when they were installed because they’re constantly downloading and installing updates to themselves. [↩]
  5. Double clicks send two requests to the server – and might be confusing the browser. [↩]
  6. Two computers on a single network could be a coincidence, a sign of a problem with the website, or a sign of a problem with the client’s network. [↩]
  7. If not, its a problem with that computer.  If so, could still be a problem with either the website or their computers/network. [↩]
  8. Tell them how to tell if there’s an error and how to give you the error code information. [↩]
  9. They may not care for the constant updates, but they will know you’re on the case. [↩]
Nov
20
2008
2005 PDRS, Calculators, PDRater, Subscription Features, Technobabble, Website Updates, Workers Compensation Resources

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Calculator Performance Issue: It has come to my attention that some users are having problems with the “Body Part” code finder.  This problem apparently occurs when you click on the “Body Part” button and just see a spinning blue “waiting” disc instead of a list of body parts.

Temporary Fix: Even though the Body Part code search function does not work for some users, the rating functions still appears to work just fine.  If you know the Body Part code, you should be able to enter it manually in the box provided.  If you are performing a 2005 schedule rating, please use the full 8 digit body part code.

Permanent Solution: I am working on a fix for this problem and will update this website as soon as I am able.  I cannot be sure, but I suspect that the problem is being caused, in part, by the recent increase in the popularity of this website.1

To all paid-subscription users:

I value your business and appreciate your patience.  If this problem persists, I will create a second website exclusively for your use.

In the meantime, if you’re having problems with the calculators, however small, please e-mail through the Contact Us link at the top.  The more information I have about the problem, the better able I will be to diagnose and fix it.

Thank you again for your patience.

Sincerely,

Jay Shergill

  1. Yay, popularity!  Boo, problems! [↩]
Nov
14
2008
PDRater, Technobabble, Website Updates

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This baby monkey has nothing to do with workers' compensation at all.
This baby monkey has nothing to do with workers compensation at all

This website was recently re-launched on July 6, 2008 in a “blog” style format using WordPress to power everything except the calculators.1

On July 23, 2008 this website was all of one year old.  That day I made a goal of posting something2 every single weekday.3  Today is the 100th post on this site and I can’t help feeling somewhat accomplished.4

As any website regular can tell, I’m constantly tinkering with this site.  I fully understand constant change might be somewhat disorienting.  On the other hand, I’m making these changes in an effort to improve the appearance and usability of the website.

Most recently, I moved the Medical Provider Network and Links sub-pages to be their own5 menu options.  These pages seem to be things people use a lot and really deserve their own spot at the top.  Then again, I don’t want the top menu to be too cluttered.  There’s really no one great solution to this dilemma.

Other changes I’m considering:

  1. Moving the EAMS and WCAB search functions to their own page.  Some users6 use these functions exclusively and probably don’t appreciate the dozen or so other calculators.
  2. Combining the Blog and Articles pages.  I haven’t done this so far because I doubt people want to sift through my technobabble to learn something about workers’ compensation.

While I have you here:

Drop me a line and let me know.

  1. Photo courtesy of nycgeo. [↩]
  2. Admittedly, sometimes nonsense. [↩]
  3. Even on holiday-weekdays. [↩]
  4. I’m not exactly ready for NaNoWriMo, but you need to walk before you can run. [↩]
  5. Top level [↩]
  6. I suspect mostly non-attorneys. [↩]
Nov
3
2008
Author, Calculators, PDRater, Technobabble, Website Updates, Workers Compensation Resources

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Obama and McCain on heathcare
Obama and McCain on heathcare

October was another pretty good month for PDRater.com. During the month of October, the traffic for this website increased by about 25%, I added a few new calculator features, I completely changed the look of the website, and we passed the 200 registered users mark.1

In no particular order, I’m including my favorite “photoshopped” pictures from October on the right side.  The footnotes below link to the original photographers.  None of them are to blame for the photoediting. 2345

Top Posts Awards:

Obama vs McCain: Round 3
Obama vs McCain: Round 3

2008 Presidential Election Coverage:

2008 Economic Turmoil Coverage:

*PDRater up, the Dow down
PDRater up, the Dow down

I added on to my “Road Warrior Checklists”:

In case you’re interested, here’s the best of September 2008.

  1. At the time of this post, 227 registered users! [↩]
  2. Special thanks to the kind people who use Flickr for making their photos available for use. [↩]
  3. Photos courtesy of richardmasoner, C_Dave, and mikewade. [↩]
  4. Photo courtesy of DaveHogg. [↩]
  5. Photo courtesy of Daniel Martini. [↩]