Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

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

Workers’ Compensation Group Trusts: E&O Friend or Foe?

May 18 2009 // Agents Advised to Know How Trusts Differ From Typical Insurance Companies To start off, what exactly is a workers’ compensation group trust? Per the New York State Insurance Department Web site, it is: [A] group of...

Education Strategy Propels Workers’ Comp Agency’s Growth in Down Economy

May 18 2009 // While the economy is in freefall, a Sioux Falls, S.D., workers’ compensation agency, Insurance Specialty Group, is racking up double-digit growth. According to owner Renae Eidenshink, the reason for this remarkable...

Pandemics in the Workplace

May 18 2009 // How a Flu Pandemic Impacts Workers’ Comp Influenza is nothing new. Seasonal flu epidemics — disease outbreaks with more cases than normal— occur annually killing between 250,000 to 500,000 people...

A Practical Guide to Workers’ Compensation

May 18 2009 // Prepare Clients for Premium Audits by Knowing the ABCs of Audits Insurance agents and brokers are charged with many duties on behalf of their clients. One often neglected duty is working with insureds to prepare them for...

Liberty Northwest, Montana Chamber Offer Workers’ Comp Program

May 15 2009 // Liberty Northwest, a Liberty Mutual Agency Markets regional company, and the Montana State Chamber of Commerce are offering Montana employers a new workers’ compensation group program with an emphasis on workplace...

Texas House OKs Injured Worker Bill

May 15 2009 // Despite the protests of insurance and business interests, the Texas House has passed legislation that would make it easier for certain injured workers to sue property owners for negligence. House Bill 1657 by Reps. Eiland,...

Murray Joins California Workers’ Comp Insurance Rating Bureau

May 13 2009 // California Insurance Commissioner Poizner announced that he has appointed Michael Joseph Murray of Danville, Calif., to the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau Governing Committee. Since 2001, Murray has...

North Carolina Considers Cap on Workers’ Compensation for Retirees

May 12 2009 // The North Carolina House Insurance Committee has advanced a measure that would limit workers’ compensation payments to injured workers a few years after they become eligible for Social Security. The bill (HB 1022)...

Maine Man Gets 8 Months for Workers’ Comp Fraud

May 11 2009 // A 49-year-old Maine man who was accused of working under the table for Saco-area hotels while collecting workers’ compensation benefits has been sentenced to eight months in jail for theft by deception. Kenneth...

North Carolina Agent Charged With Workers’ Compensation Fraud

May 8 2009 // A North Carolina insurance agent has been arrested, charged with twice failing to remit insurance premiums to the insurance company. North Carolina Commissioner Wayne Goodwin reported the arrest of Sherri Efrid, of...

Michigan Objects to Chrysler-Fiat Deal Over Workers’ Compensation Funds

May 7 2009 // Michigan is objecting to the sale of Chrysler LLC assets to Italian automaker Fiat, claiming the new company won’t meet obligations to a state workers’ compensation fund. State Attorney General Mike Cox filed...

Washington Honors Injured Workers

May 5 2009 // Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) honored the memories of 81 workers who died as a result of job-related injuries or illnesses in Washington in 2008 at a Worker Memorial Day ceremony April...

California Commissioner Files Amicus Briefs for Workers’ Comp En Banc Decisions

May 5 2009 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has filed amicus briefs in the appeal of the Ogilvie v. City and County of San Francisco, Almaraz v. Environmental Recovery Services and Guzman v. Milpitas Unified School...

Fight to Approve Workers’ Comp Judges in Oklahoma Goes On

May 4 2009 // Undeterred by the governor’s veto, the Oklahoma Senate is forging ahead with the push to gain authority to approve judicial appointments in the state. The Senate has passed a referendum HJR 1041, which would allow...

Florida Restores Cap on Workers Compensation Attorneys’ Fees

May 4 2009 // The Florida Senate voted 22-16 to restore a cap on attorneys’ fees in workers’ compensation cases. The measure, backed by the state’s insurance regulator and previously passed by the House, 84-35, now...

Ohio Approves Safety-Based Rate Reform Workers’ Comp Programs

May 4 2009 // The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Board of Directors approved a comprehensive update to the State Insurance Fund’s investment policy statement (IPS). The new IPS will provide further...

House Votes to Amend Idaho Workers’ Comp Laws

May 1 2009 // The Idaho House voted 50-16 to change how Idaho State Insurance Fund pays dividends to workers’ compensation policy holders. The measure has already cleared the Senate and now goes to Gov. C.L. “Butch”...

Wyoming Workplace Safety Task Force to Meet

Apr 28 2009 // A workplace safety task force that’s examining why Wyoming has one of the highest worker fatality rates in the country plans to meet in Cheyenne this week. The state’s oil and natural gas industries are a...

California Commissioner Asks Workers’ Comp Board to Withdraw Rate Increase

Apr 28 2009 // At a rate hearing on Tuesday, April 28, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner urged the Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) to withdraw its request for an increase in the workers’...

BerkleyNet Expands Workers’ Comp Program in Midwest

Apr 27 2009 // Berkley Net Underwriters LLC has announced plans to increase its state footprint and distribution opportunities for its workers’ compensation program in the Midwest. Anthony Pokorny has been named director of...