Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

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

Medical Provider Fraud: The Most Common Schemes to Watch For

Oct 21 2019 // While most insurance claims are legitimate, studies indicate that 10% or more of all property/casualty insurance claims are fraudulent.In the workers’ compensation industry, combatting fraud can seem like a game of...

California Workers’ Comp Bureau Releases Cost Monitoring Update on Reforms

Oct 21 2019 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California in mid-October issued a prospective estimate of the cost impact of Senate Bill 863, the sweeping workers’ comp reform bill signed into law in...

Unconfirmed Drug Test Can’t Be Used to Deny Workers’ Comp Claim: Louisiana Court

Oct 18 2019 // Louisiana’s high court recently nixed the idea that an unconfirmed or unverified drug test can be used to prove intoxication or fraud in order to deny the workers’ compensation claim of an injured worker.In...

Applied Underwriters Sold to Founder in $920M Deal

Oct 16 2019 // Applied Underwriters Inc. and its subsidiary North American Casualty Co. has reportedly been acquired by Applied Underwriters founder Steve Menzies, who was joined in the acquisition by the Quasha Group led by Quadrant...

Arkansas Insurance Dept. Unit Honored for Work Comp Pharmacy Benefits Program

Oct 15 2019 // The State Risk Manager Association recently named the Arkansas Insurance Department’s Public Employee Claims Division (PECD) as the recipient of the 2019 AFIRM Award for its state employee workers’ compensation...

Texas Company Faces $301K in Fines After Employee Fatality

Oct 15 2019 // A Texas company has been cited for workplace safety hazards and fined more than $301,000 after an employee fatality at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in April 2019.The U.S. Department of Labor’s...

California Workers’ Compensation Bureau Testifies on 2020 Advisory Rate Drop

Oct 15 2019 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California on Monday presented the actuarial basis for an average proposed Jan. 1, 2020 advisory pure premium rate of $1.58, which is 5.4 percent less than the...

Workers’ Compensation Rates in Delaware Decrease for Third Year in a Row

Oct 15 2019 // Delaware is set to see a decrease in workers’ compensation insurance rates for the third year in a row, effective December 1, 2019.“I am delighted to approve a decrease in workers’ compensation rates in...

Oregon 2020 Workers’ Compensation Premium Assessment Rates Dropping

Oct 11 2019 // The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services announced an 8.4% average reduction in pure premium rates for employers in 2020.The department each year adopts by rule the workers’ comp premium assessment...

California Workers’ Comp Bureau Releases Cost Monitoring Update on Reforms

Oct 11 2019 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California this week issued a prospective estimate of the cost impact of Senate Bill 863, the sweeping workers’ comp reform bill signed into law in 2012.SB...

Ohio Foundry Facing $270K in Penalties for Serious Workplace Health Violations

Oct 10 2019 // Federal officials have cited an Ohio foundry with three repeated and 18 serious health violations for exposing employees to crystalline silica above the permissible exposure levels.As a result, Liberty Casting Company in...

Massachusetts Cleaning Company Owner Sentenced for $74K Insurance Fraud

Oct 10 2019 // The owner of a Malden, Mass.-based cleaning company pleaded guilty and was sentenced to jail in connection with an insurance fraud scheme that involved worker misclassification, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey...

Missouri Food Flavoring Manufacturer Faces $223.5K in Penalties Over Worker Fatality

Oct 9 2019 // A Missouri-based food flavoring manufacturer is facing $223,525 in penalties after being cited by federal officials for workplace safety violations following the death of a worker at the company’s facility.The U.S....

Texas Man Convicted of $6K Workers’ Compensation Fraud

Oct 9 2019 // Texas Mutual Insurance Co. reported that a Travis County district court has sentenced Joe D. Lozano, Sr. of Midland, Texas, on workers’ compensation fraud-related charges.Lozano reported a job-related injury while...

Salus Workers’ Compensation Acquires Omaha’s Method Insurance Services

Oct 8 2019 // Salus Workers’ Compensation LLC (Salus), a managing general agent (MGA) and third-party administrator (TPA), has completed its acquisition of Method LLC d/b/a Method Insurance Services (Method), a full-service...

Louisiana Workers’ Comp Corp. to Return $136M to Policyholders in October

Oct 8 2019 // Louisiana’s largest workers’ compensation insurance carrier, Louisiana Workers Compensation Corporation (LWCC), is issuing $136 million in dividend checks to policyholders during October.LWCC is a single state,...

Workers’ Compensation Rates to Decrease in Idaho for 2020

Oct 7 2019 // The Idaho Department of Insurance has approved a proposal for a 6.2 percent overall rate decrease to Idaho workers’ compensation insurance effective Jan. 1, 2020. The proposed rate change was recommended by the...

Origami Risk Taps Bennett, Bentley to Lead New Operating Units in Chicago

Oct 7 2019 // Chicago-based Origami Risk, a risk and insurance Software as a Service (SaaS) technology firm, has formed two new operating divisions – Risk Solutions and Core Solutions – and appointed Earne Bentley and Christopher...

Workers’ Compensation Premiums Up 2.2% in First Half of 2019

Oct 7 2019 // In the aggregate, workers’ compensation insurers reported a modest increase in direct written premiums in the U.S. for the first six months of 2019 versus the same period 2018, up 2.2%. However, the 25 carriers with...

Study Examines California Workers’ Comp Hospital Inpatient Stays

Sep 30 2019 // The number of California workers’ compensation inpatient hospital stays fell 1.9 percent between 2017 and 2018, for a net decline of nearly 31 percent since 2010, a new study shows.A study from the California...