Latest Business Insurance Headlines
All the headlines from our Business Insurance Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Concern Over Small Businesses Grows as Coronavirus Resurges, Federal Aid Expires
Jul 27 2020 // The number of outright failures of U.S. small businesses in the first months of the coronavirus pandemic was comparatively modest, but the months ahead look far grimmer as cash balances dwindle, federal help expires, and...
Crest in Arizona Names McGee Vice President/Producer in Commercial Lines
Jul 24 2020 // Crest Insurance Group of Tucson, Ariz., has named Mike McGee a vice president/producer in the commercial lines division. McGee has a background in risk management. He has worked as a Hotshot & Helitack Firefighter and...
Specialty Broker Offers Business Insurance Coverage for Pandemic, Epidemic Risks
Jul 23 2020 // A Boston-based national wholesale insurance broker is offering what it says is “among the first and most accessible” insurance policies for commercial risks arising from pandemics and epidemics. The policy,...
Cyber Insurance Agency Coalition Now Offers Excess Coverage for Middle Market
Jul 22 2020 // With new surplus lines capacity backed by Lloyd’s, cyber insurance and security company Coalition is moving beyond offering primary insurance coverage and entering the excess cyber insurance market. The San...
Liberty Mutual Loses Bid to Charge Employer for Claims Paid from Exempt Workers
Jul 22 2020 // A workers’ compensation insurer cannot charge an employer an extra $1.7 million in premiums for the risk presented by employees who were exempt from coverage under Iowa’s workers’ compensation law, a...
Workers Turn Into Sleuths to Track Sicknesses Where Employers Keep Covid Data Secret
Jul 22 2020 // Jana Jumpp spends eight hours a day updating a spreadsheet — not for work, but a recent hobby: figuring out how many of Amazon’s 400,000 warehouse workers have fallen sick with the coronavirus. Amazon won’t...
The Lowdown: Loneliness in the (Remote) Workplace
Jul 16 2020 // In the April 2020 article “Dealing With Social Isolation,” the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) states, “Leaders have a responsibility to help mitigate workplace isolation. They need to...
Valley Insurance Agency Alliance Adds Russell as Small Commercial Marketer
Jul 15 2020 // Valley Insurance Agency Alliance (VIAA), a network of independent insurance agencies in Missouri and Illinois, has named Amy Russell as small commercial marketer. Russell has more than 20 years of experience in the...
Next Showdown in Congress: Protecting Workers vs. Protecting Employers in Pandemic
Jul 14 2020 // Congressional leaders are squaring off over the next pandemic relief bill in a debate over whom Congress should step up to protect: front-line workers seeking more safeguards from the ravages of COVID-19 or beleaguered...
Louisiana’s Small Business Covid-19 Recovery Program Site Now Operational
Jul 13 2020 // The website for Louisiana’s program to help small businesses that have suffered losses as a result of the coronavirus epidemic is now operational, the state’s treasury office reported. State Treasurer John M....
Illinois Candy Company Fined $485K for Workplace Injuries
Jul 9 2020 // A Chicago-area candy company has been fined nearly $500,000 for workplace injuries, including a fingertip amputation, federal regulators said. The incidents occurred at Ferrara Candy in Bellwood, Ill. An employee lost a...
Supreme Court Supports Employers’ Religious Rights in Contraception, Teacher Employment
Jul 9 2020 // The U.S. Supreme Court struck two blows for religious rights, including a decision that upholds Trump administration rules giving employers a broad right to refuse to offer birth control through their health plans. The...
USG Names Aubry Commercial Lines Producer in Arizona
Jul 9 2020 // USG Insurance Services Inc. has named Amanda Aubry as a producer/broker in commercial lines in the Scottsdale, Ariz., office. Aubry has 18 years of insurance industry experience. She was previously a senior underwriter at...
Return-to-Work Safety: Employers Find Testing Employees More Trouble Than It’s Worth
Jul 6 2020 // From nursing homes in New York and a landfill in Utah to Disney World and the Las Vegas Strip, employers are wrestling with workplace safety in the age of Covid-19 and making fraught calculations about how to safeguard...
Commercial Auto Insurers Report Worst Losses in Decade: AM Best
Jul 6 2020 // The U.S. commercial automobile insurance segment’s underwriting losses deepened to $4.0 billion in 2019, the segment’s worst loss in 10 years and a continuation of a decade-long trend of worsening underwriting...
First Washington Employer Cited for Ignoring Governor’s Safe Start Order
Jul 1 2020 // A fitness center near Yakima, Wash. is facing nearly $10,000 in fines for operating in violation of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Safe Start order. The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries cited company owner...
U.S. Commercial Auto Insurers Report Worst Losses in Decade: AM Best
Jun 30 2020 // The U.S.commercial automobile insurance segment’s underwriting losses deepened to $4.0 billion in 2019, the segment’s worst loss in 10 years and a continuation of a decade-long trend of worsening underwriting...
Safeco, Heritage Agree to Offer Renewals to AIG’s Upper Middle Market Clients
Jun 30 2020 // American International Group (AIG) announced it has entered into an agreement with Safeco Insurance, a Liberty Mutual subsidiary, and Heritage Insurance Holdings to offer AIG Private Client Group’s (PCG) agents the...
Indiana Woman Gets 3-Year Sentence for $540K Theft from Employer
Jun 29 2020 // An Indianapolis woman has been sentenced to three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than a half million dollars from a small business and using the money to buy jewelry and pay for trips to...
California Adopts Workplace Safety Standards Protecting Nighttime Ag Workers
Jun 26 2020 // California has adopted new workplace safety standards to protect agricultural employees who work at night. These are reportedly the first lighting standards in the nation written specifically to protect agricultural...
