Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

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

3 Workers Injured in Riceland Rice Plant Blast in Arkansas

Oct 19 2020 // Three Riceland Rice employees were injured, none seriously, in an explosion at a Riceland plant in Stuttgart, Ark., according to company spokesperson Kevin McGilton. The employees suffered minor injuries that were not...

Vast Majority of COVID-19 Workers’ Compensation Claims Are Small, Says NCCI

Oct 19 2020 // If COVID-19 behaves like other workers’ compensation lung and disease claims, about two out of 100 cases may result in some degree of permanent partial disability and one out of 2,000 may result in permanent total...

California Bills Signed into Law Related to Workers’ Comp

Oct 19 2020 // California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a handful of bills related to workers’ compensation.Following is a summary of the bills compiled by the Worker’s Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau: Senate Bill No....

California Workers’ Comp Premium for First Two Quarters of 2020 Down 11%

Oct 19 2020 // Written workers’ compensation premium in California for the first two quarters of 2020 was 11% below that for the first two quarters of 2019, according to a new report out.The Worker’s Compensation Insurance...

Workers’ Compensation Benefits at Risk for Healthcare Workers, Others

Oct 19 2020 // Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s June 17, 2020, order clarifying eligibility for workers’ compensation benefits for workplace exposure to COVID-19 is presumably overturned by the state supreme court’s...

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner OKs Workers’ Comp Premium Rate Drop

Oct 14 2020 // A 9.6 percent decrease in Oklahoma workers’ compensation insurance loss costs for 2021 has been approved by the state’s insurance commissioner.According to Commissioner Glen Mulready and the Oklahoma Insurance...

Ohio Man Owes $141.5K After Second Workers’ Comp Fraud Conviction

Oct 13 2020 // An Ohio man who pleaded guilty on Oct. 5 to workers’ compensation fraud charges has been ordered to repay $141,578 in restitution and spend six months in jail, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC)...

After Court Ruling, New Emergency Orders Issued to Stem Virus in Michigan

Oct 12 2020 // A week after Michigan’s Supreme Court ruled Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lacked the authority to act unilaterally to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the state health department issued its own emergency order keeping...

Washington Meter Reader Who Got $186K Accused of Stealing Workers’ Comp Money

Oct 12 2020 // A meter reader who was attacked by a dog while on duty and collected years of workers’ compensation is now accused of stealing the money, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries said.Linda Jordan of...

Florida Construction Owner Accused of Not Paying $95K in Workers’ Comp Premiums

Oct 9 2020 // A construction company owner was arrested last month for workers’ compensation premium fraud after allegedly concealing payroll information to avoid paying more than $95,000 in workers’ compensation...

Tennessee Releases App to Help Injured Workers File Comp Claims

Oct 8 2020 // Tennesseans have a new tool to help them file workers’ compensation claims – an app that lets them fill out key forms by speaking into a smartphone. It was developed after a study found that filling out the...

The MEMIC Group Appoints Nash as Underwriter for Carolinas

Oct 7 2020 // Sealy Nash of Charlotte, N.C. has been appointed as a senior production underwriter at The MEMIC Group, a specialty workers’ compensation insurance company serving the Eastern seaboard from Florida to Maine.She will...

California Workers’ Comp Premium for First Two Quarters of 2020 Down 11%

Oct 5 2020 // Written workers’ compensation premium in California for the first two quarters of 2020 was 11% below that for the first two quarters of 2019, according to a new report out.The Worker’s Compensation Insurance...

COVID-19: No One Avoids the Impact

Oct 5 2020 // Workers’ Compensation Premiums Down 8% in First Half of 2020Prior to discussing the results of our review of aggregate workers’ compensation insurance written in the U.S. during the first half of 2020 versus...

Steep Drop in California Workers’ Comp IMRs in First Half of 2020

Oct 5 2020 // The number of independent medical reviews used to resolve California workers’ compensation medical disputes fell sharply in the first half of 2020 as the pandemic took a toll on the state’s economy with...

California Workers’ Comp Bills Signed into Law

Oct 2 2020 // California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a handful of bills related to workers’ compensation, including bills dealing with COVID-19 and reporting the virus in the workplace.The Legislature recessed for the year on Aug....

Next Insurance Expands Workers’ Compensation to 24 Additional States

Oct 2 2020 // Next Insurance, a digital insurtech company focused on small business insurance, has expanded its workers’ compensation offering to 24 additional states, bringing the total number of states it offers coverage in to...

California Nursery Worker Arraigned for Alleged Workers’ Comp Fraud

Oct 2 2020 // Fernando Torres Garcia, 46, self-surrendered and was arraigned at the Kern County Superior Court in California this week on nearly a dozen felony counts of insurance fraud after allegedly misrepresenting an injury in order...

Judges Dismisses $18M in Liens Filed by California Medical Provider Convicted of Fraud

Oct 1 2020 // An administrative law judge in California has dismissed liens valued at $18 million filed by convicted medical provider Michael E. Barri, bringing to a close one of the earliest cases aimed at combatting fraud in...

Next Insurance Adds 24 States to Its Workers’ Compensation Market Map

Oct 1 2020 // Next Insurance has expanded its workers’ compensation offering into 24 additional states, including Arizona, Connecticut, South Carolina, Indiana and Virginia.The digital small business insurer said that the coverage...