Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Workers’ Comp Reform Slowed Cost Growth
Sep 3 2010 // Reform of Florida’s workers’ compensation fee schedule in 2003 achieved its intended results, significantly increasing the prices paid for physician services and reducing the average payment per service for...
Massachusetts Requiring New Form for Out-of-State Workers’ Comp
Sep 2 2010 // Massachusetts regulators are requiring out-of-state contractors and other businesses to submit additional paperwork to verify workers’ compensation coverage when working inside the Bay State. The new form applies to...
Calif. Legislature Addresses Workers’ Comp Measures
Sep 1 2010 // The California Legislature took action on several workers’ compensation measures recently, passing bills that, among others, would extend death benefits until the youngest child reaches 19 if the parent died while...
Washington Working Harder to Combat Insurance Fraud
Aug 31 2010 // In advance of a rate announcement expected in September, Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries said it is working to “transform itself” by strengthening fraud fighting efforts, helping...
U.S. Risk Acquires Workers’ Compensation Wholesaler Unisource
Aug 31 2010 // Specialty lines underwriting manager and wholesale broker U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. has taken over Florida-located Unisource Program Administrators, a wholesaler of workers’ compensation, for an undisclosed...
Ohio Workers’ Comp Group Discount to Remain the Same for 2011
Aug 31 2010 // The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation board of directors has voted to maintain the current maximum discount and break even factors (BEF) for group-rated employers for the policy year beginning July 1, 2011. In...
Study: Compound Drugs, Co-Packs Increase Calif. Workers’ Comp Costs
Aug 31 2010 // The use of compound drugs, medical foods, and so-called convenience packs that combine prescription drugs and medical foods, increased dramatically in the second quarter of 2007 — driving up costs in the...
New Jersey Court: Construction Worker Can Sue Employer
Aug 31 2010 // New Jersey workers’ compensation laws do not prevent a construction worker injured in a trench collapse from suing his employer, a state Appeals Court has ruled. The lawsuit — which was originally dismissed by...
Former North Dakota Work Comp Director Demands New Trial
Aug 30 2010 // Former North Dakota workers’ compensation director Sandy Blunt should have his felony conviction for misspending public funds dismissed because prosecutors withheld evidence before his trial, Blunt’s lawyer...
Florida-based Unisouce Aquired
Aug 30 2010 // Texas. U.S. Risk, a privately owned specialty lines underwriting manager and wholesale broker headquartered in Dallas, Texas, today announces the acquisition of Sarasota Florida based Unisource Program Administrators. The...
Pinnacol Assurance To Credit $15M to Certain Policyholders
Aug 26 2010 // Colorado’s Division of Insurance announced it has reached a settlement agreement with Pinnacol Assurance, the state’s largest workers’ compensation insurer, concerning filing issues raised earlier this...
New Hampshire Workers’ Comp Trust to Pay $245K in Dividends
Aug 25 2010 // The Association Members Workers’ Compensation Trust said it will pay dividends totaling $245,000 to New Hampshire businesses that participated in the program between 2004 to 2006. The dividends, a portion of which...
6 Ways Agents Fail Their Workers’ Comp Customers
Aug 25 2010 // Like most agents, you work hard at writing new accounts, what salespeople through the years have referred to as “getting the fish in the boat.” But it doesn’t take a master angler to know that once you...
Iowa to Assess for Second Injury Fund; Work Comp Rate Hike Proposed
Aug 25 2010 // Sufficient funds are not available to meet the liabilities of Iowa’s Second Injury Fund, so the state is imposing a $4 million assessment on insurers and self-insured employers in Iowa. Notices were mailed from the...
Kentucky’s WC Loss Costs Down for Fifth Time
Aug 24 2010 // An annual filing most insurance carriers will use to develop rates for workers’ compensation coverage in Kentucky shows the fifth consecutive overall decrease in loss costs, Department of Insurance Commissioner...
OSHA Cites Florida SeaWorld Regarding Trainer Death
Aug 24 2010 // The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited SeaWorld for safety violations following the death of killer-whale trainer Dawn Brancheau at its Orlando park in February. OSHA is citing SeaWorld of Florida...
Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corp. Promotes 3
Aug 23 2010 // Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corp. (LWCC) has announced the promotions of three members of its management team. Glenn Audiffred is now assistant vice president of Information Technology Services, Pat Canning is...
Montana Workers’ Comp Overhaul Gets Green Light
Aug 23 2010 // A proposed workers’ compensation overhaul hammered out by business and labor is going to Montana’s full Legislature, despite stiff opposition from the equally powerful trial lawyers and doctors groups. A...
California Appeals Court Upholds Guzman Workers’ Comp Decision
Aug 20 2010 // California’s Sixth District Court of Appeal has affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board decision in Milpitas Unified School District v. WCAB and Joyce Guzman, allowing physicians to apply any part of...
Calif. Workers’ Comp Insurance Rating Bureau Wants 30% Rate Increase
Aug 20 2010 // As expected, the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has submitted a pure premium rate filing to the California Insurance Commissioner recommending among other things a 29.6 percent increase...
