Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas DWC: Firefighters’ Cancer-Related Workers’ Comp Claims – and Denials – an Emerging Issue
Dec 7 2018 // How to process cancer-related workers’ compensation claims filed by firefighters’ and emergency medical technicians’ (EMTs) is developing into an emerging issue, Texas workers’ compensation system...
Workers’ Comp Insurance Rates to Go Down in Louisiana
Dec 5 2018 // Rates for workers’ compensation insurance will decrease in Louisiana next year, the state insurance department announced. Louisiana Department of Insurance has approved a rate filing from the National Council on...
Oklahoma Ruling Could Set Precedent for Marijuana Use in Work Comp Cases
Dec 3 2018 // A recent Oklahoma court ruling that permits an injured worker to receive workers’ compensation benefits with a positive drug test could set a precedent for such cases at a time when medical marijuana may soon be...
How States Differ in Responding to Coverages and Their Application
Dec 3 2018 // I have done a tremendous amount of errors and omissions (E&O) work over the years, including serving as approved and accredited auditor for two major E&O carriers, a certified E&O instructor, an author of an...
Declarations
Dec 3 2018 // Critical Operating Cost “Workers’ compensation insurance is a critical operating cost for business owners and the 13.8 percent rate decrease approval will allow employers to better support Florida’s...
Mass. Appeals Court Rules Medical Device Manufacturer Illegally Fired Employee
Dec 3 2018 // A Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled that Dielectrics, a Massachusetts-based medical device manufacturer, illegally fired Ileana Bermudez after she collected workers’ compensation benefits and filed a lawsuit...
Pennsylvania Insurance Department Plans Review of 2 Workers’ Comp Filings
Dec 3 2018 // The Pennsylvania Insurance Department has received two mid-year workers’ compensation loss cost filings with a proposed effective date of Jan. 1, 2019, from the Pennsylvania Compensation Rating Bureau (PCRB). The...
N.Y. Man Charged With More Than $15K in Workers’ Comp Fraud
Dec 3 2018 // A New York man has been arrested on charges that he defrauded the workers’ compensation system by claiming he was out of work due to an injury while continuing to work at his family business. Jeffrey Smalt of Bath,...
Insurtech Oyster Opens up Its Pay-as-You-Go Workers’ Comp Model in California
Nov 29 2018 // A new insurtech wants to provide pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation to as many small businesses in California as possible, and it hopes to use the momentum it’s built following a quiet launch in the East...
OSHA Fines Alabama Steel Firm $320K Over Safety Hazards
Nov 27 2018 // An Alabama steel company is being fined more than $320,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration over hazardous working conditions. Al.com reports OSHA announced the fine Nov. 13 for Montgomery-based Sabel...
Mass. Appeals Court Rules Medical Device Manufacturer Illegally Fired Employee
Nov 21 2018 // A Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled that Dielectrics, a Massachusetts-based medical device manufacturer, illegally fired Ileana Bermudez after she collected workers’ compensation benefits and filed a lawsuit...
Texas Woman Sentenced for ‘Double Dipping’ on Workers’ Comp
Nov 20 2018 // A New Braunfels, Texas, woman must perform community service and pay more than $7,000 in restitution after being sentenced on workers’ compensation fraud charges. Texas Mutual Insurance Co. reported that Carolina...
Declarations
Nov 19 2018 // Electric Evidence “They did it because they’re faced with insurmountable evidence that it’s their responsibility.” — Robert Curtis, an attorney representing 450 victims of a fire that tore...
California Insurance Commissioner Reduces Workers’ Comp Pure Premium
Nov 19 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones earlier this month issued a revised advisory workers’ compensation pure premium rate, lowering the benchmark to $1.63 per $100 of payroll effective Jan. 1, 2019. Jones has...
Pinnacol in Colorado to Drop Workers’ Comp Rates, Issue Dividend in 2019
Nov 19 2018 // Pinnacol Assurance’s Board of Directors has approved a plan to decrease workers’ compensation rates in 2019 by an average of 10 percent. The decrease will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, and will be the fourth...
Connecticut Approves 17% Workers’ Comp Rate Cut for 2019
Nov 19 2018 // The Connecticut Insurance Department has approved a nearly 17 percent decrease in rates for workers’ compensation insurance, marking the fifth consecutive year that rates have dropped in Connecticut. “This...
Delaware Workers’ Comp Insurance Rates Decrease for Second Year in a Row
Nov 19 2018 // Workers’ compensation insurance rates will decrease for the second year in a row in Delaware, effective Dec. 1, 2018. “I am delighted to approve yet another decrease in workers’ compensation rates in...
Travelers Partners with Contractor, Tech Firm on Wearables for Construction Safety
Nov 16 2018 // The Travelers Companies has partnered with contractor company Gilbane, and Triax Technologies, a provider of Internet of Things (IoT) construction technology, to explore the potential safety benefits of wearable...
Company Faces OSHA Fines Due to Farmworker’s Death in Nebraska
Nov 15 2018 // A federal safety agency has proposed fining a company in connection with the death of an employee who was working in a Hall County, Nebraska, cornfield. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is proposing...
Ambulatory Centers’ Surgery Costs Below Hospitals’, Workers’ Comp Research Finds
Nov 15 2018 // There is new evidence that ambulatory surgery centers are less expensive for certain surgeries than hospitals. Payments for similar knee and shoulder surgeries performed in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) were lower...
