Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Workers’ Comp Directors and Officers Cleanup Law Takes Effect July 1
May 22 2018 // A new law that enables corporate directors and officers owning at least 10 percent of a business to opt out of workers’ compensation coverage goes into effect on July 1. The law is intended to reduce the threshold of...
WCRI Study: Illinois’ Cost per Workers’ Comp Claim Grew 1-3 Percent Annually
May 22 2018 // The average total cost per workers’ compensation claim in Illinois grew annually between 1 to 3 percent since 2012, according to a recent study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute. The growth was due to...
North Carolina Steps Up Workers’ Comp Fraud Investigations, Fines for No Coverage
May 21 2018 // North Carolina has stepped up its efforts to identify businesses not complying with state workers’ compensation laws which it says has resulted in a significant increase in fines collected compared to the same time...
Minnesota Paid Workers’ Comp Claims Drop by Over 50% in 2 Decades
May 21 2018 // A recent report shows the number of paid workers’ compensation claims in Minnesota fell 54 percent relative to the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) employees from 1996 to 2016. The 2016 Minnesota Workers’...
Pennsylvania Governor Wolf Vetoes Workers’ Compensation Drug Formulary Bill
May 21 2018 // Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has vetoed Senate Bill 936, which sought to amend the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act by establishing a formulary, or a list of prescription medications that could be prescribed...
N.J. Manufacturer Faces More Than $435K in Penalties for Workplace Safety Failures
May 21 2018 // New Jersey plastics manufacturer Douglas Stephen Plastics Inc. has been cited for exposing employees to safety and health hazards at its Paterson, N.J., facility. It faces penalties of $435,679. The U.S. Department of...
N.J. Roofing Contractor Cited for Safety Hazards, Could Face $221K in Fines
May 21 2018 // The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited roofing contractor John Prevete Framing LLC for exposing employees to safety hazards while performing residential...
Court Approves Patriot National Bankruptcy, Reorganization
May 21 2018 // The bankruptcy and reorganization plan filed by insurance technology and outsourcing firm Patriot National has been approved and the transition of ownership of the Florida-based company can now move forward. According to a...
Florida: Federal Tax Cuts Spur 1.8% Decrease in Workers’ Comp Rates
May 21 2018 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has approved a 1.8 percent rate decrease for workers’ compensation insurance in Florida. The decrease was filed by the National Council on Compensation Insurance...
California Man Nabbed for Getting Comp from Multiple Insurers While Working
May 21 2018 // Michael Williams, 34, of Daly City, Calif., was arrested on 21 felony counts of insurance fraud and grand theft after allegedly working for multiple employers while collecting over $85,000 in workers’ compensation...
N.C. Court: No Workers’ Comp for Employee Injured While Smoking on Break
May 18 2018 // A North Carolina city employee isn’t owed workers’ compensation for an injury he suffered while smoking during a lunch break, the state appeals court ruled Tuesday. A three-judge panel of the North Carolina...
Fitch Sees Small Profit But Still Negative on U.S. Commercial Lines Outlook
May 18 2018 // After a tumultuous 2017, the U.S. commercial lines market should eke out a small underwriting profit in 2018 assuming catastrophe losses return to more historical norms, Fitch Ratings said in a new report. Still, Fitch is...
Workers’ Compensation Professionals Form Kids’ Chance of New Hampshire
May 17 2018 // Workers’ compensation professionals have created Kids’ Chance of New Hampshire, a 501c3 organization that provides scholarships for the children of workers who are seriously injured or killed on the...
Worldwide Facilities Creates National Workers’ Compensation Unit
May 16 2018 // National wholesale insurance brokerage and managing general agent Worldwide Facilities has created a new workers’ compensation division. Davis Moore, CEO of Worldwide Facilities, noted that while his firm has a...
Former Texas Workers’ Comp Commissioner Opens The Brannan Firm
May 16 2018 // Ryan Brannan, former Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation in Texas and advisor to former Gov. Rick Perry, has founded The Brannan Firm, which will provide clients with legal and government relations...
CPro Associates Acquires Pan-American Benefits Solutions’ Nonsubscription Business
May 16 2018 // Dallas, Texas-based CPro Associates Inc., a provider of nonsubscriber occupational injury benefit plans, has purchased Pan-American Benefits Solutions’ nonsubscription book of business, effective May 14, 2018. CPro...
Mass. SJC Rules Independent Contractor Statute Doesn’t Apply in Workers’ Comp Case
May 16 2018 // The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has ruled the state’s independent contractor statute does not determine whether a claimant is an employee eligible for workers’ compensation benefits in a case...
Texas to Hold Hearing on Request to Extend Work Comp Experience Modifier Deadline
May 14 2018 // The Texas Department of Insurance will hold a public hearing on the petition by the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas to extend the expiration date of negotiated experience modifiers in the National Council on...
Top 25 Workers’ Compensation Insurers
May 14 2018 // The top 10 workers’ compensation insurers capture 46 percent of the market across the country, according to the latest figures from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The top three —...
California Security Company Busted for $3.2M Workers’ Comp Premium Fraud
May 11 2018 // Security Code 3 Inc. owner Troy Carson, 55, of San Jose, was arrested by California Department of Insurance detectives for allegedly underreporting payroll by more than $12 million in an attempt to secure a lower...
