workers’ compensation News

Washington Workplace Fatalities Climb 32%

Workplace deaths in Washington state climbed in 2010, with 86 men and women killed due to job-related trauma, according to a report on work-related fatalities by the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I). The deaths are the most reported since …

Record Number of Grain Bin Accidents in 2010

Clumps of moldy corn crashed down around Lael Steinhoff, burying him above his waist for more than three hours before rescue workers could free him from a grain bin on his western Iowa farm. Steinhoff, 61, was one of the …

Unpaid Workers’ Compensation Shuts West Virginia Fire Department

A volunteer fire department must stop answering calls because it failed to pay workers’ compensation premiums for its members. Marshall County emergency management director Tom Hart said the state fire marshal’s office issued the cease-and-desist order Monday for Big Wheeling …

Mood on Main Street: Agents on Hardest Hit Small Businesses

Agents across the country — except in Texas and neighboring states — agree that construction and related trades have been hardest hit by the recession. Restaurants appear to be the second hardest hit. In terms of lines of insurance, the …

Texas Workers’ Comp January Enforcements Include Fines Up to $68K

Final disciplinary actions taken by the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) for January 2011 include individual fines up to $68,000. The final actions include orders related to violations of the Texas Labor Code and rules promulgated …

Workers’ Compensation Research Group Defends Work in North Carolina

A non-profit workers’ compensation research organization that maintains its work is independent of the industry and objective has found itself at the center of a controversy in North Carolina over whether to trim workers’ compensation benefits. A group of trial …

The Hartford Launches Workers Comp Guide For Business Owners

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. has introduced an e-learning guide designed to clarify and simplify workers’ compensation insurance. The Hartford developed the new online resource for business owners and others involved in buying workers’ compensation coverage as part of …

Calif. State Fund Names Vargen Senior VP

California State Compensation Insurance Fund has promoted Jennifer Vargen from communications director to senior vice president of marketing and communications. Vargen began her State Fund career in 1988, and saw early success in sales, being named the 1990 “Sales Rookie …

Report: Illinois Work Comp Arbitrator Sought Favor on Her Claim

A newspaper’s ongoing investigation has found that an Illinois workers’ compensation arbitrator asked for help with her own personal injury case while scheduling a hearing in an unrelated case. The apparent request for an exchange of favors raises ethical questions. …

Quirk in Law Could Force Wisconsin Family to Lose Insurance Settlement

When Dane County, Wis., highway worker James Porter was struck and killed on the job in June 2009, Joel Porter, his son, lost his best friend. Porter’s daughter, Jessica Johnson, lost a grandfather to her two little girls. And because …