Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Idaho Lawmakers Advancing Vaccine Workers’ Comp Legislation
Nov 17 2021 // A bill making it easier for Idaho residents to get workers’ compensation if they become ill after taking an employee-mandated vaccine sailed through the House and headed for the Senate this week. The measure passed...
Want Wearable Tech With That Workers’ Comp Policy? Kinetic Teams With Nationwide.
Nov 16 2021 // New York-based safety technology firm Kinetic has formed an underwriting partnership with Nationwide’s E&S/Specialty division. Acting as program manager, Kinetic Insurance is offering workers’ compensation...
7.7% Workers’ Comp Decrease Recommended in Missouri
Nov 16 2021 // The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance is recommending a 7.7 percent decrease in workers’ compensation insurance loss costs for 2022. This marks the largest overall decrease since 2009. “Recommended...
Dixen Forms MGA Focused on Workers’ Comp
Nov 15 2021 // Marguerite Dixen, a veteran insurance executive, has established Adroit General Agency, a managing general agency providing workers’ compensation insurance along with technology-driven safety, loss prevention and...
Insolvency Pool Can’t Yet Seek Reimbursement from Injured Worker
Nov 15 2021 // The Georgia Insurers Insolvency Pool’s demand for a refund from an injured worker must first be addressed by the state workers’ compensation board, the Georgia Court of Appeals has decided. The comp board...
Pinnacol in Colorado to Decrease Workers’ Comp Rates in 2022
Nov 15 2021 // Pinnacol Assurance in Colorado announced it will lower rates for the carrier’s 53,000-plus policyholders in Colorado by an average of 11% in 2022. The decrease will become effective Jan. 1, 2022. Pinnacol has...
The Commercial Lines Outlier–Workers’ Compensation
Nov 15 2021 // In addition to weighing in on opportunities in the E&S/specialty lines market segment where prices have been firming, executives speaking at the September KBW Virtual Insurance Conference offered views on the one...
OSHA Program Aims to Protect Employee Exposure to Hazardous Materials
Nov 15 2021 // To reduce employee exposure to health hazards and encourage companies to make workplace safety and health a priority, the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s regional office in...
Federal Court Continues Stay on OSHA’s COVID Vaccine/Test Mandate on Businesses
Nov 14 2021 // A federal court declined Friday to lift its stay on the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more workers. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency...
Court Stays OSHA’s COVID Vaccine Mandate on Business With 100+ Employees
Nov 7 2021 // NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court on Saturday temporarily halted the Biden administration’s vaccine requirement for businesses with 100 or more workers. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an...
Kentucky Approves Another Workers’ Comp Loss Cost Decrease
Nov 5 2021 // The Kentucky Department of Insurance has approved another workers’ compensation loss cost decrease for employers in the state. The DOI announced this week that officials have ratified a 10.4% average reduction,...
OSHA Unveils Details of Workplace Vaccine Mandate Rule with Deadline After Holidays
Nov 4 2021 // The nation’s workplace safety agency will officially publish tomorrow emergency guidelines for companies that must implement President Biden’s mandatory vaccine policy for employees. The policy covers employers...
Massachusetts Construction Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Tax, Workers’ Comp Fraud
Nov 4 2021 // The owner of a now-defunct Peabody, Massachusetts, construction company pleaded guilty in connection with a scheme to defraud the IRS of payroll taxes and to defraud his workers’ compensation insurance carrier by...
7 Arrested for Failing to Report $40 Million in Payroll and Shirking Workers’ Comp
Nov 2 2021 // Seven Florida residents have been charged with under-reporting payroll by $40 million in order to avoid workers’ compensation premiums, along with money laundering and other alleged violations, state officials said...
OSHA Seeks Input for Worker Safety Rule on Heat Hazards
Nov 1 2021 // The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is publishing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking for heat injury and illness prevention. Currently, OSHA does not have a specific...
Texas Workers’ Comp Telemedicine Utilization Soared During Pandemic
Nov 1 2021 // Utilization of telemedicine services in the Texas workers’ compensation rose dramatically during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recently published report from the Texas Department of Insurance...
California Workers’ Comp Hospital Stays Decline as COVID Affects Quantity and Types of Admissions
Oct 29 2021 // The latest update to California Workers’ Compensation Institute research on California workers’ compensation inpatient hospital stays shows the number of injured worker hospitalizations fell 17.2% in 2020,...
Senate Confirms Parker as OSHA Chief
Oct 28 2021 // The U.S. Senate has approved Douglas Parker, former California workplace safety chief, as assistant secretary of labor at the Labor Department and the new head of the federal Occupational Safety and Health...
Florida Posts New Workers’ Comp Doctor Reimbursement, But Lawmakers Must Review
Oct 28 2021 // The Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation has adopted a new reimbursement manual, governing fee schedules and payments to doctors and other health care providers. The 2020 Health Care Provider Reimbursement...
Unlicensed California Insurance Agent Arraigned in $1.4M Workers’ Comp Fraud Scheme
Oct 28 2021 // Unlicensed insurance agent Karyl Lynn Reed, 57, formerly of Cosa Mesa, Calif., was arraigned this week on multiple felony counts of grand theft, forgery, embezzlement, and aggravated white-collar crime after allegedly...
