Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Illinois Company Faces Proposed $117K Fine for Unsafe Working Conditions
Dec 16 2013 // Arlington Metals Corp. in Franklin Park, Ill., has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 38 safety and health violations, which carry proposed penalties of...
Wisconsin Workers’ Comp Insurers Propose to Rein in Costs
Dec 13 2013 // States once again show the way to management and reform of public systems by having affected interests sit down together to work out a plan. In Wisconsin, the nation’s oldest workers’ compensation program...
OSHA Fines Geismar, Louisiana Plant $99K for 6 Safety Violations
Dec 13 2013 // The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed fines of $99,000 against Williams Olefins for a June explosion at its plant in Geismar, La., that killed two workers and injured 80. OSHA cited the...
North Dakota Workers’ Comp Mulls Suing Aon eSolutions Over Failed Project
Dec 12 2013 // North Dakota’s workers’ compensation agency is considering suing a company that failed to complete a $17 million computer system overhaul. Workforce Safety and Insurance hired Chicago-based Aon eSolutions in...
California Business Owner To Pay Millions For Workers’ Comp Fraud
Dec 9 2013 // Richard Lopez Escamilla Jr., 47, was sentenced in Kings County Superior Court in California on Dec.4 to one felony count of insurance fraud and was ordered to pay restitution of nearly $4.2 million to State Compensation...
Texas to Workers’ Comp Carriers: Direction of Care for Pharmacy Services Prohibited
Dec 9 2013 // The Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation has sent a reminder to Texas workers’ compensation system participants that insurance carriers, including their agents, are prohibited from...
Costs per Workers’ Comp Claims in Michigan Low Prior to 2011 Reforms
Dec 9 2013 // The total costs for a workers’ compensation claim in Michigan were low compared with other states according to a recent study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), Michigan System Performance Prior...
Florida Arrests 9 Contractors on Workers’ Compensation Charges
Dec 9 2013 // Florida CFO Jeff Atwater announced the arrests of nine men as a result of a two-day undercover operation in Manatee County focusing on unlicensed contractors that failed to provide workers’ compensation...
NCCI Proposes Increase for Workers’ Comp Loss Costs in Rhode Island
Dec 9 2013 // The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) recently delivered a workers’ compensation loss cost filing to the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation. Based upon its review of the most recently...
Virginia SCC Approves Revisions to Workers’ Comp Premium Levels
Dec 9 2013 // Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) last week approved revisions to the premium levels charged for the state’s workers’ compensation insurance. Workers’ compensation insurance provides...
Group Health Plans Pay for ‘Zero-Cost’ Workers’ Compensation Claims: Study
Dec 9 2013 // Workers’ compensation claims that result in no payment lead to millions of dollars in increased costs for employee group insurance plans, new research shows. Nationwide, so-called “zero-cost”...
AIA Supports Curbing Physician-Dispensed Medications in Penn. WC System
Dec 6 2013 // The American Insurance Association (AIA) submitted a statement Wednesday to the Pennsylvania House Labor Committee, in support of state legislation aimed at controlling costs associated with physician dispensing of...
Illinois Central Railroad Faces Fines of $110,500 for Lead Exposure
Dec 5 2013 // Illinois Central Railroad Co. has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for one willful and six serious safety violations for exposing workers to lead hazards....
New Mexico Governor Appoints Workers’ Compensation Director
Dec 4 2013 // Gov. Susana Martinez has appointed a state government lawyer from Albuquerque to run a regulatory agency overseeing New Mexico’s workers’ compensation program. Darin Childers becomes director of the...
N.J. Regulator Approves 3.6% Average Workers’ Comp Rate Increase in 2014
Dec 3 2013 // New Jersey’s Compensation Rating And Inspection Bureau recently announced the state insurance commissioner’s approval for the workers’ compensation average rate increase for next year. New Jersey Banking...
N.Y. Settling Worker-Insurance Claims With AAA Issue: Muni Deals
Dec 2 2013 // The New York Dormitory Authority is borrowing $370 million this week to repay workers’ compensation claims, the first sale under a regulatory overhaul that Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo said will save $1.2...
American Interstate Insurance, Silver Oak Casualty OK’d to Move to Nebraska
Dec 2 2013 // Insurance Director Bruce Ramge has approved the two property/casualty insurance companies to domicile in Nebraska. American Interstate Insurance Co. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Silver Oak Casualty Inc., were...
Workers’ Compensation Results Improved in 2012
Dec 2 2013 // The workers’ compensation industry’s results improved in 2012. Premiums grew for the second straight year, the combined ratio improved, and claims frequency declined at a faster rate than severity increased,...
Declarations
Dec 2 2013 // Something for Nothing “Sometimes a few bad employees try to get something for nothing, scamming the people we serve. This task force will help prevent those instances.” —New York State’s Broome County...
N.Y. Comp Board Presses On to Resolve Group Trust Liabilities
Dec 2 2013 // The New York State Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) is pressing on with its effort to resolve the liability problems stemming from collapsed group self-insured trusts. WCB has been taking a multi-pronged approach to...
