Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

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

S.C. audit calls for closing of 2nd injury fund

Apr 9 2007 // Part of South Carolina’s workers’ compensation system should be phased out because it fails to lower businesses’ insurance costs, according to a state audit. The Legislative Audit Council report found...

Ga. court cites ‘continuous employment’ in workers’ comp award

Apr 9 2007 // News Currents In approving workers’ compensation benefits for the family of deceased Florida resident Howard King, the Georgia Supreme Court cited a doctrine of “continuous employment” in its 4-3...

News Currents

Apr 9 2007 // Multiple factors came together in 2002 and 2003 that led to increased political pressure and calls for more oversight of SCIF. Management shaken up, investigations ensue at Calif. State Fund California Gov. Arnold...

Calif. Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau approves 11.3 percent rate decrease

Apr 9 2007 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California Governing Committee submitted a rate filing to the California Department of Insurance recommending a 11.3 percent decrease in advisory pure premium...

Texas Workers’ Comp Claimant Works 3 Jobs After Reporting Injury

Apr 6 2007 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company reported that Leonard Cano of Houston has pleaded guilty to workers’ compensation fraud-related charges. Cano worked for three different employers while collecting workers’ comp...

Phelan to Head Maryland Workers’ Comp Writer, IWIF

Apr 5 2007 // The board of directors of IWIF Workers’ Compensation Insurance has appointed of Thomas Phelan, CPA, to the position of president and chief executive officer. Phelan previously served as IWIF’s executive vice...

House Republicans in N.D. Back Party Fund for Workers’ Comp Agency

Apr 5 2007 // North Dakota’s workers’ compensation agency should have $50,000 set aside for employee gifts, parties and training, House Republicans decided, ignoring Democratic complaints that the kitty was a “slush...

Mass. Employer Sentenced to Read Book for Lying About Work Safety

Apr 5 2007 // Worcester (Massachusetts) Superior Court Judge Francis Fecteau has sentenced a Templeton man to two and one-half years for committing perjury in a workers’ compensation claim proceeding at the Department of...

Kentucky Mine Owner Pleads Guilty to Workers Comp Fraud

Apr 3 2007 // Harold Simpson, owner and operator of Simpson Mining Co. in Perry County, Ky., pleaded guilty to mail fraud in U.S. District Court after special investigators with Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance discovered...

Concentra Sells Workers’ Comp Network Services to Coventry

Apr 3 2007 // Addison, Texas-based Concentra Operating Corporation reported it has completed the previously reported sale of its workers’ compensation managed care services business units to Maryland-based Coventry Health Care...

Fla. Tree Service Owner Charged with Workers’ Comp Fraud

Apr 2 2007 // The owner of Don Estlund’s Tree Service in Florida is facing a charge of operating without workers’ compensation insurance. Donald Robert Estlund allegedly admitted to operating for eight years without the...

Ga. Supreme Court Cites ‘Continuous Employment’ in Workers Comp Award

Apr 2 2007 // In a narrow margin to approve workers compensation benefits for the family of deceased Florida resident Howard King, the Georgia Supreme Court cited a doctrine of “continuous employment” in its 4-3 decision,...

Contractor Ordered to Pay $129,000 to Calif. State Fund

Mar 30 2007 // San Diego County Superior Court Judge David Danielsen has ordered the owner of a San Diego area tree service company to pay $129,000 in restitution to California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund as a result of a...

Workers’ Comp CEO Alleges Alabama Officials Wrecked His Business

Mar 30 2007 // A former campaign supporter of Alabamam Governor Bob Riley is suing him and other present and former state officials, accusing them of conspiring to drive him out of the insurance business. John W. Goff of Montgomery filed...

Calif. Workers’ Comp Bureau Approves 11.3 Percent Rate Decrease

Mar 29 2007 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California Governing Committee has approved the filing of a 11.3 percent decrease in advisory pure premium rates, effective July 1, 2007 on new and renewal...

S.C. Audit: Phase Out Workers’ Compensation 2d Injury Fund

Mar 29 2007 // Part of South Carolina’s workers’ compensation system should be phased out because it fails to lower businesses’ insurance costs, according to a state audit. The Legislative Audit Council report found...

First Montana Company to Offer Workers Comp Coverage Opens

Mar 28 2007 // The first private company based in Montana to offer workers compensation insurance has opened. Victory Insurance Company Inc. held an open house Wednesday, marking the opening of its headquarters on the top floor of the...

Two Indicted on Workers’ Compensation Fraud Charges

Mar 27 2007 // An Albuquerque couple has been accused of defrauding the New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Administration. Rafael and Elvia M. Herrera, owners of Rafa’s Roofing Inc., were indicted on charges of forgery; fraud;...

Swiss Re Launches Workers’ Comp Plan in Texas

Mar 27 2007 // Swiss Re’s Commercial Insurance introduced its workers’ compensation coverage for small business owners in Texas to be delivered via its exclusive CyberComp platform. According to the company’s...

West Virginia Preparing for Workers’ Comp Competition in 2008

Mar 27 2007 // One insurer, Brickstreet Mutual, now dominates West Virginia’s workers’ compensation market but that should change by the end of next summer. “We are working on being able to open the market to other...