Tag: Workers Comp

Injuries caused by lifting heavy loads were once again named the costliest in workers compensation, according to data released Tuesday by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.

The insurer’s Workplace Safety Index estimates the top 10 causes of the most serious workplace injuries — those causing an employee to miss more than five days of work — and ranks them by their direct costs of medical and lost-wage payments. The 2024 figures mirror those of the previous two years and are based on injuries occurring since 2021.

The insurer found that U.S. industries spent $58.07 billion on the direct costs of worker injuries, and 82.5% of that total was for the top 10 causes of disabling injuries and illnesses.

Ranking the types of injuries, Liberty Mutual found that “overexertion involving outside sources,” risked by lifting heavy loads, cost employers $12.49 billion in 2021. Falls, which typically rank as the top injury, took second and third place, with falls on same level costing employers $9.99 billion and falls to a lower level $5.68 billion. Combined, the three categories represented nearly half of all injuries.

The remaining top types of injuries included “other exertions or bodily reactions” at $3.68 billion, car accidents at $2.76 billion, slip or trips without falling at $2.34 billion, caught in or compressed by equipment or objects at $2.05 billion, struck against object or equipment at $1.84 billion, and repetitive motions involving microtasks at $1.54 billion.

 

Pennsylvania lawmakers on Wednesday filed legislation that would penalize employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors to avoid workers compensation.

House Bill 2411 would create both administrative and criminal penalties for employers who fail to properly classify workers to avoid having to provide workers compensation benefits.

Employers found to be in violation could be issued stop-work orders and could also be referred to the state attorney general’s office for criminal investigation.

The legislation provides for an affirmative defense in cases where employers “in good faith” believed employees to be qualified as independent contractors.

Employers who violate the law could be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor if there are no prior offenses or a third-degree felony if the employer has one or more prior offenses.

Employers could also face a summary offense punishable by a fine of no more than $1,000.

The bill would also permit employees who are misclassified as independent contractors who are fired, threatened or otherwise retaliated against to file civil litigation against the employer.

The measure was referred to the House Labor and Industry Committee. 

 

 

New Jersey lawmakers filed legislation Thursday that would provide an annual cost-of-living adjustment in the weekly workers compensation benefit rate in cases involving workers who are totally or permanently disabled.

Assembly Bill 4559 would amend current law, which requires annual adjustments in workers comp benefit rates for death and permanent total disability to be paid from the state’s Second Injury Fund for injuries sustained before January 1, 1980.

The measure would extend adjustments paid from the fund to apply to benefits paid after July 1, 2025, for injuries originating after Dec. 31, 1979.

Legislators said the bill is designed to address a backlog of retroactive benefits.  

Public safety workers who otherwise already receive COLAs would be exempt from the legislation.

The COLA supplement provided for in the bill would be reduced by the original amount of an injured worker’s Social Security retirement or survivor benefits but not reduced by cost-of-living increases in those Social Security benefits.

The bill was referred to the Assembly Labor Committee. 

 

 

Workers compensation prices rose more quickly in states that update their fee schedules based on measures of price changes in the general economy rather than price changes in the medical sector, according to a study released Thursday by the Workers Compensation Research Institute.

The report noted Alabama, Delaware, Illinois and Oregon as states that adjust workers comp medical fee schedules based on inflation in the general economy — which the report highlighted as 9% by June 2022. Other states, which generally use Medicare rates as the basis for fee schedules, saw smaller increases in costs for treating injured workers, according to the study by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based institute, which examined general economy versus medical inflationary trends up to 2023.

Overall, with state-by-state variances that showed medical cost increases of between 2% and 10% in comp, more than 40% of states saw prices in comp go up — many due to factors other than inflation. That upward trend will likely continue, WCRI researchers said, adding that hospital payments “have been and will likely continue” to be the main driver of medical cost growth in workers compensation, especially “in the face of ongoing provider consolidation trends and medical labor shortages.”

Utilization of medical services, which started to recover from the disruptions in the first two years of the pandemic, is likely to remain a key factor behind the growth in workers compensation medical payments, WCRI said.

A group of chemical companies should not have been granted summary judgment in a lawsuit filed by a man who said he was injured through years of workplace exposure to toxic chemicals, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

The state’s top court reversed a trial court’s dismissal of a third-party lawsuit by Michael Ruble, who worked at a plant owned by Zinsser Co. Inc. and later by RPM International Inc. and its subsidiary, Rust-Oleum Corp.

Mr. Ruble, whose work involved making various paint-related products, sued his current and past employers as well as chemical suppliers Bayer Corp., Bayer CropScience LP, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Matrix Chemical LLC, Monsanto Co. and Nouryon Chemicals LLC.

Mr. Ruble was denied workers compensation benefits after an administrative finding that he failed to prove a connection between the working conditions and his injuries, which included breathing difficulties, memory problems, tremors, swollen limbs and difficulty walking. A review board affirmed that decision.

The employer defendants were subsequently dismissed from the litigation, while the chemical companies remained.

The state’s high court ruled that Mr. Ruble didn’t have a “full and fair” opportunity to litigate his tort claims against the third-party manufacturers and that state law permits employees to pursue a comp claim and third-party lawsuit simultaneously.

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Due to numerous requests for extensions, Business Insurance has extended the deadline for submitting nominations for the 2024 Women to Watch Awards until June 30.

The program, which is in its 19th year, recognizes female executives in risk management, insurance and related fields. Honorees are recognized for their accomplishments, expertise, leadership and future prospects.

Women working in the commercial insurance sector worldwide are eligible to be nominated. Winners will be divided into two geographic categories and honored at two events: Women to Watch and Women to Watch EMEA.

Winners for both programs will be announced on businessinsurance.com in July and profiled in the December issue of Business Insurance.

Winners from EMEA will be recognized at an event in London on Dec. 5. Winners from the United States and the rest of the world, excluding EMEA, will be recognized at an event in New York on Nov. 19.

To learn more about the Women to Watch program and submit a nomination, click here. For Women to Watch EMEA, click here.  

 

 

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said  Wednesday it cited an Illinois construction company for the seventh time since 2020 for exposing workers to fall hazards.

OSHA cited Bolingbrook-based Maestro Construction Inc. for two “willful,” two “repeat,” and two “serious” violations and proposed $264,407 in penalties.

OSHA said that on two occasions – in December 2023 and February 2024 – inspectors found workers doing framing work at a Hanover Park residential construction site without proper fall protection. Some workers had fall protection safety gear but wore it incorrectly, the agency said.

Maestro Construction also failed to certify that workers had been trained in fall hazards and on the required use of personal protective equipment, the agency said.

 

Those living on luxurious Martha’s Vineyard may appear to have it all. Yet when it comes to pot, it’s all smoke and mirrors.

Winter Haven, Massachusetts, residents who use marijuana say the town’s two dispensaries have run out or are running out of pot as state regulators mandate how much of the substance can be transported to the island via boat or plane because of the federal government’s stance on marijuana being an illegal controlled substance, according to the Associated Press.

And now an 81-year-old resident is suing the state’s Cannabis Control Commission on its position after being unable to buy marijuana at her local dispensary, whose owner said he sold his last gummy last week.

The commission says that finding a solution to the island’s pot problem, seven years after the state legalized marijuana, is a top priority, according to the wire service.