Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Small Business Revolution
Mar 7 2022 // Optimism, Resiliency Open New Doors for Sector Sector Buoyed by Record Start-Ups, Pandemic Resiliency The global pandemic, economic recession and worldwide supply chain shortages have not hindered the optimism and drive of...
Supreme Court Asked to Resolve Federal Drug Law v. State Medical Marijuana Laws Debate
Mar 7 2022 // The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to address whether the federal drug law that criminalizes possession of marijuana invalidates state orders requiring employers and their workers’ compensation insurers to pay for...
Texas Workers’ Comp Division Reports 78K COVID-19 Claims
Mar 4 2022 // The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) reported more than 78,000 COVID claims and 422 fatalities as of Feb. 6, 2022. DWC’s March report, “COVID-19 In The Texas...
Former Florida Lawmaker Plans to Challenge CFO Patronis, with Insurance as Key Issue
Mar 2 2022 // A former state representative has announced plans to challenge Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis in this fall’s election, and he’s making Florida’s property insurance crisis a central issue. Adam Hattersley, a...
Arkansas Medical Supply Owner, CEO Indicted For Allegedly Conspiring to Defraud Workers’ Comp Insurers
Mar 2 2022 // Both the former owner of a Rogers, Arkansas-based medical supply and billing company and its former chief executive officer have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in three separate conspiracies to...
Texas Workers’ Comp Division Adopts Data Collection Amendments
Mar 1 2022 // The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) announced on Feb. 23 that it has adopted amendments to the Texas Administrative Code to update and enhance its data collection methods....
For Omaha National Workers’ Comp Provider, Happiness Is Key to Hiring
Feb 28 2022 // When Omaha National president and CEO Reagan Pufall thinks back to how COVID-19 has affected recruiting and hiring at the workers’ compensation insurance provider, his main verdict is: not much. The key...
OSHA Proposes $237K Fine Against Ohio Contractor For Exposing Roofers to Deadly Fall Hazards
Feb 28 2022 // A Hartsville, Ohio contractor has been cited for the sixth time since 2018 for exposing workers to deadly fall hazards on two separate Ohio job sites. Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational...
Supreme Court Asked to Resolve Federal Drug Law v. State Medical Marijuana Laws Debate
Feb 28 2022 // The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to address whether federal drug law that criminalizes possession of marijuana invalidates state orders requiring employers and their workers’ compensation insurers to pay for...
OSHA Fines Contractors at Philadelphia Amazon Site Over Worker Death
Feb 28 2022 // The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed fines against two construction firms working on a new Amazon facility in Philadelphia after a worker died from being trapped...
Dollar General Cited for More Workplace Hazards
Feb 28 2022 // It’s more bad news for Dollar General stores, one of the largest food and household goods retailers in the country. Federal safety regulators announced that they have added another $1 million in fines against the...
Montana Jury Awards $36.5M to Former Libby Miner With Lung Disease
Feb 25 2022 // A Montana jury has awarded $36.5 million in damages to an Oregon man who suffers from lung disease because of exposure to asbestos while working at a vermiculite mine in Libby, a bellwether case that could affect hundreds...
Pennsylvania Adopts Exception to Ban on an Insurer Subrogating Against an Insured
Feb 24 2022 // The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has sided with an insurer seeking subrogation for payments it made to an injured worker before it was determined the insurer was not obligated to make the payments. The state’s highest...
COVID Underscores Lack of Whistleblower Protections
Feb 22 2022 // Originally posted on Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Inside a partially completed Amazon warehouse here, workers last summer walked on conveyor belts four stories high without safety harnesses,...
Foresight in California Expands Workers’ Comp Class Codes for Agribusiness, Construction, Manufacturing
Feb 22 2022 // San Francisco, California-based Foresight, a workers’ compensation insurtech focused on the middle market, announced the expansion to include four new class codes and 23 incidental adjacencies to serve more customers...
W.R. Berkley Optimism About 2022 Comes With Caution About Workers’ Compensation
Feb 21 2022 // Executives for commercial lines insurer W.R. Berkley Corp. indicated in a fourth quarter and full year 2021 earnings call that while they are optimistic about 2022, they are exercising caution when it comes to...
Texas Workers’ Comp Division Releases Health Care Provider Oversight Results for 2021
Feb 18 2022 // This week the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) released the 2021 Health Care Provider Performance Based Oversight (PBO) assessment. Health care providers were assessed on their...
California Couple Sentenced in $1M Workers’ Comp Fraud Case
Feb 16 2022 // Carmen Hall Soruco, 70, and her husband Antonio Soruco, 75, both of Novato, California, were sentenced after pleading guilty to workers’ compensation fraud charges. Hall was sentenced on multiple felony counts to two...
North Carolina High Court Ends ‘Absurd’ Windfall for Comp Insurers on Temp Workers
Feb 15 2022 // For years, workers’ compensation insurers in North Carolina have been able to enjoy a windfall in some cases that involved temporary workers or those who gigged for a number of employers. Insurers have often charged...
North Carolina OSHA Starts Probe into Fertilizer Plant Fire
Feb 11 2022 // The North Carolina Department of Labor has opened an investigation into the safety conditions and fire at a fertilizer plant that erupted in flames Jan. 31, forcing the evacuation of thousands because of explosive...
