Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Iowa to Assess for Second Injury Fund; Work Comp Rate Hike Proposed

Aug 25 2010 // Sufficient funds are not available to meet the liabilities of Iowa’s Second Injury Fund, so the state is imposing a $4 million assessment on insurers and self-insured employers in Iowa. Notices were mailed from the...

Kentucky’s WC Loss Costs Down for Fifth Time

Aug 24 2010 // An annual filing most insurance carriers will use to develop rates for workers’ compensation coverage in Kentucky shows the fifth consecutive overall decrease in loss costs, Department of Insurance Commissioner...

OSHA Cites Florida SeaWorld Regarding Trainer Death

Aug 24 2010 // The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited SeaWorld for safety violations following the death of killer-whale trainer Dawn Brancheau at its Orlando park in February. OSHA is citing SeaWorld of Florida...

Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corp. Promotes 3

Aug 23 2010 // Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corp. (LWCC) has announced the promotions of three members of its management team. Glenn Audiffred is now assistant vice president of Information Technology Services, Pat Canning is...

Montana Workers’ Comp Overhaul Gets Green Light

Aug 23 2010 // A proposed workers’ compensation overhaul hammered out by business and labor is going to Montana’s full Legislature, despite stiff opposition from the equally powerful trial lawyers and doctors groups. A...

California Appeals Court Upholds Guzman Workers’ Comp Decision

Aug 20 2010 // California’s Sixth District Court of Appeal has affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board decision in Milpitas Unified School District v. WCAB and Joyce Guzman, allowing physicians to apply any part of...

Calif. Workers’ Comp Insurance Rating Bureau Wants 30% Rate Increase

Aug 20 2010 // As expected, the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has submitted a pure premium rate filing to the California Insurance Commissioner recommending among other things a 29.6 percent increase...

SUNZ Offers Workers’ Comp in More States

Aug 19 2010 // SUNZ Insurance Co. of St. Petersburg, Fla., has gained the rights to provide workers’ compensation in four more states within the southern half of the country. The added states are Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and...

Calif. Employers Face New Workers’ Comp Posting Requirements

Aug 18 2010 // As of Oct. 8, California employers must begin distributing an updated version of the workers’ compensation new hire pamphlet to all employees hire on or after that date; post revised workers’ comp employee...

North Dakota Workers’ Comp Director Says Reviews Too Frequent

Aug 17 2010 // North Dakota’s workers’ compensation director says outside reviews of his agency are too frequent and expensive. North Dakota law says the performance reviews of Workforce Safety and Insurance must be done...

Report: Improve Benefits for Injured North Dakota Workers

Aug 16 2010 // An unusual North Dakota workers’ compensation law provides reduced benefits when a job injury worsens a medical problem the employee already has, and a consultant told state lawmakers on Friday they should repeal...

2010 Education & Training Directory

Aug 16 2010 // Insurance Journal is pleased to publish the 2010 Education and Training Directory. This exclusive resource directory has been designed to help independent agents and brokers find educational and training opportunities to...

Schwarzenegger Opposes 30% Workers’ Comp Rate

Aug 13 2010 // California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he is concerned that the recommended 30 percent increase in the workers’ compensation claims cost benchmark will adversely affect state businesses. In a letter he sent to...

Ex-North Dakota Workers’ Comp Director Wants to Reopen Case

Aug 13 2010 // The attorney for a former North Dakota official who was convicted of misusing public funds says he will ask that the case be reopened because of a prosecutor’s questionable conduct. Mike Hoffman, an attorney for...

California Commissioner Asked to Raise Workers’ Compensation Rate

Aug 12 2010 // The California Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s Governing Committee has approved the recommendation to allow the pure premium rate in the state to rise by 29.6 perent, as was expected and widely...

West Virginia Lowers Workers Comp Rates

Aug 11 2010 // Workers’ compensation costs for many employers in West Virginia will drop later this year. Insurance Commissioner Jane Cline’s office recently approved new loss cost rates that are an average 2.9 percent lower...

Denials of Workers’ Comp Claims Jump in North Dakota

Aug 10 2010 // A review of North Dakota’s workers’ compensation program shows claim denials jumped between 2005 and 2009. Still, the review found claim practices were generally sound. In the reviewed period, denied claims...

Thompson Appointed to Workers’ Comp Commission

Aug 10 2010 // Clifton E. Thompson has been appointed a commissioner of Connecticut’s Workers’ Compensation Commissioner. Thompson is a former Army sergeant, Hartford police officer and private practice lawyer who specialized...

Groups Earn Combined $840K in Dividends from Texas Mutual

Aug 6 2010 // Texas Mutual Insurance Co. announced that four purchasing groups have earned a combined $839,151 in workers’ compensation dividends. The dividends were based largely on each group’s premium volume and loss...

California Bureau May Ask for 30 Percent Workers’ Comp Increase

Aug 6 2010 // California’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau is considering requesting a 30 percent increase in pure premium rates for 2011 policies. The news that California’s Workers’ Compensation...