April 25, 2024
New legislation aimed at reducing workplace violence in California vastly increases employers’ responsibilities and hands workers’ compensation insurers an unprecedented oversight role that is likely to trigger lawsuits and affect rates and capacity. The Workplace Violence Prevention Bill SB 553, …
July 25, 2023
California workers’ compensation premium levels rose by 14% in 2022 due to the economic recovery from the pandemic-related downturn, according to the new Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California’s 2023 State of the System Report. The WCIRB report forecasts …
February 18, 2021
A federal judge is weighing what she called a first-of-its-kind lawsuit that would hold an employer responsible for a worker’s spouse getting sick with Covid-19. Plenty of families have sued businesses, from retailers to meatpacking plants, claiming that unsafe workspaces …
April 23, 2020
Workers’ compensation written premium in California for calendar year 2019 was 6% below that for calendar year 2018, according to an update on California statewide insurer experience valued as of Dec.31, 2019. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California …
December 18, 2019
Premium decreases in California workers’ compensation may have escalated in 2019, a new report shows. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California on Wednesday released its quarterly experience report, an update on California statewide insurer experience valued as of …
September 10, 2018
An annual progress report from the California Department of Workers’ Compensation’s Independent Medical Review program shows it’s working as intended. IMR is a medical dispute resolution process that uses medical expertise to obtain consistent, evidence-based decisions and is a component …
December 29, 2016
The California Department of Industrial Relations has released its 2016 Legislative Digest, which summarizes new laws that impact workers and employers. Most of the chaptered bills are slated to take effect on Jan. 1, 2017. Highlights those new laws include: …
October 3, 2016
Legal and regulatory squabbles in New York, California and other states involving Berkshire Hathaway and its Applied Underwriter affiliates over particular workers’ compensation products should not have any negative effects on brokers who dealt with the products, according to a …
September 7, 2016
The governing committee of California’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau on Wednesday approved an amended, and reduced, rate filing for Jan. 1, 2017 workers’ compensation rates. It did so based on the hope that California Gov. Jerry Brown signs two …
February 18, 2016
An examination of California workers’ compensation independent medical review decisions shows roughly nine-in-10 of disputed medical service requests reviewed by an IMR physician agree with the utilization review determination that the service is not medically necessary. The IMR and UR …