Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Texas Supreme Court: Bad Faith Tort Inconsistent with Workers’ Comp System

Jun 25 2012 // In what has been called a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Texas has found that a bad faith cause of action is inconsistent with the current workers’ compensation system. The Court’s decision strengthens...

North Carolina Passes Law Targeting Employers Without Workers’ Comp

Jun 25 2012 // North Carolina business owners may find it harder to escape having workers’ compensation coverage after state lawmakers approved a bill closing a legal loophole that had resulted in tens of thousands of employers...

Ex-N.Y. Postal Worker Pleads Guilty to $18K Workers’ Comp Scam

Jun 22 2012 // Authorities said a former U.S. Postal Service employee has pleaded guilty to receiving over $18,000 in fraudulent workers’ comp benefits. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Northern District of New York said Thomas...

AIG Pays Massachusetts $3.4M in Multi-State Workers’ Comp Settlement

Jun 22 2012 // Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Joseph Murphy announced Thursday that the state received more than $3.44 million as its share of a 50-state settlement with the American Insurance Group. Commissioner Murphy stated that...

CDI Gives $32 Million to Fight Workers’ Comp Fraud

Jun 21 2012 // The California Department of Insurance will distribute $32 million in grants to district attorneys in California to support efforts to investigate and prosecute workers’ compensation insurance fraud. Every year, the...

Best Affirms Ratings of Eastern Insurance Holdings and Subs

Jun 21 2012 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a” of the property/casualty subsidiaries of Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc....

Assembly Insurance Committee Gives Thumbs Up To Spinal Implant Bill

Jun 20 2012 // The Assembly Insurance Committee unanimously approved closing a loophole in the law that allows double billing for surgical implants in California workers’ compensation cases. Senate Bill 959, authored by Ted Lieu,...

Railroad Retaliated By Firing Workers Reporting Injuries: OSHA

Jun 20 2012 // The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is ordering railroad operator Norfolk Southern to pay more than $800,000 for firing a South Carolina worker and two others after they reported injuries on the job. Safety...

Connecticut Receives $1M in Multi-State AIG Workers’ Comp Settlement

Jun 19 2012 // Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas Leonardi announced Monday that the state has received just over $1 million in fines and penalties from American International Group Inc. as part of a multi-state settlement over...

North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Outpatient Payments Growing: WCRI

Jun 19 2012 // Hospital charges for the treatment of injured workers in North Carolina are growing quickly in the wake of regulatory changes meant to reduce outpatient costs, according to a study by the Workers Compensation Research...

Computer Problems Mean North Dakota Work Comp Medical Bills Backlog

Jun 19 2012 // Many North Dakota medical providers who treat workplace injuries are having to wait for their bills to be paid. North Dakota’s workers’ compensation agency says problems with a new computer software system are...

Group Warns Bills Pending in N.Y. Could Make Workers’ Comp More Costly

Jun 18 2012 // A New York-based business association warns that two bills currently before the State Legislature could rollback cost savings created in the 2007 workers’ compensation reforms. According to The Business Council of...

Commercial Insurance Prices Continue to Rise: Towers Watson

Jun 18 2012 // Commercial insurance prices in aggregate increased by nearly 5 percent during the first quarter of 2012, the fifth consecutive quarter that prices rose. In addition, commercial insurers’ loss ratios stabilized for...

States Collecting on $146 Million AIG Workers’ Comp Settlement

Jun 18 2012 // State regulators around the county are finally collecting their share of a multimillion dollar settlement reached with American International Group (AIG) in 2010 based on the company’s misreporting of workers’...

Study: Spinal Implant Loophole Costs Calif. Workers’ Comp $67M

Jun 18 2012 // Workers’ compensation medical costs in California were boosted by nearly $67.5 million in 2010 due to loophole in the law that allows double billing for surgical implants, according to a study released earlier this...

U.S. Insurers’ Reserves Redundant by $11.7B: Aon Benfield Study

Jun 18 2012 // Insurers’ reserves were redundant at year-end 2011 by $11.7 billion — or 2 percent of total booked reserves – compared with $22.0 billion at the year-end of 2010, after the industry released $12.7 billion of...

States Collecting on $146M AIG Workers’ Comp Settlement

Jun 18 2012 // State regulators around the county are finally collecting their share of a multimillion dollar settlement reached with American International Group (AIG) in 2010 based on the company’s misreporting of workers’...

Navigating Construction Accident Litigation

Jun 18 2012 // Between 2006 and 2008, there were 7,461 claims involving falls resulting in $243 million-plus in reserves, according to Bradford S. Purcell, a partner at the Illinois-based law firm of Purcell & Wardrope. During that...

Reserves Redundant by $11.7B: Aon Study

Jun 18 2012 // Insurers’ reserves were redundant at year-end 2011 by $11.7 billion – or 2 percent of total booked reserves – compared with $22.0 billion at the year-end of 2010, after the industry released $12.7 billion of...

WIAA Adds State Fund to Workers’ Comp Portfolio

Jun 15 2012 // Rancho Cordova, Calif.-based WIAA Insurance Services, the agency arm of the Western Insurance Agents Association (WIAA), has expanded its carrier portfolio with the State Compensation Insurance Fund, of California’s...