Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Report Shows Steep Drop in California Workers’ Comp IMRs in 1st Half Year
Sep 18 2020 // The number of independent medical reviews used to resolve California workers’ compensation medical disputes fell sharply in the first half of 2020 as the pandemic took a toll on the state’s economy with...
Washington Contractor Fined $230K for Fall Protection, Other Safety Violations
Sep 17 2020 // An Everett, Wash., construction company with a history of safety violations is facing fines of more than $230,000 after inspections at two Seattle job sites reportedly found numerous problems that placed workers at...
Zurich NA Launches Nonsubscriber Work Injury Insurance Policy in Texas
Sep 17 2020 // Zurich North America, based in Schaumburg, Ill., has launched an Occupational Accident & Employers Work Injury Liability Insurance Policy for nonsubscribers to the workers’ compensation system in Texas. The new...
Washington Labor Department: Keep Workers’ Comp Rates Steady For 2021
Sep 15 2020 // Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries is proposing no increase in the average price employers pay for workers’ compensation insurance next year. If the proposal is adopted, this will be the first...
Study Tracks Post-Reform Trends in California Workers’ Comp Medical Service
Sep 15 2020 // The average number of visits for evaluation and management and physical medicine services in the California workers’ compensation system has continued to edge down since the enactment of the sweeping reform law SB...
Louisiana Health System Cited for Coronavirus Safety Violations
Sep 15 2020 // A healthcare system in Shreveport, Louisiana, has been cited by federal workplace safety officials for failing to protect employees from coronavirus exposure. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and...
Coronavirus Pandemic Will Have Severe Impact on Social Inflation: Fitch’s Mazzuoli
Sep 15 2020 // Claims inflation for the commercial liability business will increase through 2020, although it was accelerating even before the coronavirus pandemic hit. This trend, known as social inflation, has led the insurance...
Foresight’s Tech-Driven Workers Compensation Program Breaks New Ground
Sep 15 2020 // Foresight is now appointing a group of founding broker partners focusing on hazardous verticals in the middle market San Francisco, CA, September 15, 2020 – Foresight, a commercial insurtech MGU with carriers rated...
California Ag Firm Owner, Daughter Arraigned in $2.5M Workers’ Comp Scheme
Sep 14 2020 // Felipe Saurez Barocio, 63, of Atwater, owner of Agriculture Services Inc., and his daughter, Angelita Barocio-Negrete, 33, of Merced, were arraigned today on multiple felony counts of insurance fraud after allegedly...
Oregon Employers Urged to Protect Workers by Avoiding Outdoor Work
Sep 14 2020 // Oregon workplace and public health officials are urging employers to stop or delay outdoor work activity where they can and take other reasonable steps to protect workers when air quality reaches the...
OSHA Cites Smithfield Foods For Lax Coronavirus Safety for Meat Plant Workers
Sep 11 2020 // The U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday it cited Smithfield Foods for failing to protect employees from the coronavirus, making it the first major U.S. meatpacker to face a fine after outbreaks at slaughterhouses...
Cal/OSHA Cites Food Manufacturer, Staffing Firm for Not Protecting Workers from COVID
Sep 10 2020 // Cal/OSHA has issued citations to frozen food manufacturer Overhill Farms Inc. and its temporary employment agency Jobsource North America Inc. with over $200,000 in proposed penalties to each employer for failing to...
Hospitals, Nursing Homes Fail to Separate COVID Patients, Putting Others at Risk
Sep 10 2020 // Nurses at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center were on edge as early as March when patients with COVID-19 began to show up in areas of the hospital that were not set aside to care for them. The Centers for Disease Control and...
Oregon Workers’ Comp Costs Dropping for 8th Straight Year
Sep 9 2020 // Oregon employers on average will pay less for workers’ compensation coverage in 2021, the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services announced today. The decline in costs marks eight years of average...
N.H. Approves Reduced Workers’ Comp Voluntary Loss Costs
Sep 9 2020 // The New Hampshire workers’ compensation insurance market will continue to experience historically low rates in 2021, according to a press release issued by the New Hampshire Insurance Department. This comes after the...
California Workers’ Comp Bureau Submits Premium Rate Filing
Sep 7 2020 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has submitted its Jan. 1, 2021, pure premium rate filing to the California Department of Insurance, proposing advisory pure premium rates that are on...
Florida Workers’ Comp Rates Going Down, Again
Sep 4 2020 // The downward trend for Florida workers’ compensation rates is set to continue next year thanks to favorable loss experiences from policy years 2017 and 2018. The latest filing from the National Council on...
Amynta Acquires Workers’ Comp Book from Houston International Insurance
Sep 3 2020 // Amynta Group, a provider of property/casualty insurance and warranty protection products and services, has acquired a workers’ compensation insurance book of business from Houston International Insurance Group...
Report: Workers’ Comp Written Premium in California for First Quarter to be Down 5%
Sep 2 2020 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has released its quarterly experience report, an update on California statewide insurer experience valued as of March 31, 2020. Highlights of the report...
Analytics Helping Insurers Identify Workers’ Compensation ‘Mega’ Claims More Quickly
Aug 28 2020 // The share of “mega” workers’ compensation claims — those expected to cost $3 million or more — climbed steadily since 2013 after dropping as construction employment declined sharply during the Great...
