Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Mutual: Fraudulent Doctor Surrenders License
Dec 2 2008 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company reported that Ihsan Shanti, M.D. of Houston and Shanti Pain & Wellness Clinic pleaded guilty to felony workers’ compensation fraud-related charges. Between January 2003 and March...
National Study: North Dakota Workers’ Comp Premiums Lowest in Nation
Dec 1 2008 // North Dakota’s workers’ compensation agency says a national study has found it has the lowest premiums in the country. Workforce Safety and Insurance (WSI) says the study undertaken every two years by the...
South Carolina Sees Slight Drop in Workers Compensation Costs
Dec 1 2008 // South Carolina businesses may see a break on workers’ compensation rates next year. The insurance industry’s National Council on Compensation Insurance told state regulators that loss costs — a key...
Florida Workers’ Compensation Insurers Seek 8.9% Rate Hike Due to Court Ruling
Nov 30 2008 // A Florida Supreme Court ruling has resulted in a request to raise workers compensation rates by 8.9 percent. The National Council on Compensation Insurance filed the request, citing last month’s ruling in which...
Declarations
Nov 30 2008 // A Lawsuit-Driven System “Our lawsuit-driven system provides little benefit to injured workers and devours financial resources that would otherwise be used to grow our economy and create new jobs.” —Oklahoma...
Steady Habits Make for a Stable Market
Nov 30 2008 // Regulator Says Nutmeg State Will Take AIG and Catastrophe Problems in Stride Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas Sullivan considers himself something of an insider when it comes to the insurance industry –...
Illinois Gov. Names Masters Acting Chairman, Workers’ Comp Commission
Nov 24 2008 // Governor Blagojevich has named Amy J. Masters as acting chairman of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC), effective Nove. 21, 2008. Chairman Masters first joined the Commission in 2003. She has served...
Federal Court in Pennsylvania Hears Case on Carcinogen Exposure
Nov 24 2008 // Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, hearing cases in a federal appeals court last week, asked why the Labor Department does not lower worker exposure to a known carcinogen. The advocacy group Public Citizen wants...
Texas Seeks Suggestions for Workers’ Compensation Research Agenda
Nov 24 2008 // Texas House Bill (HB) 7 (79th Legislature, Regular Session, 2005) included a new Section 405.0026, Texas Labor Code, which requires the Commissioner of Insurance to adopt an annual research agenda for the Workers’...
California Labor Commissioner Issues Fines of $267,600 During Statewide Enforcement Activity
Nov 21 2008 // Investigators from the California Labor Commissioners’ Office issued 71 citations totaling $267,600 in fines in a two-day statewide enforcement sweep of businesses in the agricultural industry including nurseries,...
California Announces 2009 Workers’ Comp Insurance Assessment Rates
Nov 21 2008 // The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has issued 2009 assessment rates for User Funding, the Uninsured Employer Benefit Trust Fund, the Subsequent Injury Benefit Trust Fund, the Occupational Safety &...
Ohio Judge Sides With Challenge on Workers’ Comp
Nov 20 2008 // An Ohio judge on Nov. 18 blocked the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation from setting job-injury insurance rates while a lawsuit brought by several business owners moves forward. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge...
North Dakota AG Says Workers’ Comp Surplus Not Correctly Figured
Nov 20 2008 // North Dakota’s workers’ compensation agency has not correctly figured its fund’s surplus, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says. He says the agency should include all its assets in the calculations and...
Judge Throws Out ‘Bad Faith’ Claim Against Texas Mutual
Nov 19 2008 // A judge in Guadalupe County, Texas, has dismissed a case alleging that Texas Mutual Insurance Company acted in “bad faith” in a workers’ compensation case involving a pre-existing medical condition. Texas...
Oklahoma Lawmaker Renews Push for Workers’ Comp Reform
Nov 18 2008 // Laying the groundwork for the coming legislative session, Oklahoma state Rep. Mark McCullough recently presented a workers’ comp reform proposal to business leaders that he believes will drive down costs while...
Florida Workers’ Compensation Insurers Seek 8.9% Rate Hike
Nov 17 2008 // A Florida Supreme Court ruling has resulted in a request to raise workers compensation rates by 8.9 percent. The National Council on Compensation Insurance filed it Friday, citing last month’s ruling. The justices...
Texas Appeals Court Overturns Ruling on Hospital Fee Guideline
Nov 17 2008 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company and several other insurers say they won a substantial victory Nov. 13 in a Texas appeals court case challenging an abusive pattern of questionable hospital bills for injured workers covered...
Mississippi Rebuilds Its Insurance Markets
Nov 16 2008 // Wind Pool Modernization, Better Building Code Enforcement and Carrier Recruitment Efforts Begin to Pay Off Back in January, when Mike Chaney was getting ready to be sworn in as Mississippi insurance commissioner after his...
Declarations
Nov 16 2008 // Row Own Boat “Taxpayers should be a last resort rather than a cheap source of capital … We’ll row our own boat.” —Evan Greenberg, Ace Limited’s CEO, chiding insurers that have hinted they...
North Carolina, Florida Join States Lowering Workers’ Comp Rates
Nov 16 2008 // North Carolina and Florida have joined the ranks of states where workers’ compensation costs are falling. North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Jim Long approved a North Carolina Rate Bureau filing for a 4.4 percent...
