Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Maryland to Privatize State-Run Workers’ Comp Insurer IWIF
Jun 4 2012 // The Injured Workers’ Insurance Fund (IWIF), Maryland’s state-run workers’ comp insurance carrier, will become a private, nonprofit company under a new name Chesapeake Employers’ Insurance, effective...
AIG to Pay Penn. $16.8M to Settle Probe Over WC Premium Reporting
Jun 1 2012 // Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Michael Consedine announced Thursday that American International Group and its workers comp insurance units will pay Pennsylvania more than $16.8 million in fines and assessments. The...
Judge Slashes SeaWorld’s OSHA Fine for Death of Whale Trainer
Jun 1 2012 // SeaWorld Orlando’s $75,000 fine from the federal job safety agency for the death of a trainer by a killer whale two years ago has been reduced to $12,000, according to a judge’s ruling obtained Wednesday. The...
Bill Addressing Spinal Surgery Devices Passes California Senate
May 30 2012 // A bill aimed at ending double payments for spinal surgery devices passed state Senate resoundingly on Wednesday and is now on its way to Assembly. Senate Bill 959 will save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars per year,...
Panel to Hear Illinois Trooper’s Workers’ Comp Appeal
May 25 2012 // A former Illinois State Police trooper whose high-speed crash killed two sisters is asking again for workers’ compensation benefits for injuries he received in the wreck. The Belleville News-Democrat reported the...
OSHA Investigating Recent Spate of Construction Site Accidents in N.J.
May 24 2012 // Federal labor officials want construction companies in New Jersey to ensure that employees working above 6 feet have the proper equipment to protect themselves from falls. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational...
Study: Drug Testing Driving Calif. Workers’ Comp Costs
May 23 2012 // It’s no surprise that pharmaceuticals are one of the leading drivers of workers’ compensation costs in California, but a study issued on Wednesday shows the skyrocketing cost of drug testing is taking a spot as...
Maryland’s State-Run WC Insurer IWIF to Become Private Nonprofit Co.
May 23 2012 // The Injured Workers’ Insurance Fund (IWIF), Maryland’s state-run workers’ comp insurance carrier, will become a private, nonprofit company under a new name Chesapeake Employers’ Insurance, effective...
Oklahoma Workers’ Comp Judge Vacates Order After Ethics Rule Cited
May 22 2012 // An Oklahoma workers’ compensation court judge has vacated an order he signed in favor of an attorney he plans to work for after leaving the bench. Judge Kent Eldridge told The Oklahoman in a copyright story that he...
No Changes Made for Missouri Injured Worker Fund
May 22 2012 // Missouri’s financially troubled fund for injured workers will get no relief from the state Legislature for at least another year. The state Second Injury Fund takes businesses off the hook for paying the claims of...
Mississippi Passes Workers’ Compensation Changes
May 21 2012 // Mississippi legislators offered different views of a bill they passed to change the compensation system for workers injured on the job. If Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signs the bill as is expected, it will become law July...
Medical Messing up the Mix in California Workers’ Comp
May 21 2012 // If you hunt for answers among California’s myriad experts and those with informed opinions on workers’ compensation and ask them to name the biggest problem with the system, a majority will cite the rising...
Duration, Severity Drive Workers’ Comp Costs in Louisiana
May 21 2012 // Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corp. (LWCC) was created by the legislature in 1991 in an effort to stabilize the state’s workers’ compensation system. Today, the private nonprofit mutual insurer is the...
Do Safety Incentives Discourage Reporting of Job Injuries?
May 21 2012 // Many employers are in the dark over whether their safety incentive programs encourage or discourage the reporting of injuries by their employees, or if they have no effect. But a new report says employers, and the federal...
Florida Revises Workers’ Comp Certificates, Audit Laws
May 21 2012 // Florida’s governor has signed legislation streamlining the workers’ compensation certificate process, eliminating mandatory premium audits, and discontinuing refunds for insurers with excess profits. Gov. Rick...
Mixed Messages in Midwest Workers’ Compensation
May 21 2012 // Workers’ compensation insurance carriers saw their premium levels rise in the United States in 2011, but they continued to struggle with combined ratios that are too high. Workers’ compensation insurance...
The Health Workers’ Compensation
May 21 2012 // Injured But Still Standing Like the economy, the workers’ compensation market has suffered in recent years. Results for 2011 were no better than 2010. The good news: results for the market were not worse either. The...
Average Approved WC Loss-Cost Change +2.8% in Northeast in 2012
May 21 2012 // The workers’ comp loss-costs are continuing to go up in most Northeastern states, according to the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. Based in Boca Raton, Fla., NCCI analyzes industry trends, prepares...
North Carolina Cost Drivers Studied
May 21 2012 // North Carolina had higher income benefit payments per claim among 16 states in a recent study, slower return to work resulting in longer duration of temporary disability, and larger lump-sum settlements than in many study...
E&O Insights: Why Workers’ Compensation Leads in E&O Claims
May 21 2012 // Every year, errors and omissions (E&O) claims arising out of the placement of workers’ compensation account for approximately 10 percent of all claims. Many of those workers’ comp claims are well in excess...
