Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

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

Report: Florida’s Workers’ Comp Market is Competitive

Dec 31 2009 // A new report released by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation concludes the state’s workers’ compensation insurance market is competitive. The report, based on data from 2008, shows the Florida market...

Missouri Says Workers’ Comp Loss Costs Should Drop by 8.1%

Dec 30 2009 // After reviewing statewide data for insurance claims paid by employers for injured workers in 2009, the Missouri Department of Insurance is recommending an overall 8.1 percent decrease in workers’ compensation loss...

Study: Narcotic Drugs Major Cost in Workers’ Compensation Claims

Dec 29 2009 // When it comes to workers’ compensation prescription costs, narcotic drugs account for nearly one quarter of the cost, according to a new industry study. Despite the serious risks associated with narcotics usage, some...

Texas Imperial Sugar Settles Property Claim for 2008 Georgia Explosion

Dec 29 2009 // Sugarland, Texas-based Imperial Sugar Co. has settled the property insurance claim for the February 2008 industrial explosion at its Port Wentworth, Georgia refinery for an aggregate of $345 million. A final $45 million...

Texas Sets Workers’ Comp Interest and Discount Rate at 3.85%

Dec 23 2009 // The Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation has set the interest and discount rate for the first quarter of 2010 at 3.85 percent. The rate, effective from Jan. 1, 2010, through March 31, is...

Massachusetts Court: No Workers’ Comp for Custodian’s 1999 Injury

Dec 22 2009 // A church custodian who was injured in a ladder fall, but waited nearly five years to file a workers’ comp claim is barred from collecting benefits, a Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled. The employee in this case,...

Ohio Workers’ Comp Board Adopts New Provider Fee Schedules

Dec 21 2009 // The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Board of Directors has adopted new fee schedules that will increase overall reimbursements to Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASC) and Vocational Rehabilitation providers...

Lawyer Says North Dakota Teller Deserves Workers’ Comp Benefits

Dec 21 2009 // A bank teller from a small North Dakota town says she’s scared and can no longer work after she was held up at gunpoint and left handcuffed on the floor. Now she’s getting robbed by the state workers’...

Increasing Benefits Lengthens Workers’ Compensation Claim Duration: Study

Dec 20 2009 // States that increase the maximum weekly benefit for workers compensation can expect to see injured workers with temporary total disability making claims for longer, almost a week longer, according to a new study released...

It Figures

Dec 20 2009 // 0 The number of Atlantic hurricanes that came ashore the U.S. this past storm season, a season that turned out to be the quietest since 2006. Since June, just nine named storms developed. Only three of them became...

Six Factors Create Volatility in Calif. Workers’ Comp Insurance Market

Dec 18 2009 // “Since insurance rates were partially deregulated in 1995, the California workers’ compensation insurance market has been very volatile. For reasons that go beyond price deregulation, there have been dramatic...

Workers’ Comp Insurer HIH Hawaii Liquidated

Dec 17 2009 // The Hawaii State Insurance Division has successfully closed HIH America Insurance Company of Hawaii, a Hawaii workers’ compensation insurance company. Financial problems of its affiliated companies in Australia and...

Delaware Sub Shop Owner Faces Fraud Charges in New York

Dec 17 2009 // A former New York State Corrections officer who reportedly owned two Delaware sandwich shops surrendered to authorities in New York last week to face workers’ compensation fraud charges initiated by the New York...

Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation Declares $15M Dividend

Dec 17 2009 // The Board of Directors of Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation (LWCC) has declared a 2009 dividend of $15 million, to be paid to qualifying policyholders in early 2010 upon authorization by the Louisiana...

Health Care Reform To Have Major Impact on Workers’ Compensation

Dec 16 2009 // Workers’ compensation insurers and actuaries need to prepare for upcoming changes arising from proposed healthcare reform and the shifting medical landscape, attendees of the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) annual...

Texas Court Allows $70M Judgment in Workers’ Comp Case to Stand

Dec 16 2009 // A Texas court in San Antonio has affirmed the jury award of $70 million plus interest in a workers’ compensation case brought against Discover Property & Casualty Insurance Company, a St. Paul Travelers...

Colorado Blog Calls Attention to Workers’ Comp Depression

Dec 15 2009 // Workers’ compensation treatment often overlooks addressing the mental and emotional consequences of an injury that keeps one out of work, the Colorado Workers’ Comp Blog says. The blog is calling attention to...

Mass. Court: Teacher On School Ski Trip Due Workers’ Compensation

Dec 14 2009 // A Massachusetts teacher injured while voluntarily chaperoning students on a ski trip is entitled to workers compensation benefits, the state’s highest court has ruled. On a Peabody High School ski club trip, Karen...

New York Officials Sue Workers’ Compensation Trust Manager CRM

Dec 11 2009 // Insurance administrator CRM Holdings is being sued for $405 million by New York’s workers compensation board and faces a separate $150 million lawsuit by the state attorney general over its alleged fraud in the...

Supreme Court Refuses Michigan Workers’ Comp Racketeering Suit

Dec 10 2009 // Workers’ compensation litigation arising out of Michigan and involving claims of federal racketeering violations is headed back to lower courts for trial after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider it. The U.S....