workers’ compensation insurance News

Opinion: Study Suggesting N.Y. Scaffold Law Causes Injuries Misuses Statistical Techniques

[Editor’s Note: The following is a commentary on a recent study from the New York Civil Justice Institute. The study argues that the New York’s “Scaffold Law” diverts millions of dollars to legal costs and insurance and that the law …

Study Says N.Y. ‘Scaffold Law’ Drives Up Construction Costs, Causes Injuries

A new study published this month challenges the claim that New York’s Labor Law 240, also known as the “Scaffold Law,” improves workplace safety. The study, titled “The Costs of Labor Law 240,” argues New York incurs additional workplace accidents …

California Senator Pleads Not Guilty In Workers’ Comp Fraud Case

State Sen. Ron Calderon pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges that he accepted $100,000 in bribes in return for pushing legislation, charges that could send him to federal prison for years. Calderon, a member of a powerful Democratic political …

Virginia SCC Approves Revisions to Workers’ Comp Premium Levels

Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) last week approved revisions to the premium levels charged for the state’s workers’ compensation insurance. Workers’ compensation insurance provides medical care and wage replacement benefits to injured workers. Almost all Virginia employers are required to …

Idaho Fly Shop Owner Gets Jail Time On Workers’ Comp Law

A state judge has ordered a Coeur d’Alene, Idaho fly shop owner to serve five days in jail for violating a court order stemming from allegations he failed to provide workers’ compensation insurance. The Idaho Industrial Commission announced the penalty …

Critics Say It’s Time New York Ends 1885 Scaffold Law

Years before skyscrapers, when New York City’s tallest building was still the 281-foot spire of Wall Street’s historic Trinity Church, state lawmakers passed the Scaffold Law, which made property owners and contractors liable for most “gravity-related” injuries to workers on …

Pennsylvania’s Overall Workers’ Comp Rates to Drop 4.01%

Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Mike Consedine announced Thursday that a workers’ compensation rate reduction will go into effect next week for employers. The overall decrease of 4.01 percent is effective April 1, 2013.”We are very pleased with the rate reduction which …

Rhode Island Nightclub Owners Still Owe $1M Workers’ Comp Penalty

A Rhode Island judge is questioning why the owners of a nightclub where 100 people died in a fire in 2003 still haven’t paid a $1 million penalty for failing to carry workers’ compensation insurance. The Providence Journal reports that …

Deal Reached on Change to N.C. Workers’ Comp Law

Legislators say they don’t expect any obstacles when they consider a bill allowing workers to make sure their employers carry workers’ compensation insurance on them. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported officials from three interested groups agreed to undo …