Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Calif. Small Business Owners Optimistic About Growth, UBOC Survey Says
Mar 21 2005 // Almost 71 percent of California small business owners polled are expecting 2005 to be an overall better year than 2004, according to the fifth annual statewide survey released by Union Bank of California, N.A. The...
From the Fraud Wire … Outrageous Stories Hit the Headlines
Mar 21 2005 // A California Department of Insurance Fraud Division investigation allegedly caught a former Folsom, Calif., prison correctional officer on surveillance video riding a jet ski, using a water slide, and doing back-flips off...
CIGA Executive Director Announces Retirement
Mar 21 2005 // The California Insurance Guarantee Association, an organization that pays the claims of insolvent insurance carriers, recently announced that Executive Director Lawrence Mulryan will retire after 13 years of...
Safety in Numbers
Mar 21 2005 // Workplace injuries don’t make headlines despite the fact they cost about $1 billion a week in wage and medical payments alone. The true total annual cost of on-the-job injuries is $146.6 billion, or $1,060 per...
Okla. Governor’s Workers’ Comp Reform Measure Passed by Senate
Mar 18 2005 // Workers compensation reforms proposed by Governor Brad Henry passed through the Oklahoma State Senate on a straight party-line vote, according to the Senate Communications Office. With Democrats backing the...
Insurance Group Staying out of California Workers’ Comp Confirmation Fight
Mar 17 2005 // A major insurance industry group is staying out of the Senate confirmation fight over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s workers’ compensation director, another possible indication the appointment could be in...
Pa. Sees Slower Growth in Workers’ Compensation Claim Costs, According to WCRI Study
Mar 15 2005 // Costs per workers’ compensation claim in Pennsylvania rose 6 percent between 2001 and 2002, according to a new report by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). This contrasts with...
Jury Finds County Employee Not Guilty of Workers’ Comp Fraud
Mar 14 2005 // After a two-day trial, an Indian River County. Fla. jury found a former county employee not guilty this week on charges of workers’ compensation fraud, perjury in an official proceeding and third-degree grand...
Texas Child Care Worker Sentenced for Comp Fraud
Mar 14 2005 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company reported that Minerva Davila of New Braunfels pleaded guilty to workers’ compensation fraud-related charges. The Travis County 147th District Court sentenced Davila to two years’...
CWCI Presents Workers’ Comp Seminar
Mar 10 2005 // The California Workers’ Compensation Institute has announced that it will conduct a one-day case law seminar in May in San Francisco and in Long Beach. The program will examine trends in workers’ compensation...
OSHA Identifies 14,000 Workplaces with High Injury, Illness Rates; Letter Looks to Proactive Steps
Mar 10 2005 // Approximately 14,000 employers have been notified that injury and illness rates at their worksites are higher than average and that assistance is available to help them fix safety and health hazards, the Occupational...
San Antonio Man Pleads Guilty to Comp Fraud
Mar 9 2005 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company reported that Kevin Savage of San Antonio has pleaded guilty to workers’ compensation fraud-related charges. According to Texas Mutual, the Travis County 147th District Court sentenced...
Texas Workers’ Comp Bill Moves to Senate Floor
Mar 8 2005 // The Texas Senate reported that the Senate State Affairs Committee finished work on Senate Bill 5, which would make drastic changes to the state’s workers’ compensation system. Sen. Todd Staples of Palestine,...
Texas Mutual Launches Provider Referral Line
Mar 8 2005 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company announced the launch of its health care provider referral service for policyholders. The toll-free phone number, (800) 381-8067, provides a list of network health care providers for...
CWCI Study Examines Utilization Review in California Workers’ Comp
Mar 8 2005 // The California Workers’ Compensation Institute has issued a new report that looks at utilization review and the use of medical treatment guidelines in California workers’ compensation and compares the low back...
Ferrara Nominated to N.Y. Workers Comp Board
Mar 7 2005 // New York Governor George E. Pataki has nominated Nassau County Assemblywoman Donna Ferrara (R,C-Westbury) to serve as a Commissioner of the New York State Workers Compensation Board. Ferrara’s nomination is subject...
Calif. Authorities Give Comp Fraud a Clean Sweep
Mar 7 2005 // In a joint effort, investigators from the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), overseen by the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office...
COURT SLAPS SCOFFLAW EMPLOYERS:
Mar 7 2005 // New York State’s highest court has ruled that employers that fail to purchase workers’ compensation coverage cannot use the workers’ comp law as protection against being sued. In reversing a lower court...
CAAA SAYS WORKERS’ COMP PROFITS UP 25%-36%:
Mar 7 2005 // Fourth quarter and 2004 annual earnings statements from leading California workers’ comp insurance carriers are coming in, and profits are reportedly up by 25 to 36 percent over 2003–and 2003 was already the...
CA DWC UPDATES PROGRAM FOR INJURED WORKERS:
Mar 7 2005 // The California Division of Workers’ Compensation has reportedly reinvigorated a state program that provides information and assistance to injured workers through monthly workshops at local DWC offices. “In the...
