Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
BrickStreet Remains Biggest Workers’ Compensation Writer in West Virginia
Oct 2 2012 // BrickStreet Insurance is still the dominant workers’ compensation insurer in West Virginia, despite competition from more than 200 other companies. The Legislature created BrickStreet in 2005 to replace what had been...
Calif. Rating Bureau Drops Workers’ Comp Advisory Rates
Oct 1 2012 // After a review of a workers’ compensation overhaul bill signed two weeks ago by Gov. Jerry Brown, the Workers’ Compensation Rating Bureau submitted a filing on Monday to lower the pure premium advisory rate for...
Calif.’s Brown Record ‘Solid’ on Insurance Legislation
Sep 28 2012 // Gov. Jerry Brown saw over a dozen bills related in some way to insurance come across his desk, with a bill to approve driverless cars, a bill to overhaul California’s workers’ compensation system among...
South Carolina Erotic Dancer Not Covered by Workers’ Compensation
Sep 27 2012 // A South Carolina court has found that an erotic dancer who suffered a gunshot wound while performing is not eligible for workers’ compensation benefits since she didn’t meet the definition of being an employee...
Massachusetts Court Rules on Scope of Independent Contractor Exclusion
Sep 25 2012 // A Massachusetts court recently ruled in favor of insurer Lloyd’s in a dispute over a commercial property and general liability policy excluding coverage for independent contractors. The insured, a property...
National Interstate Adds Workers’ Comp to Passenger Program
Sep 24 2012 // National Interstate Insurance Co., a provider of transportation insurance, will add workers’ compensation to its traditional insurance program for best-in-class passenger transportation operations on Oct. 1, 2012....
Company Cited for Safety/Health Violations at Louisiana Facility
Sep 24 2012 // The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Westlake Vinyls Co. LP in Geismar, La., for 10 serious safety and health violations, primarily related to OSHA’s process...
Wyoming Agency Seeks $60,000 From Sinclair After Fire
Sep 24 2012 // Wyoming workplace safety regulators have handed down a dozen citations and are seeking more than $60,000 in fines against Sinclair Oil for a refinery fire that injured two workers. The May 25 fire at the Sinclair Refinery...
Workers’ Comp Changes Go Into Effect in Mississippi
Sep 24 2012 // Insurers and employers in Mississippi now have greater latitude to conduct alcohol and drug tests on employees following a workplace accident and to reduce benefits for workers with pre-existing conditions. Under new...
N.J. Probes Workers Comp TPAs’ Side Deals With Vendors
Sep 24 2012 // The New Jersey comptroller’s office says some workers’ compensation third party administrators (TPAs) have undisclosed side agreements with their vendors which require payments back to the TPAs. This...
N.Y. WC Assessments Remain Highest in Nation
Sep 24 2012 // A surcharge added to workers’ compensation costs for all New York State employers remain the nation’s highest, according to a new report. It is nearly five times the average of the same surcharge imposed in...
Calif. Workers’ Comp Reform Law at ‘Halftime’
Sep 20 2012 // Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles to look at California’s workers’ compensation reform law in detail and what must be done to implement that law by Jan. 1, 2013. When Gov. Jerry...
Maine State Worker Guilty of Workers Comp Fraud
Sep 20 2012 // A state Transportation Department worker has been convicted of stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of workers compensation benefits by doing strenuous activities at his home when he was supposedly too hurt to...
Gunshot Claim Not Barred by Workers’ Comp Settlement: Georgia Supreme Court
Sep 20 2012 // A worker who unintentionally shot a co-worker can be sued in civil court since his actions were outside the scope of his normal duties and despite the fact the employer treated the shooting like a workers’...
Calif. Workers’ Comp Reform Dominates Conference
Sep 19 2012 // Senate Bill 863, or the more popular usage “SB 863,” was the phrase at the beginning, end or middle of many-a-conversation during the California Workers’ Compensation & Risk Conference on...
Brown Signs Calif. Workers’ Comp Bill
Sep 18 2012 // California Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed a bill to increase disability benefits for injured workers while taking a bite out of the rising cost of workers’ compensation insurance premiums. Lawmakers approved the...
Mississippi Workers’ Comp Drug Testing, Benefits Changes Go Into Effect
Sep 17 2012 // Insurers and employers in Mississippi now have greater latitude to conduct alcohol and drug tests on employees following a workplace accident and reduce benefits for workers with pre-existing conditions. Those changes are...
N.Y. Workers’ Comp Assessments Remain Highest in Nation: Report
Sep 14 2012 // A surcharge added to workers’ compensation costs for all New York State employers remain the nation’s highest, according to a new report. It is nearly five times the average of the same surcharge imposed in...
7 Companies Cited for Exposing Workers to Asbestos in San Antonio
Sep 12 2012 // Federal safety regulators have cited seven construction companies for exposing workers to asbestos hazards at a San Antonio construction work site. Proposed penalties total $148,000. The U.S. Department of Labor’s...
N.J. Workers’ Comp Division Proposes 2% Raise in Weekly Benefit Rates
Sep 12 2012 // New Jersey’s Division of Workers’ Compensation has recently proposed an amendment that would increase the 2013 maximum weekly benefit rates from $810 to $826. The rates would be applicable for temporary...
