Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Calif. Agents: Tread Carefully When Providing Workplace Safety Advice
May 4 2011 // Woe to the employer who is not attentive and actively engaged in health and safety.” That’s the warning the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) is giving employers in the Golden...
Survey: Commercial Lines Prices Fall 3% in Q1
May 4 2011 // Commercial property/casualty pricing declined again with an average decline 3 percent in the first quarter of 2011. But according to a new industry survey, the pace of pricing declines may be slowing down. The market...
Texas Supreme Court: Public Entities Immune from Retaliatory Discharge Claims
May 3 2011 // A ruling by the Texas Supreme Court will make it more difficult for former employees of public entities to pursue retaliatory discharge claims against those employers. The Court has held that a political subdivision has...
Calif. Attempts to Rein in Workers’ Comp Compound Drug Costs
May 3 2011 // California legislators are considering a bill aimed at reigning in the use of compound drugs in workers’ compensation claims. According to Assembly Bill 378, existing law provides that it is unlawful for a physician...
Ohio Governor Wants Lower Workers’ Comp Rates
May 2 2011 // Ohio’s governor wants the state to lower the premiums employers pay for workers’ compensation by 4 percent for a total cut of about $65 million a year. Gov. John Kasich’s office says the goal is to reduce...
Declarations
May 2 2011 // Single Digit Growth “Assuming the economic recovery continues at a modest pace, expected small increases in premium exposures in personal auto and in most commercial lines are the principal drivers of the premium...
Ding! Dong! OSHA’s Calling
May 2 2011 // Every risk manager and business owner should be prepared for a visit from OSHA at some point in their career. This article will help you know what to expect when OSHA comes calling and how to manage the review. To...
Kansas Governor Signs Workers’ Comp Reform Bill
May 2 2011 // Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a workers’ compensation reform bill backed by both business and labor groups. Among other things, House Bill 2134: ends payment of unwarranted claims by raising the threshold...
North Carolina Employers, Workers Square Off Over Benefits
May 2 2011 // Business groups are praising proposed legislation that changes North Carolina’s workers’ compensation laws in ways that lower employer costs, while workers and the lawyers who represent them complained the...
Workers’ Comp TV Show Begins Filming in Florida
May 2 2011 // Hollywood thinks workers’ compensation can be funny. Workers’ Comp, a half-hour TV comedy about crazy employees handling absurd and often-fraudulent insurance claims from injured workers, begins filming pilot...
Carefully Eye the 1BY
May 2 2011 // Before issuing a serious workplace citation, Cal/OSHA must meet and informally discuss its inspector’s findings and proposed citations no later than 15 days before they are issued, and allow employers to present...
Direct Premiums Written Drop for Top 50 Workers’ Comp Insurers
May 2 2011 // As of March 2011, the unemployment rate in the United States was reported to be 8.8 percent, a marked improvement from the 10.1 percent rate reported in October 2009. The gross domestic product (GDP) has increased for six...
Agents: Tread Carefully When Providing Workplace Safety Advice
May 2 2011 // Woe to the employer who is not attentive and actively engaged in health and safety.” That’s the warning the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) is giving employers in the Golden...
Bragging About an Agent’s Book of Business May Create a Greater Legal Duty of Care
May 2 2011 // It has often been said that every attorney has a little larceny in his heart. In similar fashion, it could be said that every insurance agent has a little puffery in his heart regarding his book of business, background and...
Fentanyl Often Prescribed in Calif. Workers’ Comp
Apr 29 2011 // A CWCI Research Spotlight Report on the use of fentanyl – the most potent Schedule II opioid – in California workers’ comp finds that More than 1 out of every 5 injured workers in California who are...
NFIB, EMPLOYERS Expand Work Comp Program to Additional States
Apr 26 2011 // The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has extended discounted workers’ compensation coverage benefits to its members in Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia and Missouri through EMPLOYERS. EMPLOYERS...
Washington Special Legislative Session to Address Workers’ Comp
Apr 26 2011 // Washington’s Legislature is being called into a special session that starts today at 9 a.m., with workers’ compensation insurance among the topics to be discussed, according to Gov. Chris Gregoire. “This...
2nd Wash. House Workers Comp Floor Motion Fails
Apr 25 2011 // Washington Republicans attempted again a procedural motion on the House floor that would have allowed a vote on a Senate bill establishing the option of settlements to workers compensation, but failed to get the votes...
North Carolina Businesses, Injured Workers Square Off Over Benefits
Apr 25 2011 // Business groups last Thursday praised proposed legislation that changes workers’ compensation laws in ways that lower employer costs, while workers and the lawyers who represent them complained the victims of...
Arizona Court: OK to Use Bill Reveiwer to Determine Workers’ Comp Award
Apr 22 2011 // The Arizona Court Supreme Court has declined to review a petition challenging a lower court ruling that SCF Arizona paid a “reasonable amount” to two ambulatory surgery centers. In so doing, the court rejected...
