Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Safety Regulators Back Nebraska Man Who Refused to Drive Truck
Mar 21 2016 // Federal safety regulators say a southeast Nebraska company wrongfully fired a driver who refused to operate a truck that violated Iowa law. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration...
Massachusetts Court Rules on Damages for Injured Workers
Mar 21 2016 // Massachusetts’ highest court recently ruled in a case of first impression that a workers’ compensation insurer is not entitled to a lien on the money awarded to claimants for pain and suffering. This ruling...
July Explosion Leads to OSHA Fine for New Mexico Pot Business
Mar 18 2016 // A medical marijuana dispensary in New Mexico has been fined for safety violations after an explosion badly burned two workers. The Albuquerque Journal reports that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration...
Oklahoma Court Says Workers’ Comp 180-Day Rule Is Unconstitutional
Mar 15 2016 // Oklahoma’s workers’ compensation system took a hit on March 1, 2016, when the state’s Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional the provision in the 2013 Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Act that...
Texas Adopts Revised Workers’ Comp Classification Relativities
Mar 9 2016 // Texas Insurance Commissioner David Mattax has issued an order adopting revised workers’ compensation classification relativities. The order reduces the overall level of the classification relativities by 10...
Washington Casino Dealer Ordered to Repay $27K in Workers’ Comp Scam
Mar 9 2016 // A Spokane, Wash. card dealer caught working at casinos while receiving disability benefits must repay more than $27,000. Victor Arredondo, 58, pleaded guilty this week in Spokane County Superior Court to felony...
OSHA Cites Biofuel Company over Louisiana Hydrogen Gas Explosion
Mar 8 2016 // The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined a Geismar, La., biodiesel plant $70,000 and has cited a biofuels company over a September hydrogen gas explosion. The Advocate reports that OSHA also cited...
California Construction Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Workers’ Comp Fraud
Mar 7 2016 // The owner of a Sacramento, Calif. construction company has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and workers’ comp insurance fraud. The Sacramento Bee reported that 47-year-old William Alan Huffman entered his plea last week...
Nevada Insurance Commissioner Approves Workers’ Comp Rate Decrease
Mar 7 2016 // Acting Nevada Insurance Commissioner Amy L. Parks approved a filing from the National Council on Compensation Insurance for an average decrease of 5.5 percent for Nevada workers’ compensation voluntary insurance loss...
Report: Most California Workers’ Comp Medical Review Decisions Upheld
Mar 7 2016 // An examination of California workers’ compensation independent medical review decisions shows roughly nine-in-10 of disputed medical service requests reviewed by an IMR physician agree with the utilization review...
Vermont Fines Continental for Workers’ Comp Overcharges
Mar 7 2016 // Vermont Department of Financial Regulation Commissioner Susan L. Donegan announced on Feb. 26 that Continental Indemnity Co., a subsidiary of Applied Underwriters Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company, has paid Vermont...
OSHA Says Iowa Restaurants Owed Employees $100K in Wages
Mar 4 2016 // A U.S. Labor Department initiative has found that a handful of Ames, Iowa, restaurants violated federal labor standards and owed thousands of dollars to workers. Department officials announced that Ames employers owed...
Massachusetts Business Owner Indicted on Workers’ Comp Fraud Charges
Mar 4 2016 // Authorities said a Wilmington, Massachusetts man has been indicted in connection with allegedly failing to accurately report the nature of his company’s work in order to avoid $120,000 in insurance...
Massachusetts Top Court Rules on Damages for Injured Workers
Mar 4 2016 // Massachusetts’ highest court recently ruled in a case of first impression that a workers’ compensation insurer is not entitled to a lien on the money awarded to claimants for pain and suffering. This ruling...
Texas Mutual, VFIS Award Over $150K to Emergency Service Organizations
Mar 3 2016 // Workers’ compensation insurer, Texas Mutual Insurance Co., a policyholder-owned company, and VFIS of Texas awarded more than $150,000 to 71 non-profit emergency service organizations across Texas through the...
Woods Named Executive Director of New York Workers’ Compensation Board
Mar 3 2016 // New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has announced the appointment of Mary Beth Woods as executive director of the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board, where she had been acting director. Woods succeeds Mark Wade who...
Allianz Launches Workers’ Comp Unit for Aviation Risks
Mar 2 2016 // Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has entered into an agreement with the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) through which it has established a new aviation workers’ compensation department....
Delaware Regulators Recovered $1.9M for Policyholders in 2015
Mar 1 2016 // The Delaware Department of Insurance said the department last year recovered more than $1.9 million for policyholders, and helped business owners save nearly $9.3 million in workers’ compensation insurance costs. The...
Oklahoma’s Workers’ Comp Opt-Out Act Ruled Unconstitutional
Feb 29 2016 // The Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission has determined that the opt-out portion of the state’s 2013 workers’ compensation statute is unconstitutional. Ruling on an appeal under the provisions of the...
Nevada Insurance Commissioner Approves Workers’ Comp Rate Decrease
Feb 29 2016 // Acting Nevada Insurance Commissioner Amy L. Parks approved a filing from the National Council on Compensation Insurance for an average decrease of 5.5 percent for Nevada workers’ compensation voluntary insurance loss...
