Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Broad Powers for Proposed Rhode Island Workers’ Comp Unit
Jan 20 2010 // Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri has proposed reassigning investigators to probe workers’ compensation fraud but giving them far broader powers to prevent the misuse of state government funds. The proposal was...
Older Employees Lower Indemnity Costs for Workers’ Compensation
Jan 19 2010 // Workers 65 years old and older tend to have lower indemnity costs for workers’ compensation than do younger workers, largely because of their lower weekly wages. That information from a new industry study could be...
Unisource Program Administrators Opens Restaurant Program
Jan 19 2010 // Oklahoma-based Unisource Program Administrators (UPA) has launched a new workers’ compensation specialty program for restaurants. The restaurant specialty program aimed at offering competitive rates to multi-unit...
Calif. State Fund Previews 2010 Workers’ Comp Changes
Jan 19 2010 // Each year brings new laws and regulations for employers, and 2010 is no exception. To help employers stay informed about regulations and issues impacting workers’ compensation insurance, the California State...
Economic Downturn Puts Pressure on Return-to-Work Programs
Jan 15 2010 // The recent recession and record unemployment rates have increased pressure on the workers’ compensation insurance system to help return injured employees back to work while effectively managing costs. That was one of...
Florida Workers’ Comp Insurer SUNZ Buys Tennessee’s Brentwood National
Jan 15 2010 // SUNZ Insurance Co. of St. Petersburg, Fla. reported it has acquired Brentwood National Insurance Co. of Brentwood, Tenn., a workers’ compensation services and claims firm. SUNZ sells workers’ compensation...
West Virginia Workers Compensation Insurer BrickStreet Approved in Illinois
Jan 15 2010 // West Virginia-based BrickStreet Mutual Insurance said it has been approved to begin writing workers’ compensation insurance in Illinois. The move continues an expansion drive for the company, which was approved to...
Oklahoma House Republicans Roll Out Their Workers’ Comp Reform Plan
Jan 15 2010 // Republicans in the Oklahoma House of Representative followed their counterparts in the state Senate on Jan. 14 by introducing their plan to overhaul Oklahoma’s workers’ compensation system. Senate Republicans...
Ohio Partially Upholds Workers’ Comp Ruling Against Former AG Aide
Jan 14 2010 // A committee has partially upheld the state’s decision that a former top aide to fallen Attorney General Marc Dann improperly classified workers at his private construction company when determining his workers’...
Restructuring Workers’ Comp Among Goals for Oklahoma Senate GOP
Jan 13 2010 // Reforming Oklahoma’s workers’ compensation system will be among state Senate Republicans’ top legislative goals for 2010. Republicans, who enjoy a majority in the Oklahoma Senate, are led by Senate...
Practice Patterns of Workers’ Compensation Doctors Affect Costs
Jan 12 2010 // Analyzing physicians’ practice patterns may hold valuable clues about how to curb the nation’s rising health care costs, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. According to...
Missouri AG: Workers’ Comp Fraud Collections Spike in 2009
Jan 12 2010 // Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster reported that his office saw a dramatic increase in the amount of collections and convictions for workers’ compensation fraud and for noncompliance with mandatory workers’...
Bill Would Extend Nebraska Workers’ Comp Benefits for First Responders
Jan 11 2010 // Physical, on-the-job injuries someday might not be the only types of injuries that could qualify Nebraska first responders for workers’ compensation. On Jan 7, a state lawmaker introduced a bill (LB780) that would...
Fenster Named Director of New York Workers’ Comp Board
Jan 11 2010 // Jeffrey R. Fenster has been appointed executive director of the New York Workers’ Compensation Board. Prior to joining the board, Fenster served as a litigation associate with the New York law firm of Stroock &...
It Figures
Jan 10 2010 // 8.1% After reviewing statewide data for insurance claims paid by employers for injured workers in 2009, the Missouri Department of Insurance is recommending an overall 8.1 percent decrease in workers’ compensation...
Florida Touts Competitive Workers’ Comp Market Helped by 2003 Tort Reforms
Jan 10 2010 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation says that the state’s workers’ compensation insurance market is competitive. In a new report based on data from 2008, the OIR found the Florida market features 251...
Louisiana Workers’ Comp Insurer Says Claims Fell 4% in 2009
Jan 8 2010 // Baton Rouge, La.-based LUBA Workers’ Comp policyholders’ claims fell more than 4 percent in 2009 compared with 2008. The company said several of the top categories of accidents dropped as well. Slips, trips and...
Washington Saves $128 Million By Fighting Fraud
Jan 7 2010 // The fight against fraud in the workers’ compensation system brought in $128 million to Washington last year, according to a new report from the state Department of Labor & Industries (L&I). In addition to...
Court Upholds $500 Million Award Against U.S. Life Insurance Co.
Jan 7 2010 // The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an arbitration award requiring U.S. Life Insurance Co. to pay reinsurance of more than $500 million to Superior National Insurance Companies, workers’ compensation...
Company Fined More than $1.4M for Worker Death at Houston Facility
Jan 6 2010 // Federal regulators have fined a Houston company $1,477,500 for a July 2009 explosion that left a worker dead. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited CES Environmental Services Inc. after an investigation...
