Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

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

Riley Named Texas Workers’ Comp Deputy Commissioner of Compliance, Investigations

Sep 11 2017 // The Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation has hired Timothy P. Riley as the division’s new deputy commissioner of Compliance and Investigations. Riley most recently served as vice president of Special...

New Workers’ Comp Filing Submitted to California Department of Insurance

Sep 8 2017 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau on Friday submitted an amended Jan. 1, 2018 pure premium rate filing to the California Department of Insurance. The amended filing was based on the WCIRB’s...

NCCI Files 12% Decrease for Tennessee Workers’ Comp Loss Costs

Sep 8 2017 // Workers’ compensation rates in Tennessee are going down again next year. The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) announced this week that the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) is...

Charles Taylor Acquires Workers’ Comp Claims Admin Metro Risk in California

Sep 7 2017 // Charles Taylor plc has agreed to acquire Metro Risk Management LLC, a Southern California-based third-party claims administrator, from Nautilus International Holding Corp. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. MRM provides...

Oklahoma Workers’ Comp Commission Report Shows a 30% Drop in Premium Costs Since 2013

Sep 4 2017 // Oklahoma’s workers’ compensation system seems to have benefited from reforms that were initiated in 2013, at least in terms of premium costs for businesses. By the end of 2016, employers in Oklahoma had seen a...

New York Bus Firms Seek Damages Over Handling of Workers’ Comp Claim

Sep 4 2017 // New York Bus Operators Compensation Trust (NYBOCT), a Bay Shore, N.Y.-based group self-insured trust created by a number of New York passenger bus companies, has filed a complaint against Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.,...

Report: Written Premiums for California Comp Insurers to Be Flat Through 2017

Sep 4 2017 // Written premiums from workers’ compensation insurers in California for the year are expected to be flat at $18.1 billion compared with 2016 thanks largely to rate decreases, according to analysts with the...

Illinois Governor Vetoes Workers’ Comp Bills Opposed by Insurers

Sep 4 2017 // Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has vetoed two workers’ compensation reform bills that were strongly opposed by the insurance industry. Rauner in August vetoed HB 2622 and HB2525, two bills that would have had profound...

Texas Workers’ Comp Division Releases Disaster Guidelines for Insurers

Aug 31 2017 // The Texas Department of Insurance – Division of Workers’ Compensation has issued guidelines for insurers concerning workers’ compensation claims filed by insureds in counties named in Gov. Greg Abbott’s...

South Dakota Company Fined $95K After Worker Buried in Trench Collapse

Aug 31 2017 // Federal safety officials have cited a South Dakota company for failing to protect its workers from trench collapse hazards. Fort Pierre-based First Dakota Enterprises Inc. faces proposed penalties of $95,064 imposed by the...

Florida Workers’ Comp Premiums Going Down? NCCI Files for 9.6% Decrease

Aug 31 2017 // Just under a year since Florida workers’ compensation rates shot up by 14.5 percent, Florida businesses may get some relief in their workers’ comp premiums. The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI)...

Stonetrust Entering Nebraska Workers’ Comp Market

Aug 30 2017 // Omaha, Nebraska-based Method Insurance Services announced it will be the exclusive distribution channel for Stonetrust Commercial Insurance Co. as it enters the Nebraska workers’ compensation...

Study Keys on Opioids in California Comp Claims Involving Mental Health

Aug 29 2017 // A new study shows the prevalence of opioids in workers’ compensation claims involving mental health. The study by the California Workers’ Compensation Institute tracks changes in the prevalence, volume and...

California DOI Hearing Date Set for Workers’ Comp Pure Premium Rate Filing

Aug 29 2017 // The California Department of Insurance announced that it will hold a public hearing on Oct. 5 to consider the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s Jan. 1, 2018 pure premium rate filing. The filing...

Zalewski Named Chair of California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board

Aug 29 2017 // California Gov. Jerry Brown has named Katherine Zalewski chair on the California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. Zalewski served on the board since her appointment by Brown in 2014. Prior to her appointment, she...

Illinois Governor Vetoes 2nd Workers’ Comp Bill

Aug 29 2017 // Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has vetoed another workers’ compensation reform bill that was strongly opposed by the insurance industry. He has nixed HB2525, which would have required pre-approval of workers’ comp...

NCCI Files 10% Reduction in Workers’ Comp Loss Costs for West Virginia

Aug 29 2017 // West Virginia employers will see a projected $21 million reduction in workers’ compensation premiums in the coming year, according to a recent statement from Gov. Jim Justice. The National Council on Compensation...

Georgia Insurance Agent Arrested for Misappropriating Workers’ Comp Premiums

Aug 25 2017 // An insurance agent in Floyd County, Ga., has been arrested on fraud charges related to the misappropriation of insurance premiums, according to the Georgia Department of Insurance. Marshall Irwin, 56, owner and operator of...

California Workers’ Comp Medical Payments Per Claim Fell in 2016, Report Shows

Aug 24 2017 // Medical payments per claim in California’s worker’s compensation system dropped 9 percent in 2016 from two years prior, according to a report issued by the the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating...

Judge Approves $1M Loan so Alaska Newspaper Can Pay Workers’ Comp, Employees

Aug 24 2017 // A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a $1 million loan for the Alaska Dispatch News to keep it operating as negotiations continue with potential buyers. The newspaper will use the loan from potential buyers approved...