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Workers’ Comp Rates for Ohio Marine Industry Employers Decrease 20%

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) has reduced its rates for marine industry employers by 20 percent, effective July 1, the BWC said. The change lowers the rates for employers conducting business on Ohio waterways that subscribe to the Marine Industry Fund. Ohio ranks 7th among the 50 states in longshore and harbor worker activity based on total tons of waterborne domestic cargo handled through a state’s ports. The Marine Industry Fund provides coverage for injuries, disease and death resulting from longshore and harbor worker duties for Ohio employers with employees who work on or about navigable waters, as… Read More »Workers’ Comp Rates for Ohio Marine Industry Employers Decrease 20%

ADP – Automatic Data Problem?

ADP (Automatic Data Processing Inc) the world’s largest payroll processor, todayt said it is investigating a data breach affecting one of its corporate clients. ADP said it is “taking measures to address the impact” of the breach, but it did not provide specifics. The breach occurred at a benefits administration unit ADP recently bought and was limited to a single client. ADP did not identify the company that was affected. The processor said it has been working with law enforcement and other officials to identify the cause of the breach and to catch the hackers. ADP is the latest in… Read More »ADP – Automatic Data Problem?

Lights Out – State Fund is Coming

alifornia State Compensation Insurance Fund is pursuing legislation to allow it to offer coverage to California employers who have out of state employees. Currently, California-based businesses insured with State fund must obtain a separate workers’ compensation policy to cover employees who work out of state. State Fund hopes to amend the California insurance code to allow it to offer workers’ comp insurance that will cover a California employer’s out of state employees, instead of having to work with two or more insurance companies. “In speaking with brokers across the state, we have clearly heard that this would benefit them by… Read More »Lights Out – State Fund is Coming

OSHA’s Cry for Safety in NV

The Nevada Occupational Health & Safety Section (OSHA) of the Division of Industrial Relations is hoping to stop one of the most dangerous forms of distracted driving. That’s why it is encouraging employers to protect employees on the road for work by banning texting while driving. In Nevada, in 2010, 181 collisions and 232 incidences of property damage occurred because of distractions due to the use of cell phones, including telephone calls and texting, and electronic equipment, OSHA said. Three people died in 2010 as a result of cell phone usage while driving. The agency believes employers are pivotal to… Read More »OSHA’s Cry for Safety in NV

NC Senate Reviews Workers Comp Reform Bills

A comprehensive workers compensation reform package is headed to North Carolina’s Senate after receiving final approval in the state House. The House’s adoption Wednesday of H.B. 709 is “a huge win for the business community,” the Raleigh-based North Carolina Chamber said in a statement. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. R. Dale Folwell, R-Winston-Salem, resulted from extensive negotiations involving labor, employer groups and claimant attorneys. Among other measures, the legislation limits the duration of temporary total disability benefits to 500 weeks, but allows workers to appeal that cap under certain conditions, according to the chamber. North Carolina currently does not… Read More »NC Senate Reviews Workers Comp Reform Bills

Workers Compensation System in Illinois is Uncertain

Illinois lawmakers continued to grapple Tuesday with legislation that would change the state’s workers compensation system, including the possibility of abolishing the system. The Illinois House on Sunday failed to pass H.B. 1698 on a 55-39 vote, with the bill needing 60 votes to win approval of the measure that would have made sweeping changes in the state’s workers comp system. The bill had passed the Illinois Senate on a 46-8 vote on Saturday. Proponents of the reform said it would have cut between $500 million to $700 million a year from the program’s cost by reducing medical provider rates by… Read More »Workers Compensation System in Illinois is Uncertain

Colorado Workers’ Comp Reforms

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has signed legislation approving state workers’ compensation reforms. Senate Bill 11-199, sponsored in the House by James Riesberg, D, and sponsored in the Senate by Lois Tochtrop, D: Requires an employer to admit liability for reasonable and necessary medical benefits in claims in which an authorized treating physician recommends medical benefits after maximum medical improvement if there is no contrary medical opinion in the record. Permit parties in connection with case hearings, as long as they have attorney representation to engage in discovery without need for permission. Require the employer to provide advance payments to claimants,… Read More »Colorado Workers’ Comp Reforms

Which Insurance Company Should Pay for Expenses?

A Colorado Court of Appeal has ruled that an insurer cannot file suit against another insurer for its failure to cancel a policy. According to court documents in First Comp Insurance v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office of the State of Colorado, First Comp Insurance asked the court to review the finding of an administrative law judge that it was liable for funeral expenses arising out of a workplace fatality because Pinnacol Assurance, the insurer for the decedent’s direct employer, failed to properly cancel the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance policy. According to court documents, when an employer was fatally injured in the… Read More »Which Insurance Company Should Pay for Expenses?

California workers comp rates won’t go up

How much do you pay for your Workers Comp insurance? How high did you rates go up for the past 2 years? Well, may be we’ve got a break, as the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California’s Governing Committee has decided, again, not to make a mid-year rate filing. Rates won’t go down, rated won’t go up. At its April 6, 2011 meeting, the WCIRB Governing Committee directed the WCIRB to submit to the California Department of Insurance (CDI) an informational analysis of insurer experience as of Dec. 31, 2010 in lieu of a mid-year advisory pure premium rate… Read More »California workers comp rates won’t go up