Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Delaware Workers’ Compensation Oversight Panel Begins Work
Aug 26 2014 // A Delaware panel established to oversee efforts to keep the state’s workers compensation rates affordable is getting down to work. Delaware’s Workers Compensation Oversight Panel is charged with creating a new...
Employment Growth Leads to Workers’ Comp Benefit, Cost Uptick
Aug 26 2014 // Workers’ compensation benefits rose by 1.3 percent to $61.9 billion in 2012, while employer costs rose by 6.9 percent to $83.2 billion, according to a report released today by the National Academy of Social Insurance...
Commentary: Hopeful Outlook for Workers’ Comp
Aug 25 2014 // As we pass the halfway point of 2014, the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) is relatively optimistic about the outlook for the workers’ compensation market in America. Industry costs remain largely...
R.I. Lowers Assessment Rate for Workers’ Comp Insurers to 6.65%
Aug 25 2014 // The Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (DLT) announced last week that it has cut the administrative assessment rate charged to insurance companies providing workers’ comp coverage in Rhode Island. For...
Massachusetts State Auditor Reviews Workers’ Comp System
Aug 25 2014 // A new Massachusetts state audit has made recommendations to improve accountability and efficiency in the workers’ compensation system. Massachusetts State Auditor Suzanne Bump said on August 21 that her...
Medical Director at North Dakota’s Workers’ Comp Agency Resigns
Aug 21 2014 // The medical director at North Dakota’s workers’ compensation agency has resigned. KXMB-TV reports that Luis Vilella stepped down on Aug. 15 after eight years with Workforce Safety and Insurance. Vilella has...
Early Use of MRI for Lower Back Pain Found Unnecessary, Costly
Aug 20 2014 // Early use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to diagnose work-related lower back pain often leads to higher medical costs, unnecessary medical procedures and prolonged disability, according to new medical research. Claims...
Workplace Penalties Mounting Up for Illinois Roofing Contractor
Aug 20 2014 // Roofing contractor Juan Manuel Antonio-Martinez has been cited for three willful safety violations for exposing workers to fall hazards at two separate residential home sites in Savoy, Ill., on March 26, 2014, and April 9,...
Appeal Expected Over Ruling Overturning Florida Workers’ Comp System
Aug 19 2014 // A Florida circuit court judge has ruled that the state’s workers’ compensation law is unconstitutional because it no longer provides adequate benefits to injured workers giving up their right to sue. Florida...
NCCI Proposes Workers’ Comp Loss Costs Decrease in N.H.
Aug 18 2014 // The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) recently delivered a workers’ compensation loss cost filing to the New Hampshire Insurance Department. NCCI said that based upon its review of the most recently...
Ex-Oklahoma Assistant AG in Work Comp Case Files Wrongful Termination Claim
Aug 18 2014 // A former Oklahoma assistant attorney general has filed a wrongful termination claim against the state. Ted Rossier filed the $175,000 claim with the State Office of Risk Management, The Oklahoman reported. He is seeking a...
Hopeful Outlook for Workers’ Comp
Aug 18 2014 // As we pass the halfway point of 2014, the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) is relatively optimistic about the outlook for the workers’ compensation market in America. Industry costs remain largely...
Beauty Contestant Busted Through Social Media For Workers’ Comp Fraud
Aug 15 2014 // Shawna Lynn Palmer, 22, of Riverside has been arrested for workers’ compensation fraud after video evidence showed her participating in the 2014 Miss Toyota Long Beach Grand Prix beauty contest. Palmer, a clerk at...
Another $1B Workers’ Comp Rebate Proposed for Ohio
Aug 13 2014 // Governor John R. Kasich and Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Administrator/CEO Steve Buehrer announced a $1 billion rebate to Ohio’s private and public sector workers’ compensation customers, as...
Florida Packing Plant Workers Face Workers’ Compensation Fraud Charges
Aug 12 2014 // Workers from a Naples, Fla. vegetable and fruit packing plant were headed back to court to face charges related to alleged workers’ compensation fraud. The case stems from the raid of a packing plant where more than...
Female Bank Robbery Conspirator Charged With Workers’ Comp Fraud
Aug 11 2014 // Aurora Barrera, 33, of Downey was arrested on charges related to her allegedly submitting a fraudulent workers’ compensation claim for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder associated with a robbery, she...
Oklahoma AG: Workers’ Comp Commission Broke Open Meeting Act
Aug 7 2014 // The commission that oversees Oklahoma’s system for compensating injured workers repeatedly violated the state’s Open Meeting Act, including when its members met privately with a potential vendor, an assistant...
Kaprinay Named Workers’ Comp Practice Leader at IMPG in Illinois
Aug 7 2014 // St. Charles, Ill.-based Insurance Program Managers Group (IPMG) promoted Nathan Kaprinay practice leader of IPMG’s brokerage division for workers’ compensation. Kaprinay will coordinate marketing and production...
OSHA: Safety Violations Continue at Oklahoma Oil Refinery
Aug 6 2014 // U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited an Oklahoma oil refinery with five repeat and three serious violations for continuing to expose workers to unsafe conditions. As a...
Virginia Sets Hearing on Workers’ Comp Premium Level Adjustments
Aug 6 2014 // Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) has scheduled an October hearing to consider a request filed by the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. (NCCI) to adjust the premium levels charged for...