Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Supreme Court Rules Railroad’s Payments to Injured Workers for Lost Wages Are Taxable
Mar 4 2019 // The Supreme Court has ruled that payments to injured employees for lost wages by a railway company are taxable under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act (RRTA). The opinion in BNSF Railway Co. vs. Loos by Justice Ruth Bader...
NSAIDs Overtake Opioids as Top Workers’ Comp Drug in California
Mar 4 2019 // Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, or NSAIDs, have supplanted opioids as the most common therapeutic drug group prescribed to injured workers in California, according to a new California Workers’ Compensation...
Participants in $200M California Workers’ Comp Scheme Sentenced
Mar 4 2019 // Several conspirators involved in a massive workers’ comp kickback scheme were ordered in late February to serve prison sentences and pay millions in financial penalties for their roles in the corrupt payment of...
Nevada OKs Workers’ Comp Loss-Cost and Assigned-Risk Rate Decreases
Mar 1 2019 // Nevada Insurance Commissioner Barbara D. Richardson approved a filing from the National Council on Compensation Insurance for an average decrease of 8.1 percent for Nevada workers’ compensation voluntary insurance...
Pennsylvania Salon to Pay $40K to Stylist Fired After Report of Health, Safety Hazards
Feb 28 2019 // After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has entered a consent judgment ordering...
Berkshire Hathaway Sale of Applied Underwriters Said Due to ‘Channel Conflict’
Feb 27 2019 // In a rare move, Berkshire Hathaway is selling one of its companies, leading workers’ compensation specialist Applied Underwriters, in order to avoid conflict with its other workers’ compensation...
FBI Looking for Victims of Alleged Workers’ Comp Scheme Run by California Firm
Feb 27 2019 // The FBI is seeking to identify businesses that may be victims of an alleged nationwide workers’ compensation insurance, health care insurance, and pension plan fraud scheme. The FBI is urging businesses that...
Pie Insurance Expands Online Workers’ Comp Coverage Into 4 Additional States
Feb 27 2019 // Pie Insurance has begun selling workers’ compensation insurance to small businesses in Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, and New Mexico. This expansion follows Pie’s launch in five states earlier this year and nine...
Former California Insurance Agent Allegedly Faked Workers’ Comp Insurance
Feb 25 2019 // Former California licensed insurance agent, Alan Amir Yousefi, 31, was charged with 10 felony counts including grand theft, insurance fraud and forgery, for allegedly stealing more than $105,000 in insurance premiums from...
Participants in $200M California Workers’ Comp Scheme Sentenced
Feb 25 2019 // Several conspirators involved in a massive workers’ comp kickback scheme have been ordered to serve prison sentences and pay millions in financial penalties for their roles in the corrupt payment of millions of...
Berkshire Hathaway in Talks to Sell Workers’ Compensation Unit Applied Underwriters
Feb 22 2019 // Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is in advanced discussions to sell its Applied Underwriters workers compensation unit to a consortium of insurance firms, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The...
Texas Woman Sentenced for $46K Workers’ Comp Fraud
Feb 20 2019 // A Texas woman owes just over $46,000 to the state’s largest workers’ compensation insurance carrier after being sentenced for workers’ compensation fraud in a Travis County district court. According to...
As Health Plan Deductibles Rise, Expect More Workers’ Compensation Claims
Feb 20 2019 // Are employees injured at work more likely to file under workers’ compensation instead of group health insurance when their group health plan has a higher deductible? The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI)...
Vermont Workers’ Comp Rates to Decrease for Third Year in a Row
Feb 20 2019 // Workers’ compensation insurance will continue to cost less for most Vermont employers when new rates approved by the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) become effective on April 1, 2019. This is the third rate...
PMC Insurance Group Hires Skinner as Assistant Vice President in Massachusetts
Feb 19 2019 // PMC Insurance Group, a Bedford, Mass.-headquartered, national workers’ compensation wholesaler, has hired Richard Skinner as assistant vice president for its staffing programs division, StaffPRO3. In his new role,...
NSAIDs Overtake Opioids as Top Workers’ Comp Drug in California
Feb 15 2019 // Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, or NSAIDs, have supplanted opioids as the most common therapeutic drug group prescribed to injured workers in California, according to a new California Workers’ Compensation...
Texas Bill Would Protect First Responders’ Work Comp Claims from Illegal Denials
Feb 15 2019 // A bill recently filed in the Texas House of Representatives would penalize insurers that illegally deny Texas first responders access to medical treatment for line-of-duty injuries covered under state workers’...
N.Y. Construction Worker Injured by Steel Plate
Feb 15 2019 // Police in Long Island, N.Y., say a construction worker has his legs severed below the knee when a steel plate knocked him into a hole and landed on him. Officials say the unidentified 39-year-old man was working to install...
Texas Indoor Gun Range Cited for Lead Exposure, Fined $214K
Feb 14 2019 // An indoor gun range in Killeen, Texas, has been cited and fined more than $214,000 for exposing employees to unsafe levels of lead, federal safety regulators said. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety...
Brown Reappointed as Texas Workers’ Comp Commissioner
Feb 7 2019 // Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has reappointed Cassie Brown as Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation at the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI). Her term will expire on Feb. 1, 2021. Brown has served as workers’ comp...
