Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
In Pennsylvania, Workers’ Compensation Now Pays for CBD Oil Treatment
Nov 17 2023 // Eight months after it ruled that medical marijuana is covered under workers’ compensation, a Pennsylvania appeals court has concluded that an injured worker’s cost of CBD oil is also reimbursable. A...
Texas Department of Insurance Proposes Amendments to Benefit Texas Military Forces in Workers’ Comp System
Nov 16 2023 // The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation’s (DWC) General Counsel notified workers’ compensation system participants that DWC is proposing amendments to the Texas Administrative...
Connecticut Approves 10% Rate Reductions for Workers’ Compensation for 2024
Nov 16 2023 // Businesses in Connecticut will receive a nearly 10% decrease in rates for workers’ compensation insurance beginning on January 1, 2024. The Connecticut Insurance Department has approved an annual workers’...
Florida OIR Approves Record Workers’ Comp Rate Cut, Despite Roofers’ Concerns
Nov 15 2023 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and the state insurance commissioner have approved a 15.1% average decrease in workers’ compensation rates, despite calls from roofing contractors to freeze rates for a...
At SpaceX, Worker Injuries Soar in Elon Musk’s Rush to Mars
Nov 13 2023 // One windy night at Elon Musk’s SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas, Lonnie LeBlanc and his co-workers realized they had a problem. They needed to transport foam insulation to the rocket company’s main hangar but...
Georgia Law Officers Call for Full Salary Benefits Under Workers’ Comp
Nov 7 2023 // Georgia law enforcement leaders are urging state lawmakers to grant injured officers their full salaries while they recover, a move that could significantly alter the nature of workers’ compensation insurance. News...
Oregon OSHA Cites Contractor for Repeatedly Violating Fall Hazard Requirements
Oct 30 2023 // Oregon OSHA cited Forest Grove contractor J&K Roofing Co. $39,000 for repeatedly violating a requirement to provide protection to safeguard workers from fall hazards that could injure or kill them. The citation...
Lawyers Argue Over Workers’ Compensation for Teacher Shot by 6-Year-Old
Oct 30 2023 // Lawyers sparred in a Virginia courtroom Friday over whether a teacher who was shot by her 6-year-old student should get only workers` compensation for her serious injuries. Abby Zwerner is suing Newport News Public Schools...
Suit by Teacher Shot by 6-Year-Old Student Asks If Workers’ Compensation Is Enough
Oct 27 2023 // A heated debate has emerged about the once-unimaginable shooting of a teacher by her 6-year-old student: How should the school district take care of the teacher? Should she only get workers’ compensation for her...
Kentucky Approves 18th-straight Decrease in Workers’ Comp Loss Costs
Oct 26 2023 // Kentucky’s Insurance Commissioner has approved a 6.4% decrease in average workers’ compensation loss costs for the state, making it the 18th consecutive drop in costs for most Kentucky employers. “The...
Asbestos Wrongful Death Claim Allowed Against Employer as Workers’ Comp Exception
Oct 24 2023 // A Connecticut appeals court has revived a wrongful death claim that tests a narrow exception to the state law that makes workers’ compensation the exclusive remedy for most workplace deaths and injuries. Harold...
Markets/Coverages: Atlas General Announces Workers’ Comp Program With Sompo
Oct 19 2023 // National multi-line program administrator Atlas General Insurance Services, an RPS Company, announced the addition of a new workers’ compensation insurance program with Sompo International. This new platform includes...
OSHA Investigations Uncover 36 Violations at Tulsa Manufacturing Facility
Oct 17 2023 // A Tulsa, Oklahoma manufacturing facility exposed employees to struck-by hazards and identified 36 violations, including 25 serious safety violations of U.S. Department of Labor regulations, three federal workplace safety...
IAIABC Recognizes Eight Individuals for Outstanding Contributions to Workers’ Compensation Industry
Oct 17 2023 // The International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions (IAIABC) recognized eight individuals for their service to the agency and the workers’ compensation industry at the agency’s 109th...
Former Washington NFL Player Denied Workers’ Compensation for Hip
Oct 17 2023 // Stuart Anderson, who played linebacker for the National Football League’s Washington Redskins (now known as the Washington Commanders) in the mid-1980s, has lost his bid to collect workers’ compensation medical...
Report Examines 10-Year California Workers Comp Payment Trends
Oct 16 2023 // Average paid losses on California workers’ compensation lost-time claims fell immediately after legislative reforms of SB 863 took effect a decade ago, but then gradually increased up until the pandemic hit,...
Injured Worker Refuses Suitable Job Because He Opposed Vaccination
Oct 16 2023 // It was reasonable for an injured employee who is returning to work to refuse a job that accommodated his disability because he had personal and religious objections to getting a COVID-19 vaccine. The Virginia...
Medical Costs for Injured Workers in Delaware Fell During Pandemic: WCRI Study
Oct 13 2023 // Changes in the availability of medical services during the pandemic was one of the drivers of Delaware workers’ compensation claims costs in 2020 and 2021. A new study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute...
Delaware Workers’ Compensation Rates to Fall 7% and 11% in December
Oct 12 2023 // Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro announced that Delaware’s workers’ compensation rates will decrease for the seventh year in a row, effective December 1, 2023. The voluntary market is expected to...
California Business Owner and Office Manager Charged for Workers’ Comp Fraud
Oct 11 2023 // Bobby Levell Gilbert, Jr., 66 of Santa Ana, California, and owner of B & J Tree Service, has been charged with 96 felony counts for alleged wage theft, denial of workers’ compensation benefits to employees,...
