Latest Contractors Headlines
All the headlines from our Contractors Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Oklahoma Contractor Faces $103K in Fines After Fatal Workplace Asphyxiation
Mar 22 2024 // An Oklahoma City employer’s failure to follow federal safety procedures left a 30-year-old worker suffering fatal asphyxiation as they tried to make repairs inside a water tank at a McClain County wellsite in...
Texas Contractor Faces $257K Fine After Teenager’s Death in Trench Collapse
Mar 21 2024 // A Houston, Texas-area contractor is facing more than a quarter million dollars in fines after a federal investigation found the company’s willful regard for required safety procedures contributed to a...
Moonlighting Cop Not Independent Contractor? NC Supreme Court Says Hold on
Mar 14 2024 // The North Carolina Supreme Court has temporarily put the brakes on an appeals court decision that had upset years of workers’ compensation case law on when a moonlighting law officer is considered an independent...
3 Key Trends Impacting Construction Contractor Liability in 2024
Mar 7 2024 // This post is part of a series sponsored by IAT Insurance Group. The construction industry faces a new set of challenges each year, and 2024 is no exception. Although 2023 saw a 19.7% surge[1] in spending for nonresidential...
Navigating the Trucking Downturn: Coverage Options to Keep Independent Contractor Business Safe in 2024
Mar 5 2024 // This post is part of a series sponsored by IAT Insurance Group. After the unprecedented boom that surged through the trucking industry following the COVID-19 pandemic, trucking companies are now grappling with lower...
Illinois Construction Contractor Fined $264K for Safety Violations
Feb 15 2024 // An Illinois construction contractor – with a history of ignoring federal safety regulations – has again been found exposing workers to deadly fall hazards on a jobsite in Naperville. Inspectors with the U.S. Department...
OSHA Seeks $1M Penalty for New Jersey Contractor Added to ‘Severe Violator’ List
Feb 13 2024 // The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited a New Jersey contractor for again exposing workers to fall hazards, this time while working at a construction site in Franklin Lakes, New...
Markets/Coverages: Corvus Expands Tech E&O; K2 OCONUS Workers Comp for Government Contractors; Xceedance’s MGA Agility Suite
Feb 8 2024 // Corvus Insurance introduced a newly expanded Tech E&O product with an enhanced appetite backed by Travelers. Smart Tech E+O from Corvus provides creative risk solutions for technology businesses across the spectrum of...
Contractor Reaches $25M Settlement in Flint, Michigan Water Crisis Suit
Feb 5 2024 // FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A second contractor said last Thursday that it has reached a $25 million settlement over its role in Flint, Michigan’s lead-contaminated water scandal. The class-action litigation agreement...
California Reaches $1M Settlement with Cheesecake Factory, Janitorial Contractors
Feb 5 2024 // The California Labor Commissioner’s Office reached a $1 million settlement against the Cheesecake Factory Restaurants Inc. and two janitorial contractors for reportedly underpaying 589 janitorial workers. The...
OSHA Fines Georgia Plumbing Contractor $186,000 After Fatal Fall Down Manhole
Feb 1 2024 // The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined a Georgia plumbing contractor more than $184,000 for failing to take safety measures to prevent a fatal fall last summer. Robert Hall, a 34-year-old father...
Federal Court Fines Nebraska Contractor Who Stalled Investigation Into Employee’s Fall
Jan 29 2024 // A federal court has issued an order holding a Nebraska roofing contractor — who has stalled federal investigators for nearly a year — in contempt of court and imposing a fine of $100 a day if he fails to comply with a...
Worker Loses Legs to Trenching Machine; $150K Fine for Washington Contractor
Jan 26 2024 // A 16-year-old boy was using a walk-behind trencher on a job site in La Center, Washington to dig a channel for fence posts over the summer when he was dragged underneath the blade, causing injuries so severe that he lost...
California Reaches $1M Settlement with Cheesecake Factory, Janitorial Contractors
Jan 24 2024 // The California Labor Commissioner’s Office reached a $1 million settlement against the Cheesecake Factory Restaurants Inc. and two janitorial contractors for reportedly underpaying 589 janitorial workers. The...
Freelancers File First Lawsuit Challenging Independent Contractor Rule
Jan 17 2024 // A group of freelance writers and editors has sued the U.S. Department of Labor, claiming the Biden administration’s new rule making it more difficult for companies to treat some workers as independent contractors is...
Added Protection or Opportunity Lost? New Independent Contractor Rule Issued
Jan 10 2024 // The U.S. Department of Labor on Jan. 9 issued a final rule, more than a year in the making, on the definition of an independent contractor. First proposed in October 2022, the rule provides guidance to employers in...
Illinois Contractor Faces $278K in Fines for Exposing Workers to Falls
Jan 9 2024 // Twice within a month, an Illinois roofing contractor — cited previously more than 20 times for violating federal workplace safety regulations — was again found exposing employees to falls as they did residential...
New Contractor Rule to Be Unveiled Soon That Could Upend Gig Economy
Jan 9 2024 // The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden will release a final rule as soon as this week that will make it more difficult for companies to treat workers as independent contractors rather than employees that typically...
‘Severe Violator’ Ohio Contractor Agrees to $730K OSHA Settlement
Jan 3 2024 // The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement to resolve litigation following a March 2022 investigation at a work site in Wheeling that resulted in a dozen citations issued against an Ohio-based...
Minnesota Construction Contractor Faces $1.8 Million in OSHA Penalties
Dec 18 2023 // Despite signing a 2021 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor that included a promise to protect its employees from potentially deadly trenching and excavation hazards, a Minnesota construction contractor...
