Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

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

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Oct 15 2018 // Stone Creek Insurance Agency is expanding its Spokane, Wash. presence with the addition of four new employees. San Francisco Bay Area-based Stone Creek launched its Spokane office in February. Charles Hook has been named...

Construction Company Cited in Connecticut for Safety Hazards, Faces $146K in Penalties

Oct 15 2018 // The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited L.L.E. Construction LLC for exposing employees to fall and other hazards at a construction worksite in Bridgeport, Conn....

4 New Insurers OK’d to Do Business in Arkansas

Oct 12 2018 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr has approved four new out-of-state companies to sell insurance products in Arkansas. The Arkansas Insurance Department (AID) has granted Certificates of Authority to...

Knight Named a Deputy Commissioner at Texas Workers’ Comp Division

Oct 11 2018 // Texas Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation Cassie Brown has appointed Debra Knight as the new deputy commissioner of Compliance and Investigations. This program area at the Division of Workers’ Compensation...

Workers’ Comp Rates to Decline in Kansas Next Year

Oct 11 2018 // For the fifth consecutive year, many Kansas business owners will pay less for workers’ compensation insurance again in 2019, the Kansas Insurance Department reported. “With another rate decrease, Kansas...

New Jersey Lumber Company Faces $106K in Penalties for Safety, Health Hazards

Oct 10 2018 // The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited DuBell Lumber Company of Medford, N.J., for exposing employees to combustible dust and other hazards. The company faces...

Alliant Names Guth Vice President in Southern California

Oct 9 2018 // Alliant Insurance Services Inc. has named Daniel J. Guth a vice president in Orange County, Calif. Guth will provide workers’ compensation, risk management, and property/casualty solutions to a diverse portfolio of...

N.J. Pet Food Manufacturer Cited for Failure to Correct Prior Safety Hazards

Oct 9 2018 // The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Hamiltime Herb Co. LLC after inspectors found employees exposed to safety and health hazards in a follow-up investigation...

Report: California Self-Insured Workers’ Comp Claim Frequency Rose Last Year

Oct 8 2018 // Workers’ compensation claim frequency reported by California’s private self-insured employers rose last year, the first increase in a decade, according to the California Workers’ Compensation...

Ohio Manufacturer Cited for Safety Violations, Fined $213K

Oct 5 2018 // Federal officials have cited Norwalk, Ohio-based American Excelsior Company for workplace safety hazards and proposed $213,411 in penalties against the company after an employee required hospitalization when he suffered a...

Summary of 2018 Workers’ Comp-Related Bills Signed into Law in California

Oct 4 2018 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California on Thursday issued a summary of legislation signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown. The Legislature recessed for the year on Aug. 31, and Brown had until...

Florida Woman Arrested Over $50K Workers’ Comp Fraud Scheme

Oct 4 2018 // A Florida woman was arrested in August and charged with three felony counts of concealing payroll to avoid workers’ compensation premiums and two felony counts of application fraud, according to a statement from the...

West Virginia Workers’ Comp Rates to Decrease Nov. 1

Oct 3 2018 // Workers’ compensation rates will soon be less expensive for businesses in West Virginia. According to West Virginia Insurance Commissioner Allan McVey, a filing for a 13 percent decrease in voluntary market loss...

Idaho Workers’ Compensation Rates to Decrease in 2019

Oct 2 2018 // The Idaho Department of Insurance has proved a 4.2 percent drop in workers’ compensation insurance rates effective Jan. 1, 2019. The proposed rate change comes from the National Council on Compensation Insurance, and...

Texas Accepting Comments on 2019 Workers’ Comp Research Agenda

Oct 2 2018 // The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) is accepting comment on the proposed Fiscal Year 2019 Research Agenda of the Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group...

BusinessFirst Insurance OK’d to Offer Workers’ Comp in Indiana

Oct 2 2018 // BusinessFirst Insurance Co. has received all regulatory approvals from the Indiana Department of Insurance to begin offering workers’ compensation insurance coverage in the state, the company announced. Appointed...

Doctor’s Alleged Fraud Scheme Throws Medical Claims Review Process into Doubt

Oct 2 2018 // For years, Spyros Panos seemed like a successful orthopedic surgeon, seeing dozens of patients a day and bringing in millions of dollars in fees for his suburban New York medical group. In fact, he was inflating charges...

Why Hospitals Charge Auto Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Patients Much More Than Health Insurers

Oct 1 2018 // Insurer market power matters in hospital pricing. Patients with automobile, workers’ compensation, and other non-conventional commercial insurance plans paid much higher prices than patients with HMO/PPO health...

20 People Arrested in Florida in ‘Operation Hot Water’ Workers’ Comp Fraud Sting

Oct 1 2018 // Twenty individuals were arrested in Florida in a workers’ compensation insurance fraud sting operation involving unlicensed contractors in Pasco County in “Operation Hot Water,” according to a statement...

Access to Medical Care in Texas Workers’ Comp System Improving, Study Finds

Oct 1 2018 // From 2005 to 2017, the number of workers’ compensation claims in Texas fell by 20 percent, resulting in a 24 percent decrease in the number of patients per participating doctor in Texas. That’s one of the...