Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
New Jersey Manufacturer Faces $56K in Fines for 10 Workplace Safety Violations
Aug 19 2016 // National Manufacturing Co. Inc. of Chatham, N.J., was cited in July by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for 10 workplace safety violations, amounting to $56,000 in...
Illinois Contractor, in Default of $268K in Fines, Cited Again for Safety Hazards
Aug 18 2016 // Illinois contractor Robert Barringer III’s long history of putting his workers in danger of debilitating or fatal falls at his company’s job sites continues, this time at a residential home under construction...
Tyson Foods Fined $236K for Serious Safety Violations at Texas Plant
Aug 18 2016 // Arkansas-based Tyson Foods Inc. is facing more than $236,000 in penalties after an investigation by federal safety inspectors found the nation’s largest meat and poultry processor endangered workers by exposing them...
Workers’ Comp Rate Reduction Proposed in Iowa
Aug 18 2016 // The Iowa Insurance Division reports that a proposed workers’ compensation rate filing would lower rates by 4.7 percent next year. The National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. has made a rate filing that...
OSHA Launches Expedited Whistleblower Review Pilot in Western Region
Aug 17 2016 // The U.S. Department of Labor is launching a pilot process in its Western region called the “Expedited Case Processing Pilot,” which enables a complainant covered by certain statutes to ask the Occupational...
Officials Say Texas’ Closed Formulary Is Lowering Workers’ Comp Costs
Aug 17 2016 // A recent analysis by researchers at the Texas Department of Insurance shows that the Texas pharmacy closed formulary is lowering costs and reducing the use of opioids in the workers’ compensation system, the...
Feds Investigate Illinois Firm Fined for Exposing Staff to Asbestos
Aug 16 2016 // U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration proceedings against an Illinois construction company fined for allegedly importing Mexican workers to remove asbestos are on hold as federal officials look into possible...
North Dakota Lawmaker Questions Reserves in Workers’ Comp Opt-Out Plans
Aug 11 2016 // A state representative from North Dakota, who serves on the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Committee at the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), says he’s concerned about reserves for paying...
Key Risk Forms National Division Focused on Longshoreman & Harbor Workers Act
Aug 8 2016 // Key Risk, a W. R. Berkley Company providing workers compensation insurance products and services for employers throughout the eastern United States, has formed a new division focused on providing workers compensation and...
Business-Backed Group Pushes for Workers’ Comp Opt-Out in Illinois
Aug 8 2016 // An Illinois think tank has issued a report expressing support for a workers’ compensation opt-out system, stating that it would give employers the ability to lower costs and allow for a more flexible workforce. In...
Connecticut Supreme Court Denies Wife’s Emotional Distress Workers’ Comp Claim
Aug 8 2016 // A Connecticut woman who found her 77-year-old husband crushed to death under an all-terrain vehicle when she brought him lunch at his job cannot sue his employer for severe emotional injuries she suffered, the state...
CastlePoint National Conserved by California Regulator to Protect Policyholders
Aug 8 2016 // CastlePoint National Insurance Co., the sole remaining carrier member of the Tower Group, was placed into conservation in late July by order of the San Francisco Superior Court to protect policyholders and injured workers...
Planning for the Worst: Terrorism and Workplace Violence
Aug 8 2016 // Several recent manmade events, including the attack at Pulse nightclub in Florida and the Belgium airport terrorist bombing, highlight the vulnerability of the workplace. Workplace violence costs employers more than $120...
Massachusetts Lowers Employer Assessment
Aug 8 2016 // The Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA) reduced the assessment that private employers pay to the state on workers’ compensation policies to 5.6 percent of the policy premium for the new fiscal...
New York Workers’ Compensation Loss Costs Going Up 9.3%
Aug 8 2016 // New York has approved a 9.3 percent average hike in workers’ compensation loss costs effective Oct. 1. New York businesses, while not pleased, see the hike as necessary in order to keep the insurance market stable...
Texas Manufacturer Faces $99K in Penalties Over Workplace Hazards
Aug 5 2016 // A Texas-based pre-cast concrete structure manufacturer has been cited by federal safety officials for 17 repeat, serious workplace safety violations and faces penalties totaling $99, 248. The Turner Company LLP was cited...
Connecticut High Court Blocks Injury Suit Against Contractor
Aug 5 2016 // Two workers injured in a power plant explosion that killed six other people in 2010 cannot sue a contractor for negligence, the state Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled. Justices issued a 6-1 decision saying O&G...
OSHA Cites Massachusetts Firm for Chemical Explosion
Aug 4 2016 // A Massachusetts chemicals manufacturer has been cited by federal labor officials following a January explosion that injured four workers. The U.S. Department of Labor says an investigation by the Occupational Safety and...
West Virginia Workers’ Comp Rates to Decrease by 14%
Aug 4 2016 // The National Council on Compensation Insurance filed a proposed drop of 14.7 percent in workers’ compensation loss cost rates with the West Virginia Insurance Commissioner. In response, West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray...
Atlas General Insurance Services Announces New Online Workers’ Compensation Platform, GoQuote
Aug 3 2016 // San Diego, CA, August 3, 2016 – Atlas General Insurance Services, LLC (‘Atlas’), a national multi-line program administrator, announced the launch of GoQuote, a new online quoting system for managed...
