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  #31  
Old 05-28-2010, 10:30 AM
switchsl switchsl is offline
 
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I got some good advice, for docs and leads to new work in pm. Thanks ppl. It made my brain hurt less to complain a bit and have somebody offer sound advice, rather than trying to go at this alone.
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  #32  
Old 05-28-2010, 10:57 AM
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Tundra Monkey Tundra Monkey is offline
 
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All the best Switchsl



Glad some people helped out......good luck man!!

tm

pss....I can't believe I hugged a welder
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  #33  
Old 05-28-2010, 04:08 PM
bigdaddy37 bigdaddy37 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by troller View Post
That's strange, it says right here that it is 90% of your net to a maximum of 77,000. Someone making 60,000 net will still get 54,000.

http://www.wcb.ab.ca/workers/wage_replacement.asp


and yes, I've been through it.
It's based on the year of your accident/injury. 2010 maximum insurable earnings is $77,000. Previous years are less.
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  #34  
Old 05-30-2010, 05:35 AM
Rantastic Rantastic is offline
 
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The 19 000 u made in a couple months doesnt matter, they do not go by monthly salary... because of seasonal jobs, that doesnt make any sense... (would be unfair for them to paya rig pig getting hurt on last day before spring break up the same 15 000 a month to sit at home when thats what he was gonna be doing for ZERO that month anyways. They go by what u made at that job or in ur jobs that year or past year. and average it out. Its fair but may hurt the odd guy sure but it wouldnt be fair the other way in alot more situations.


Sorry about this turning into such a long read but i didnt leave out any details about my current WCB case. I am not lying one bit and really as earlier put just needed to vent so dont read if u think WCB are all angels.
If u want to know more about how they truly operate then by all means enjoy the read. U will learn alot. Mostly that WCB is like any other insurance company that u are forced to pay into but u must fight tooth and nail to ever get a dime out of them while jumping through more hoops than neccessary in hopes that u will get tired of their BS and abandon all hope.


I am not lying one bit and really as earlier put just needed to vent so dont read if u think WCB are all angels.
If u want to know more about how they truly operate then by all means enjoy the read. U will learn alot. Mostly that WCB is like any other insurance company that u are forced to pay into but u must fight tooth and nail to ever get a dime out of them while jumping through more hoops than neccessary in hopes that u will get tired of their BS and abandon all hope.

I am currently on wcb for a slow ongroing herniated disc caused by my work and make gross 60 000 a yr and i net about 40k, had same jobw ith same pay for 2 yrs now and it works out to 3500 a month, they pay me 3300 a month so not bad for me but i can understand if u were at that rate for a long time that u have bills to pay that require that funding.

I have had to go through appeals before with a small WCB claim for a broken tooth and had to climb the ladder and fight with alot of people before i got to someone who cared and made the payout fair in mere seconds of talking to him. The rest of the case workers kept saying i was damaged goods as my teeth at age of 19 were overdue to be broken from weakness by now... (WHAT THE F***) no i said my teeth were great b4 this happened. and like i said 6 months of fighting while looking like a friggin jack-o-lanturn until one guy who didn't have a bias againt payouts realized i was not damaged goods.

Right now i had 3 case workers so far in 5 weeks of being off work for my herniated disc and extreme crushed siatica nerve causing extreme pain and disablement not allowing me to straighten my back or walk more than 15 ft without doubling over in wincing pain.(I have had alot fo pain in my life and nothing comes close to cruched nerve systems from back pain.) It seemed pretty simple to my family doctor and the WCB back specialist at the millard center in edmonton here that after the Xrays, MRI's and CT scans that my disc has slowly but surely been slipping out further and further til it crushed so much of my sciatica nerve causing me to permanently lose my ankle and some of my knee reaction(where they hit u witht he hammer and ur leg is supposed to jump) and extreme pain and tingling burning and numbness.

Not fun and we had a 3 month plan to get me back on my feet and working strong again. paychecks were coming and plans to heal were made, but only after my case was transferred to yet another case manager, this one from downtown where the attempted shooting was(and i know understand why) she has demanded that im lying and it could not have come from my work and she is challenging the results, she has demanded i do all the paperwork over again from scratch, be re-examined by many other doctors and therapists and informed me she will be having everythign looked over again by new doctors to try to prove that this was nto a work caused injury.

Her basis was insinuating and demanding that i must have been in a big car accident or have dangerous hodbbies and sports that caused this instead. I informed her i have never been in an accident, laid out which sports i played in high school, volleyball, baseball, badminton(nothing violent but she kept prodding me and saying such things as" well u must have played hockey rop football or rugby!" and i would have to defend myself.) She also demanded that i must have other dangerous physical hobbies im doing right now that caused this and when i informed her i dont do anything but minor cardiovascular work outs at the gym including biking and the treadmill, and the only other thing i do for a hobby is hunting in february and hiking the rest of the year she didnt believe me and stated such. She said and I quote"So you do nothing else but work and come home and go to bed? I dont believe you" to which i replied" I dont appreciate ur tone and am getting quite frustrated with the way u are treating me and again yes I work my butt off, and am so tired that i come home, make dinner and watch tv or a movie with my gf or go visit friends."

After that she demanded that she get all that in writing and i asked why since i just told her it all for the 3rd time since all the case workers b4 got the same info in alot more polite manner and she hastily replied
"Why dont u want to put it in writing? Because ur lying to me? And very threateningly (before i had a chance to repond) told me if i dont put it in writing then she will close my claim and stop treatment. I just told her I didnt understand why they needed it in writing after going over this so many times and had nothing against signing it but im new to WCB and was curious about the process, nothing more... and frankly i am getting sick of being treated like a goddamn criminal cuz i worked my ass to the bone for my amazing employer and my body needed a timeout and some strengthening.

We ended up in a shouting match because of the way i was being treated like a guilty lying conniving criminal for wanting to heal my back so im not a friggin cripple at the age of 26 for the rest fo my life. Im not askin for yrs off here but back injuries are sever and if i cant walk, and i have no reflexes its pretty obvious im not trying to milk the system but im legitimatly injured from work and just want to get better and back at it.

We ended on the note that i will do whatever she says as long as i get to keep healing even though the doctors all stated i had a work strained injury and she said she was convinced i had degenerative disc syndrome commonly found as we age past 60 but i must have just got bad genes handed down to me from my family. And that my injury is from that and nothign to do with my work. I calmly informed her that (no one in my family has a bad back and they all have very physical jobs in different professions than me) i also know 9 other guys in my profession that by 29 yrs old have all had the same injury and most of them had to have surgery causing more permament damage and they are all living with it the best they can but are in worse condition than me and it just goes with the job(i dont know anyone who has done my job for over 8 yrs without this major injury yet and some get it as early as 2 yrs in), but i will not force myself to get into any worse condtition than i already am because of her bogus ideas. The doctors are on my side and she said she has seen this lots and in her 6 yrs, she claims she is good at her job and wont pay me if she can prove that it wasnt due to work, and that she can file to have me pay back what they have given me so far.

She also threatened my boss that if he doesn't find soem sort of light duties to do and start paying me again so they dont have to that she will make their company pay big time and WCB will blacklist their company. He was not unwilling to help but there seriously nothing i can do at my job whent he WCB back specialist says no sitting, no standing, no lifting anything, no bending, no kneeling or crouching, just short walks and lots of resting. I work for a great company that truley cares for their employees and my supervisors and boss are amazingly caring and compassionate and dont just care about the bottom line and i feel bad for them being put under the thumb of "the man" for not doing anything wrong. This case worker should not be allowed to talk this way but unlike most other agencies, they are not required to record conversations therefore cannot be called out for their mistreatment except for the paperwork they report or witness accounts(which are really just hearsay).

If she lets the plan go as it was, i will continue to jump through her endless hoops so i can heal and get on with my life but if she does appeal it and they come to the conclusion that some other BS is at fault instead of my incredibly painful and stressful job, i will be fighting it with all i can and just keep appealing it until I talk to someone with brains again. I fear it will become very unpleasent and a waste of my time again trying to get fair treatment just because some chick is working hard to screw over the honest guy to try for a raise or impress her boss or whatever.

I am not upset she is looking into things, that is her job but I feel like she is being completely biased and uncalled for rude and extremely difficult and just plain arrogant and ignorant. I had good relationships with my previous case workers so i dunno why they kept transferring me until this one got her grasp on me but i am not happy and the way she is treating everyone is inexcusable.

WCB is like every other company, there are good employees and bad ones that should not be allowed to deal with people ever. Like i said i had 2 good ones but for some reason they transferred me to the ball breaker to try to crush my spirits and abandon all hope... or im just unlucky. But seriously why do i need 1 judge and 3 diff case workers making me start my claim from the beginning all over again and fill out allt he exact same paperwork multiple times and go for multiple visits covering the same bs while slowing my healing process in just the first 4 weeks. Not cool.

I think alot of the users slip through thecracks of WCB's system and alot of the honest ones get abuse they dont deserve.


Whew, longest whinyiest post ever. I hope some of you had the patience to read that through, but i understand if u didnt
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  #35  
Old 05-30-2010, 09:36 AM
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bearbait bearbait is offline
 
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as i said i made 120 to 140,000 a year...

just to let u know i have 2 herniated disks and have had 2 back surgerys in the last year...now looking at a fusion of the lower 3 lvls of vertibate...

when i was first hurt i had one herniated disk impacting the theickle sack..(spinal cord)...wcb told me i was fine and people lived with this problem all there lives...my doctor referred me to an orthopedic specalist...wcb ignored the referal and put me through a 6 week rehab at millard center in edmonton...

at the end of the 6 weeks wcb said i was 100 % good to go for work and at pre accident lvl...i refused to sighn off on that and they then referred me to the orthopedic spec...after he had an mri done there were now 2 hemmoraged disks that required surgery...

had the surgery and was recovering when i pulled a mussle in my back...was way differnt then the disks...yes u can tell....so wcb sent me back to millard center for an exsam by there doctor who cleared me for a functinal compastity exsam....basicly lift as much weight as u can....

they then shattered the disk at l-5 s-1 that i had just had surgery on...never gave it enough time to heal...so off i went for sugery #2...

at this point the scare tissue has built up around the nerve root and is holding on to the nerve..also the disk is slidding back and forth in to the nerves...now its a waiting game to see if surgery #3 is going to happen..

now im bitter becouse if wcb would have handled my injury right in the first place i would be back at work now...insted im classed as light duty for the rest of my life....im 34 years old...compleate garbage...there doctors clear anyone for the program so they can collect a pay check...even my surgon was po'ed that they had done this not once but twice...

so belive me when i say i know how they work...benn there done that and still fighting for whats right...

when u go from 140,000 to 45,000 a year it hurts...try living off 1/3 of your house hold income...savings dont last long at all...

rob
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  #36  
Old 05-30-2010, 09:37 AM
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oh ya when i was at millard center i saw first hand the fakers...cant walk inside but when there out front for a smoke they can get around just fine...

back claims are the worst as way to meny people fake them...
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  #37  
Old 05-30-2010, 10:09 AM
switchsl switchsl is offline
 
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The changing of case workers, re evaluation of case and requesting all records in writing repeatedly is a tactic they use to frustrate you into giving up, trying to make information disappear and eventually starve you out so you have no funds to fight back. They have changed my ajudicator, re assessed my file over and over, requested medical records at 4 times and each time I disclosed all doctors contacts and information above and beyond what they request. They then, weeks later go on to tell me they need the contact info of so and so, and they dont have enough information to properly make a decision, although they assured me they had everything. Dont get angry with them, record phone calls if possible, for your own reference, dates and names of people and time of day when you talked to them. Let them say what they have to say, and when they are done, calmly tell them on this date time and person i have this nformation relating to this specific request and so on... you will be suprised at how differently they react.

That being said, I was in the same position in a lesser degree... they acused me of hobbies and activities that would include my exposure. I stated no impossible and was named a liar. I was requested to prove that I didnt, and on advice from others and their own advisors was told i need not prove my innocence, you are innocent untill proven otherwise, so let them do the leg work. That being said if you did have a previous injury, and it was undocumented, or you have an injury that could have been related to the back trouble it is discrimination on their part to say it disabled you, as you were working and competant at your job untill the curent injury sustained at work. They are grease balls, the only way to win is to document everything and look after your self and build a case against them as they are doing to you, think of this as a legal battle, trust me they are. Give a fool enough rope and eventually they will hang themselves.
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  #38  
Old 05-30-2010, 10:15 AM
albertadave albertadave is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crazy_fool1 View Post

Whew, longest whinyiest post ever. I hope some of you had the patience to read that through, but i understand if u didnt
Not whiney at all, I believe every word of it. I've only had to deal with WCB once, about 20 years ago, and I hope to gawd I never have to again. Those WCB case workers and doctors (the bad ones, I'm sure there must be some good ones, but I'm talking about the bad ones) truly are the absolute scum of the earth. I won't get into the details of my case, but the highlight was when the little POS doctor, from some other undetermined country, sat across the table from me, looked me in the eye and called me a liar (I wasn't lying). I wish the little piece of garbage knew how close he came to needing some really serious dental work. Even 20 years later my blood pressure goes up just thinking about it.
Crazyfool, with regard to their abusive language, false accusations and such, I wonder if bringing a tape recorder to your meetings and setting it on the table might change their attitudes a little? Just a thought.
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  #39  
Old 05-30-2010, 12:12 PM
switchsl switchsl is offline
 
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About acusations of liars, I was accused of such years ago in a shoulder/back injury... doing measurement of range of motion to determine recovery and extent of damage WCB doctor told me he would inject a local anesthetic to see if it was pain or injury limiting motion. I insisted injury, he said no. I did the injection, nothing changed, infact he forced my arm and really hurt me. I said it hurts an awfull lot for a local anesthetic, he informed me it was a placebo to test my honesty. I did get compensation and rehab for that injury.
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  #40  
Old 05-30-2010, 12:53 PM
pyke88 pyke88 is offline
 
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I have been responsible for managing claims for a large construction company for many years. The frustration that workers have with the WCB is only matched by the frustration endured by the employers.

This is an insurance company, and nothing else. They have become hardened as a result of the number of fraudulant claiments that they deal with, and have taken the same approach to dealing with workers, whether injured legitemetely or not. This does not benefit neither the worker nor the employer.

The other factor is the competancy of the staff of the Board. They have a ridiculously high rate of turnover, consequently the median skill level of case managers and ajudicators remains low. These are people without any medical training, thereby making it imposible to understand the nature of injuries. They are, at best, administraters.

As an injured worker, collect as much medical evidence as you can. Ensure that you document all correspondance you have with Board. Employers, do the same.

The WCB will let both of you down.
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  #41  
Old 05-30-2010, 05:08 PM
Rantastic Rantastic is offline
 
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ty pyke for reiterating my point about my employer being great although also being treated like dirt as they are me. It is not fair that a company creted to benefit the honest worker has turned into such a "hard" garbage company refusing that anyone is actually hurt nowadays.

We can always blame all the liars they have had to deal with but is it not their job to offer training to prevent the discrimination we recieve when we have an honest claim?

Ty for all the suggestions to record conversations and i would love to get on a phone where i could do this and maybe i will mention i am next time im on the phone with them just to see. Everyone i have dealt with at millard centre was fair and working at the command of the WCB office and are two different companies, i have been informed that the millard centres services are only hired by WCB to assist in them makign fair claims and i havent had any problems with the staff there. Only this one !#%&*#%^ who now has my case in her hands and is wringing my case out to wash.

I have requested my medical exams and info and with some reluctantcy i got it and it states things differently than my case manager tried to tell me so if worse comes to worse i have the medical info to back up my injury.


Bearbait, im sorry to hear about u being int he same yet worse state as i and wish u the best, the worst part about WCB is they are paid to get u back to work the fastest, not make sure u heal first. They do not really care if ur crippled for life as my case worker said im lucky to not be put back to full time work right now as many peole in worse condition than me are still working and have to.

Another friend of mine a 23 yr old jhourneyman plumber is about a yr ahead of you and after the 3rd surgery for ur same injury instead of fusing the vertibrae, they removed 3 vertibrae and inserted 3 metal shocks into his vertibrae to help assist remove pressure off the discs. That surgery still didnt take and he decided to pay $100 000 to a doctor in the states for a 4th surgery to fix him and now that he has done that he is healing up in Detroit right now as we speak. He had to re-mortgage his house and has not been capable of a day of work for 3 yrs now. but what he told me is that there is no spinal specialist surgeons in canada and with this health system he was done. Paying his life to get his life back from this doctor was his only choice and he is quite happy with the surgery so far and myself and his friends and family wish him only the best and i count my lucky stars im not in that bad of shape.... yet... And if i have my way i never will be, but i feel WCB wont be happy until im crippled for life and working in a post office or at 7/11 for the rest of my days. This is probably not their intent but it sure feels that way from the disrespect we are forced to endure.

Unfortunatly the WCB has strayed from their original agenda and yes some people are at fault for pushing through false claims but there is some responsibility in the case workers for their discriminatory attitude towards us injured, depressed people who are trusting them with our lives. Just treat everyone fairly and if the medical evidence supports the claim, stop fighting it! Its not like we can pay off doctors to print up fake MRIs and CT scans! If someone has no medical reports supportng his claim then sure put him through the wringer to make a decicion but from what i have read here. All us honest people have plenty of medical reports and advice supporting our claim yet it is all being swept under the rugs.

As for the guy with the heavy metal poisoning, It tears me to read that u have all the symptoms listed on the chemials MSDS sheets and still they deny you by making up other excuses why u could have those metals in you. And the fact that we are forced to trust our employers equiptment to be functional and if we refuse or ask for testing we are fired in that first 3 month probabtional period really puts the hard worker in a tough place.

The last car dealership i worked for repeatedly was told to get new air circulation system for the mechanics and yet for the 2 yrs i worked there we all continued to breathe in overly high concentrations of diesel and gas engine exhaust due to this faulty air circ system and even after repeated reports and warnings the system still has not changed to this day 4 yrs later. When they were informed of broken and damaged hoists they just changed the mechanic that was told tyo use it until that guy learned of the same issue, they never fixed faulty hoists lifting up to 8 000 pound trucks above their heads daily. It took at least a yr for any of them to get fixed. and the techs were told to just keep using them anyways. How do they get away with it??? I left that job due to their uncaring attitude and abuse of the workers to take a job that paid me $10 an hour less but the boss cared about his workers and i was much happier there. Same job but when my employer was informed of a problem he immediatly forbid any of the employees from going anywhere near it and had someone come and fix the problem by the end of the day. He actually is the best employer i have ever had, and now he is having to put up with this WCB crap that he doesnt deserve.
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  #42  
Old 05-31-2010, 02:16 AM
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ESOXangler ESOXangler is offline
 
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maybe you should try going public with your issue. call up the newspapers, local tv,mla and mp. start writing letters to everyone, single out the people at the wcb office. get loud about it i know theres plenty of people out there going threw the same thing.

as for the fakers they should be forced to repay everything, garnish their wages, whatever it takes. i met a guy one time who was 45 and wcb had declared him unable to ever return to work (back injury) and gave him a settlement. well you should have seen him lugg a 20 hp merc down to the dock and then ride in his boat all day. Theres no way this guy could of had such a bad back. I know this because when i was twenty i severly herniated my L4 and L5 and there was no fun for 6 months.
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  #43  
Old 05-31-2010, 07:24 AM
lavigne25 lavigne25 is offline
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Wcb are notorious for not paying out because they know people get discourage.same happen to me I was exposed to so2. Sulfur dioxide at work I was getting headeaches from it I faught with them for weeks then threaten to get a wcb be lawer and I told them that I would call them twice a day till they would pay me ,she then told me not to be rediculous then I said to then pay me what you owe me .then I call a lawer that deals with wcb he told me on the phone if I send my wcb case worker a letter requesting payement with dates you missed work and stuff he told me they would pay me , shure enough I gathered all my doctors papers and dates sent them the letter with it and they sent me a 8000$ cheque for the 4 weeks I dint work .keep at them
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  #44  
Old 05-31-2010, 07:39 AM
lavigne25 lavigne25 is offline
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I will bet ya when the hostage taking happened this winter at the wcb building , well the wcb workers that filed for stress leave will claim wcb and there claims won't be disaproved lol
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  #45  
Old 05-31-2010, 12:02 PM
MrDave MrDave is offline
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Here is some interesting facts that they don't want you to know. I only have a moment but i will come back and help you all out with these problems.

WCB employees have their benefits as provided to Aberta cival employees, but are not public employees.

WCB employees recieve a bonus every year they are there based on the income, minus costs of the Board( can't call them profits, because the Board is Non Profit).

Wcb employees are trying to get clients to believe the Board does not pay for pain, but they do if your pain is from a medically diagnosed problem. It needs to be named.

If the Board denies you, you end up be cared for by the Alberta Taxpayer, AISH or Welfare. The injured worker is frequently retrained under the Federal government programs. Instant profit.

Many injured workers end up declaring bankruptcy and give up.

All this adds up to a hefty bonus check for the case manager in the end.

When King Ralph attacked the government services, he rearranged Alberta's finances for years. He did not touch the WCB, as it works at "Arms Length" from the government.
The employees from the Board are recieving the benefits and bonus' base on the red hot Alberta economy of the 70's.

I have essentially been demolished by the actions of the Board and plan to get even.
My medical evidence is all on my side, but have had all the same problems as you all.
I, however, have studied the WCB Act and the WCB website, since I snapped my knee over backwards. What else was there to do when you cannot walk the way you used to.

While my case is being waged, YOU the Alberta taxpayer is supporting ME and MY family. I work when I can, but for the most part YOU pay ME.

But those who are having issues, I will help where I can. Those who don't like it CALL someone who cares. Like your MLA.

You can call us names all you want, we simply got permanently injured at work and ARE NOT being treated as required by LAW!
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