Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Raises Interest, Discount Rate for Workers’ Comp
Mar 29 2017 // The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation reports that the workers’ comp discount rate and interest rate for April 1 to June 30, 2017, will be 4.50 percent. The rate is computed by...
Shell Bill Filed in Arkansas Would Allow Alternate Workers’ Comp System
Mar 29 2017 // An Arkansas state senator has filed a bill that would create an alternate system for benefits to injured workers. As yet, SB 653 by Sen. David J. Sanders contains no specifics beyond a statement of purpose, which is...
Iowa Workers’ Comp Overhaul Bill Sent to Governor
Mar 29 2017 // The Iowa Senate has approved a bill to overhaul how workers are compensated for on-the-job injuries, sending the measure to Gov. Terry Branstad. The legislation, which passed with only Republican support, reduces benefits...
Alaska Workers’ Comp Reform Has Labor, Businesses Disagreeing
Mar 29 2017 // Alaska Gov. Bill Walker is sponsoring workers’ compensation legislation aimed at making it easier to determine whether someone is an employee or an independent contractor. Walker’s bill creates a new definition...
Montana Lawmakers Table Privatization of $1.6B Workers’ Comp Fund
Mar 27 2017 // Montana lawmakers have tabled a proposal seeking to dismantle and privatize the state’s massive workers’ compensation system, saying the matter is too daunting to take up in the waning days of the legislative...
Grandstaff Joins Florida-Based SUNZ as CFO, Executive Vice President
Mar 27 2017 // SUNZ Holdings of Bradenton, Fla., has appointed Michael W. Grandstaff to the position of chief financial officer and executive vice president of SUNZ Holdings, and chief financial officer of SUNZ Insurance Co. Grandstaff...
Amended Iowa Workers’ Comp Overhaul Advanced to Senate
Mar 24 2017 // Republicans in the Iowa House passed a bill to overhaul how workers in the state are compensated for on-the-job injuries, though they backed off some key proposals amid internal concern over the extent of the changes. The...
Congress Nullifies Obama Workplace Injury Reporting Rule
Mar 24 2017 // The U.S. Senate (50-48) joined the House (231-191) in passing a resolution blocking a federal workplace injury and accident reporting rule put in place by the Obama Administration last December. The Department of Labor...
BLS Report Finds New Jersey Fatal Work Injuries Increased in 2015
Mar 23 2017 // The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in March that fatal work injuries totaled 97 in New Jersey for the year 2015, a 10 percent increase from the previous year, according to Chief Regional Economist Martin...
Chubb Introduces Online Workers’ Comp Policy System for Small Business Agents
Mar 23 2017 // Chubb has introduced a new online system for independent agents that will quote and issue a comprehensive workers’ compensation policy for small businesses. Chubb’s workers’ compensation policy for small...
California Workers’ Comp Report Looks at Spinal Fusion Claims
Mar 22 2017 // A study on the use of spinal fusion surgeries in California workers’ compensation shows that in 60 percent of spinal fusion claims the initial report of injury was for a sprain or strain, a majority of the fusions...
Pinnacol Issues $50M in Workers’ Comp Dividends to Colorado Employers
Mar 22 2017 // Colorado workers’ compensation insurer Pinnacol Assurance is distributing $50 million in dividend checks this month to its policyholders. More than 53,000 employers throughout the state — roughly 94.2 percent of...
BSA in Tennessee Promotes Wall To Medical Only-Claims Rep
Mar 22 2017 // Brentwood Services Administrators Inc. (BSA), headquartered in Brentwood, Tenn., promoted Courtney Wall in February 2017 to the position of medical only-claims representative in the Brentwood office, according to Jeff...
California Workers Comp Medical Review Volume Hit a Record in 2016
Mar 21 2017 // The California workers’ compensation independent medical review process used to resolve medical disputes found that in 2016 IMR physicians once again upheld about 90 percent of utilization review physician’s...
CDI Issues Directive on New Workers’ Comp Law Pertaining to Excluded Employees
Mar 21 2017 // The California Department of Insurance has notified the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of its concern that some insurers may be in violation of Assembly Bill 2883. This law, which went into effect on...
Los Angeles Prosecutors Refile Charges in $150M Workers’ Comp Fraud Case
Mar 20 2017 // Los Angeles County prosecutors have refiled criminal charges against a dozen people accused of taking part in an alleged $150 million workers’ compensation insurance fraud, the Los Angeles County District...
Convicted Ohio Burglar Pleads Guilty to Workers’ Comp Fraud
Mar 20 2017 // A Cincinnati man serving time in an Indiana prison for burglary got a short break from prison March 9, but only to plead guilty to workers’ compensation fraud in an Ohio courtroom, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’...
Credible Workers’ Comp System Is More Important Now Than Ever: WCRI Conference
Mar 20 2017 // After decades of managing costs for employers, it’s time for workers’ compensation professionals and public policymakers to turn their attention to the needs of injured workers and think of themselves as...
CEOs of California Sewing Firms Sentenced for Workers’ Comp Fraud
Mar 17 2017 // Sisters who are CEOs of sewing companies that are subcontracted by True Religion jeans have been sentenced for conspiring with their accountant to hide tens of millions in payroll to avoid paying for workers’...
Mississippi Gov. Nominates Rep. Formby to State Workers Comp Commission
Mar 17 2017 // Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is nominating a longtime Republican lawmaker to the three-member Workers Compensation Commission. Rep. Mark Formby of Picayune has served in the House since 1993 and helped push a 2012 law that...
