Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

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

Wisconsin Roofing Contractor Cited by OSHA For 2nd Time in 6 Months

Mar 14 2022 // Despite the serious consequences of its actions, an Appleton, Wisconsin-based contractor was again cited for exposing workers to deadly fall hazards after a U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health...

WCRA to Distribute $600 Million to Minnesota Workers’ Comp Insurers, Self-Insurers, Policyholders

Mar 10 2022 // The Workers’ Compensation Reinsurance Association (WCRA) will distribute $600 million to Minnesota’s insurers, self-insurers and policyholders, the association announced this month. The WCRA Board of Directors,...

Texas Division of Workers’ Comp Seeks Public Comments On Proposed EDI Form Revisions

Mar 9 2022 // The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) is accepting public comments on proposed revisions to a pair of Electronic Data Interchange forms: EDI-01, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)...

Medical Access in California Workers’ Compensation Examined

Mar 7 2022 // A new California Workers’ Compensation Institute study shows injured workers’ overall access to medical care for their initial treatment remained relatively consistent between 2010 and 2020. CWCI used data from...

California Couple Sentenced in $1M Workers’ Comp Fraud Case

Mar 7 2022 // Carmen Hall Soruco, 70, and her husband Antonio Soruco, 75, both of Novato, California, were sentenced after pleading guilty to workers’ compensation fraud charges. Hall was sentenced on multiple felony counts to two...

Small Business Revolution

Mar 7 2022 // Optimism, Resiliency Open New Doors for Sector Sector Buoyed by Record Start-Ups, Pandemic Resiliency The global pandemic, economic recession and worldwide supply chain shortages have not hindered the optimism and drive of...

Supreme Court Asked to Resolve Federal Drug Law v. State Medical Marijuana Laws Debate

Mar 7 2022 // The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to address whether the federal drug law that criminalizes possession of marijuana invalidates state orders requiring employers and their workers’ compensation insurers to pay for...

Texas Workers’ Comp Division Reports 78K COVID-19 Claims

Mar 4 2022 // The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) reported more than 78,000 COVID claims and 422 fatalities as of Feb. 6, 2022. DWC’s March report, “COVID-19 In The Texas...

Former Florida Lawmaker Plans to Challenge CFO Patronis, with Insurance as Key Issue

Mar 2 2022 // A former state representative has announced plans to challenge Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis in this fall’s election, and he’s making Florida’s property insurance crisis a central issue. Adam Hattersley, a...

Arkansas Medical Supply Owner, CEO Indicted For Allegedly Conspiring to Defraud Workers’ Comp Insurers

Mar 2 2022 // Both the former owner of a Rogers, Arkansas-based medical supply and billing company and its former chief executive officer have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in three separate conspiracies to...

Texas Workers’ Comp Division Adopts Data Collection Amendments

Mar 1 2022 // The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) announced on Feb. 23 that it has adopted amendments to the Texas Administrative Code to update and enhance its data collection methods....

For Omaha National Workers’ Comp Provider, Happiness Is Key to Hiring

Feb 28 2022 // When Omaha National president and CEO Reagan Pufall thinks back to how COVID-19 has affected recruiting and hiring at the workers’ compensation insurance provider, his main verdict is: not much. The key...

OSHA Proposes $237K Fine Against Ohio Contractor For Exposing Roofers to Deadly Fall Hazards

Feb 28 2022 // A Hartsville, Ohio contractor has been cited for the sixth time since 2018 for exposing workers to deadly fall hazards on two separate Ohio job sites. Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational...

Supreme Court Asked to Resolve Federal Drug Law v. State Medical Marijuana Laws Debate

Feb 28 2022 // The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to address whether federal drug law that criminalizes possession of marijuana invalidates state orders requiring employers and their workers’ compensation insurers to pay for...

OSHA Fines Contractors at Philadelphia Amazon Site Over Worker Death

Feb 28 2022 // The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed fines against two construction firms working on a new Amazon facility in Philadelphia after a worker died from being trapped...

Dollar General Cited for More Workplace Hazards

Feb 28 2022 // It’s more bad news for Dollar General stores, one of the largest food and household goods retailers in the country. Federal safety regulators announced that they have added another $1 million in fines against the...

Montana Jury Awards $36.5M to Former Libby Miner With Lung Disease

Feb 25 2022 // A Montana jury has awarded $36.5 million in damages to an Oregon man who suffers from lung disease because of exposure to asbestos while working at a vermiculite mine in Libby, a bellwether case that could affect hundreds...

Pennsylvania Adopts Exception to Ban on an Insurer Subrogating Against an Insured

Feb 24 2022 // The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has sided with an insurer seeking subrogation for payments it made to an injured worker before it was determined the insurer was not obligated to make the payments. The state’s highest...

COVID Underscores Lack of Whistleblower Protections

Feb 22 2022 // Originally posted on Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Inside a partially completed Amazon warehouse here, workers last summer walked on conveyor belts four stories high without safety harnesses,...

Foresight in California Expands Workers’ Comp Class Codes for Agribusiness, Construction, Manufacturing

Feb 22 2022 // San Francisco, California-based Foresight, a workers’ compensation insurtech focused on the middle market, announced the expansion to include four new class codes and 23 incidental adjacencies to serve more customers...