Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

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

California Senate Passes Budget, Workers’ Comp Fund Assets for Sale

Jul 24 2009 // The California State Senate passed a package of bills early Friday morning, revising the 2009-10 budget, that was passed in February, with $24.2 billion in deficit reduction solutions and a $921 million reserve; in total...

New Hampshire Steam Plant Gets Big OSHA Fines

Jul 24 2009 // The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed fines of $104,200 against a New Hampshire steam generating plant following a January fire in which a worker was burned. OSHA says in the incident,...

California Makes 83 Recommendations to Improve Insurance Guarantee Fund

Jul 24 2009 // The California Department of Insurance has come up with dozens of suggestions for improving the insurance fund that steps in to pay claims when an insurance company goes bankrupt. The report issued by Insurance...

USG Holdings Introduces Workers’ Comp Division in California

Jul 23 2009 // USG Holdings has launched AAU Comp, a new subsidiary headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., to offer workers’ compensation coverage and programs on a national basis. AAU Comp expects its book of business to include...

New Jersey Case Tests Overseas Reach of Workers’ Comp Law

Jul 23 2009 // A New Jersey nonprofit that hires workers to teach in foreign countries is not required to provide workers’ compensation insurance for those employees, a New Jersey appeals court has ruled. The decision — which...

South Carolina Chief Refutes Legislative Audit Critical of Some Insurance Department Work

Jul 20 2009 // A report by the auditing arm of the South Carolina Legislature has concluded that the state insurance department overall does a good job regulating insurance companies and their rates but it could do a better job of...

It Figures

Jul 20 2009 // $750,000 The proposed reduced limit on coastal insurance available from the North Carolina Beach Plan under legislation designed to address the over-exposure and under-funding of this state-backed plan. The limit is now $1...

Mountain Climbing

Jul 20 2009 // It’s not that the public sector can’t do anything right; it can and does and it very often handles the jobs nobody else wants to do. Monopolies just aren’t good policy— whether they are held by a...

California Commissioner Rejects Workers’ Comp Bureau Rate Increase

Jul 20 2009 // Citing testimony that self-insured employers have been able to reduce overall workers’ compensation costs, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has rejected the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating...

People

Jul 20 2009 // LoriAnn Lowery resigned from her position as president of Lloyd’s North America, after a little more than a year on the job. Sue Langley, Lloyd’s director of market operations and North America, said Lowery,...

Recession Increasing Insurance Fraud

Jul 20 2009 // Areas Where Agents Might See an Increase in Fraud Does a bad economy increase crime? According to Mike McKee, senior special agent for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, it’s too soon for statistics to confirm...

Employers Direct Stops Writing Workers’ Comp Insurance in California

Jul 20 2009 // Citing the strain of escalating medical costs on the workers’ compensation system, increasingly intense price competition, and the uncertainty over the sustainability of the 2003-2004 legislative reforms due to...

Oklahoma Lawmakers to Study Workers’ Comp Reform Proposals

Jul 20 2009 // Workers’ compensation reform proposals will be subjected to legislative scrutiny through an Oklahoma House of Representatives study requested by state Rep. Mark McCullough, among others. McCullough, who has authored...

Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials at Greater Risk of Hearing Loss

Jul 20 2009 // Rock concerts, iPods and cell phones may be contributing to a future generation of individuals suffering from hearing loss. “We could very well see hearing loss problems continue to increase into future...

Missouri Tort Victims Receive Millions from Workers’ Comp Division

Jul 17 2009 // The Missouri Labor Department’s Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) recently announced it has issued more than $2.4 million from the Tort Victims’ Compensation Fund to 62 tort victims who filed claims...

Beloten to Head New York Workers’ Comp Board

Jul 17 2009 // Robert E. Beloten has been named chairman of the New York Workers’ Compensation Board. He replaces Zachary Weiss, who announced his resignation last month. Beloten was named to the board in May after having been a...

Tennessee Medical Fee Schedule Cuts Workers’ Compensation Costs: Study

Jul 16 2009 // The implementation of a medical fee schedule in Tennessee after reforms passed in 2004 has helped save employers $1,300 per workers’ compensation case, according to a study by a research group. The study by he...

Continental Marine Insurance Offers Workers’ Comp Program

Jul 14 2009 // Continental Marine Insurance Services of Lodi, Calif., is now offering a worker’s compensation program designed for marine risks with USL&H and maritime employer’s liability available. Marine contractors,...

Missouri Court Blocks Firing of Workers’ Comp Judges

Jul 13 2009 // A Missouri judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking the firing of three administrative law judges who decide workers’ compensation cases. Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration had said the dismissals were...

Lawmakers Told Montana’s Workers’ Comp Costs Too High

Jul 10 2009 // A new study given to lawmakers shows that Montana’s workers’ compensation costs are among the most expensive in the country. The National Council on Compensation Insurance report says that Montana ranked near...