Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Cal/OSHA Issues $276K Citation for Serious Heat Violations
Dec 18 2024 // The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health issued $276,425 in penalties to Parkwood Landscape Maintenance based in Van Nuys, California, for willfully violating state heat illness prevention...
Workers’ Comp Mega Claims Total $1B-Plus Yearly, Multiagency Study Shows
Dec 13 2024 // Mega claims in workers’ compensation represent far less than 1% of total workers’ comp claims yet account for more than 2% of total loss dollars, and total in excess of $1 billion each year, a new study from 10...
Construction Firm Owner Sentenced for $2 Million Tax Evasion, Lying to OSHA
Dec 13 2024 // A Massachusetts construction business owner was sentenced to 18 months in prison for an employment tax scheme and making a false statement at an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) hearing about a...
Virginia Approves 12% Loss Cost Decrease for Workers’ Compensation
Dec 12 2024 // Virginia has approved a 12.0% loss cost decrease in the workers’ compensation voluntary market along with rate decreases in the assigned risk market, effective April 1, 2025. The State Corporation Commission (SCC)...
Court Nixes Workers’ Compensation for ‘Light Beer’ Drinking UPS Driver
Dec 11 2024 // A United Parcel Service (UPS) driver who was intoxicated when he crashed his semi-trailer delivery truck has been denied workers’ compensation benefits. Delaware Superior Court Judge Kathleen Vavala last week...
New York Expands Workers’ Compensation For Mental Health to All Workers
Dec 9 2024 // New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation to expand workers’ compensation benefits to people who are facing job-related mental health crises. The new law, which goes into effect January 1, 2025, allows...
Missouri to See Reduction in Workers’ Comp Rates in 2025
Dec 6 2024 // The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance (DCI) announced that employers should see a reduction in workers’ compensation rates in 2025, marking the fourth straight year of decreased rates. The projected rate...
Summit Expands Workers’ Comp Coverage to Illinois
Dec 5 2024 // Florida-based Summit, a regional provider of workers’ compensation insurance services, announced the expansion of its coverage into Illinois. Summit-managed carriers, Bridgefield Casualty Insurance Co., Bridgefield...
Claim Frequency in California Workers’ Comp Higher in L.A. Area, Study Shows
Dec 5 2024 // Claim frequency in California workers’ compensation remains significantly higher in the Los Angeles Basin than in the northern part of the state, a new study shows. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating...
Regulatory Roundup: California’s Flood Mitigation Initiative, Workers’ Comp Insurance Fraud, Over $300,000 in Compliance Fines
Dec 4 2024 // State-by-state variations of laws, compliance protocols, industry transparency, and general regulatory culture can lend one the impression that keeping up with industry changes is a little bit like herding cats. So, what...
Washington Workers’ Comp Premium Going up in 2025
Dec 2 2024 // The average cost of workers’ compensation insurance in Washington will go up about 3.8% in 2025, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries announced. Employers and workers together will pay on average...
Texas Workers’ Comp is Growing, Profitable, Adding Doctors
Dec 2 2024 // Texas’s worker’s compensation market is stable and steadily growing. The workers’ comp market is one of the few consistently profitable lines in the state, according to the Worker’s Compensation...
Lawsuit Seeks OSHA Records on Deaths of 3 Amazon Workers
Nov 27 2024 // A worker activist has sued the Department of Labor (DOL) to force the release of records surrounding the deaths of three workers at New Jersey Amazon workplaces in 2022. The lawsuit says DOL’s Occupational Safety and...
Swedlow Stepping Down as President of California Workers’ Comp Institute
Nov 26 2024 // Alex Swedlow said he plans to retire from his post as president of the Oakland-based California Workers’ Compensation Institute. He is stepping down from the helm of CWCI effective August 2025. Swedlow’s...
New Jersey Bakery Fined $385K After OSHA Says Workers Still Exposed to Hazards
Nov 22 2024 // A New Jersey commercial baker in Paterson faces $385,221 in federal penalties after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the employer failed to correct workplace safety hazards identified in 2023. The...
Connecticut Approves 6% Workers’ Compensation Rate Decrease for 2025
Nov 21 2024 // The trend of decreasing rates in Connecticut workers’ compensation insurance will continue as the state’s insurance regulator has approved an industry proposed 6% rate decrease beginning January 1, 2025. The...
AM Best Assigns Ratings to New York Healthcare Workers’ Compensation Carrier
Nov 19 2024 // AM Best has assigned a Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” (Excellent) to Standard and Preferred Insurance Co. of Kew Gardens, New York. The outlook assigned...
Florida OIR Approves 1% Average Workers’ Compensation Rate Decrease
Nov 19 2024 // Florida employers will soon see the smallest decrease in workers’ compensation rates in years – just a 1% reduction from current overall rates in the voluntary market. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation...
GAO Urges OSHA to Address Ergonomic Hazards in E-Commerce Warehouses, Deliveries
Nov 18 2024 // The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) must do more to address ergonomic hazards at warehouses and delivery companies, where the number of injured workers in the growing sector are on the rise, a...
OSHA: Waterproofing Contractor’s Safety Failures Led to Worker’s Crushing Death
Nov 18 2024 // A federal workplace safety investigation has found the operator of three Massachusetts waterproofing contracting companies could have prevented an employee from suffering fatal injuries in February 2024 when part of a...
