Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Study: California Workers’ Comp Insurer Needs Significant Reforms
Dec 11 2007 // California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund “has weak corporate governance, inadequate internal controls in various areas and a general inability to plan for the long-term,” according to an operational...
AmTrust Agrees to Acquire Unitrin’s Business Insurance Unit
Dec 10 2007 // Unitrin, Inc. reports it has worked out an agreement to sell its Unitrin Business Insurance unit to AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. in a cash transaction. Terms were not disclosed. Unitrin had previously announced in...
California State Fund Receives $153,000 in Fraud Case
Dec 10 2007 // A San Diego businessman was ordered to pay $153,779 in restitution to California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund as part of his conviction on workers’ compensation fraud. Marco Rangel pleaded guilty to one...
Attorney General: Governor Can’t Remove Members of N.D. Workers’ Comp Board
Dec 10 2007 // Gov. John Hoeven doesn’t have the authority to oust the directors of North Dakota’s workers compensation agency, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says. In a legal opinion issued Thursday, after the board voted...
Audit Says N.D. Workers’ Comp Agency’s Reserves Exceed Legal Limit
Dec 7 2007 // North Dakota’s workers compensation agency has $174.4 million more in reserves than state law allows, two years after the Legislature set a limit on its surplus, a new audit report says. The audit, done by the Brady...
N.D. Workers’ Comp Director Fired
Dec 7 2007 // The board overseeing North Dakota’s workers’ compensation agency has voted to fire Sandy Blunt as the agency’s chief executive. The Workforce Safety and Insurance Agency board’s vote was 8-2 to...
California Court Rules on Age Discrimination in Workers’ Comp Claim
Dec 7 2007 // The California Court of Appeals in Sacramento has, in an unanimous decision, ruled that a disabled employee’s age cannot be used to reduce workers’ compensation benefits. In January 2003, while working as a...
N.H. Promises to Fix Workers’ Compensation Law for Contractors
Dec 7 2007 // New Hampshire state lawmakers from both parties said this week they hope to quickly fix a workers’ compensation law when they return to the Statehouse in the new year. Earlier this year the Legislature closed a...
Arrowhead Wholesale Promotes Two
Dec 6 2007 // Arrowhead Wholesale Insurance Services, based in San Diego, Calif., announced two internal promotions. Michael Guilbault will take over responsibilities as account executive for the company’s High Value Homeowners...
Extension Allowed for N.D. Workers’ Comp Study
Dec 6 2007 // North Dakota’s workers’ compensation agency hopes to hire a consultant to study its operations by mid-January. The chairman of the Workforce Safety and Insurance board and Gov. John Hoeven’s staff lawyer...
Workers’ Comp Hits Rocky Patch in W. Va. on Road to Full Privatization
Dec 5 2007 // The latest power struggle between W. Va. Gov. Joe Manchin’s administration and lawmakers spilled out into the open last week, and those who attended the final meeting of the monthly interim session got a front-row...
Maine’s Bath Iron Works Faces Fine
Dec 3 2007 // Federal regulators have proposed that Bath Iron Works be fined $441,500 for violating safety standards at its shipyard in Bath, Maine. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said an inspection that began June 4...
Workers’ Compensation Prescription Drug Study: Costs Stabilizing
Dec 3 2007 // There are some signs that the workers’ compensation prescription drug share of total medical costs is leveling off – at least temporarily, according to a National Council on Compensation Insurance study updated...
OSHA Rules Employers Must Pay for Workers’ Safety Equipment
Dec 2 2007 // Employers will have to pay the full cost for almost all personal safety equipment used by their workers, the Labor Department said recently, a move advocates say will prevent thousands of on-the-job injuries. The...
Declarations
Dec 2 2007 // Getting Underway “Even though competition is just getting under way and Massachusetts drivers will realize significant savings now, many more benefits will evolve over time, as new companies enter the market, new...
Watson Wyatt: Property/Casualty Insurance Market to Remain Soft in 2008
Dec 2 2007 // The market for property and casualty insurance will stay soft in 2008, as premiums are expected to either decline or remain flat, according to actuarial and risk management experts at global consulting firm, Watson Wyatt...
From Insurance Consumer to Commissioner
Dec 2 2007 // While the position of California Insurance Commissioner is elected and there are already rumblings that he’d make a good gubernatorial candidate in 2010, current California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner says...
Calif. State Fund Holds Line on 2008 Workers’ Comp Rates
Dec 2 2007 // California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund has announced the filing of its Jan. 1, 2008, rating plan, making no change in the average collectible rate level. SCIF held the line on rates despite the Workers’...
Mo. Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Workers’ Comp Law
Nov 30 2007 // Did lawmakers fix Missouri’s broken system of compensating people for workplace injuries? Or did they pass a draconian change that reverted workers’ rights to the 19th century? Those are the contradictory views...
Calif. Commissioner Approves No Change in Workers’ Comp Pure Premium Rates
Nov 29 2007 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has issued a decision approving no overall change to the state’s advisory pure premium workers’ compensation rates for 2008. On Sept. 20, 2007, the Workers...
