Tag: Workers Comp

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Wednesday that it cited a Florida landscaper after a worker drowned in July 2023.

The employee of Bradenton-based TruScapes Industries Inc. was operating a lawn mower when it rolled over in a retention pond, pinning him underwater.

OSHA proposed $166,305 in penalties.

TruScapes was cited for one willful violation for not having a rollover protection system in use at the time of the incident and for allowing employees to operate the mower on a steep slope.

OSHA said it cited TruScapes for a similar fatal incident in July 2015.

The company, which employs 150 workers, has 15 business days to contest the citation and proposed penalties.

New Jersey legislators filed a bill Tuesday to provide workers compensation benefits to certain first responders for illnesses or injuries related to the 9/11 terrorist attack.

Senate Bill 1470 would consider any illness or injury developed by a first responder who worked at the site of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, to be a presumed occupational illness or injury eligible for workers comp regardless of when the claim is filed.

Employers of workers who received medical or disability workers comp benefits for the same injuries from other states or the federal government would be entitled to a credit.

The bill was sent to the Senate Labor Committee for consideration.

 

The Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards has revoked a residential contractor’s license over failure to pay $300,000 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration fines over multiple fall protection violations. 

William Trahant, owner of Lynn-based William Trahant Jr. Construction Inc., will have his construction supervisor’s license revoked for “at least” two years as the result of a complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Labor, citing seven separate citations issued to his company since 2014 for violating federal fall safety regulations and his continued failure to pay penalties, according to a statement issued by the DOL on Monday.

As part of the order, Mr. Trahant must cease any work on active building permits he holds until a successor license holder is substituted or he regains his license. OSHA estimated that Mr. Trahant currently holds “hundreds” of active building permits in five cities in Massachusetts, according to the statement.

 

 

 

Indiana lawmakers have introduced legislation that would permit injured workers to choose their attending physicians in workers compensation claims.

House Bill 1246, filed Tuesday, would allow employers to choose a physician for an injured worker if the injury renders the employee unable to make a decision or in cases where immediate medical attention is required.

If the measure is approved, it is scheduled to go into effect on July 1.

The bill was referred to the House Committee on Employment, Labor and Pensions for consideration.

Businesses continued to see smooth renewals for workers compensation coverage late last year, and there’s little sign of the buyers’ market changing in 2024, experts say.

The line remains profitable for insurers, and employers have enjoyed reduced rates or flat renewals for the past several years, according to numerous market surveys.

The industry still faces some challenges, such as changes in various states adding mental injuries to some comp claims and rising catastrophic injuries.

“Conditions remain stable and favorable for buyers,” said Debbie Goldstine, Chicago-based executive vice president, U.S. casualty, technical intelligence and emerging risks practice leader for Lockton Cos. LLC.

Profitable underwriting results, favorable reserves, a “decent” interest rate environment for comp – a long-tail line that relies on investment income – and “tons of market competition” have made the line the best performing in the property/casualty marketplace, Ms. Goldstine said.

Insurers “can balance their portfolios’ more challenging liability and property lines with work comp,” she said.

The industry combined ratio for workers comp will likely be under 100% for 2023, marking the 10th consecutive year of underwriting profits, said Jeff Eddinger, Boca Raton, Florida-based senior division executive for the National Council on Compensation Insurance.

Those conditions “are just going to put downward pressure on the loss costs,” he added.

Experts say there are issues they are keeping tabs on, including emerging regulations that are shifting compensability, especially for mental injuries, and medical inflation.

Dan Aronson, New York-based U.S. casualty practice leader for Marsh Inc., said a rise in workplace violence is an area to watch, because “previously the focus was around first responders” in terms of allowing for mental injuries in workers compensation.

There’s currently a push to apply mental health presumptions to all workers. For example, Connecticut in 2023 enacted legislation that allows for mental injury compensability for any worker who witnesses a harrowing or life-threatening incident. “This could be a precursor” for other states, Mr. Aronson said. 

Data on costs related to mental injuries is scant because many of the regulatory changes are relatively new, Mr. Eddinger said.

Medical inflation, which has not kept up with overall market inflation, is another area of concern. While fee schedules that help manage most types of injuries affecting workers — for example, musculoskeletal injuries that call for imaging, pain management and physical therapy — help keep comp treatment costs at bay, one subset of injuries could push comp costs significantly higher: catastrophic injuries.

“Catastrophic injuries require extraordinary care, advanced treatments that are outside of those caps,” Ms. Goldstine said. “The frequency of the catastrophic injury may be ticking up, whereas the rest of the frequency seems to be stable, and, so, if those catastrophic frequency levels continued to take up, then that can lead to overall increases in claim costs.”

 

MedRisk LLC, a King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based workers compensation managed care organization, announced Tuesday that it has acquired Irvine, California-based Medata Inc., a cost containment and document management company.

Financial terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed.

Medata is known to provide the most comprehensive cost containment and document management solutions in the comp and auto liability sectors, according to MedRisk.

In a statement, Medata President Tom Herndon said the merger would allow the company to “leverage our collective resources to continue delivering exceptional products and services to our customers.”

 

 

The workers compensation industry is poised to see a pivotal shift in pharmaceutical spending, as 2023 marked the first time in recent history that opioid dispensing didn’t land in the top spot of therapeutic classes, according to the 2024 Enlytened Trends Report released Tuesday by Enlyte LLC.

The annual report, which assesses top issues faced by the property and casualty insurance industry, also highlighted medical cost and inflation trends in workers compensation along with physician and provider shortages.

On the drug front, topicals in 2023 represented 18.5% of total workers comp drug costs compared with 15.4% for opioids, the report states. Opioids, meanwhile, remain the top category prescribed, and researchers say employees who are prescribed opioids can be 11 to 14 times more likely to experience chronic work loss and have 251% longer disability.

The report highlighted medical inflation trends on the state and national levels, noting that physician charges per procedure have increased by 12% since 2017. On the state level, high-volume workers comp jurisdictions including New York have worked to contain costs through mechanisms like workers comp fee schedules.

The trends report shows that workers comp is expected to continue facing three general challenges: price opportunists, specialty medications and physician dispensing.

Researchers are also keeping an eye on regulatory and compliance trends, as well as legal decisions and legislative changes, that may affect the workers comp industry.

 

 

A Virginia school district being sued for $40 million by a former teacher who was shot by a young student has filed a workers compensation claim on behalf of the woman even though a case is playing out in civil court over the incident.

The Newport News Public Schools announced Monday that it filed for workers comp benefits for Abigail Zwerner one year to the day that she was shot by a 6-year-old. There is a two-year statute of limitations for filing a claim.

Ms. Zwerner declined workers comp, instead opting to sue the school district. A judge has allowed the lawsuit to proceed.

“Our research has determined that there is legal authority allowing an employer to file a claim for workers’ compensation benefits on behalf of an employee with the Workers’ Compensation Commission,” Anne Lahren, an attorney with Virginia Beach-based Pender & Coward P.C. who represents the school board, said in a statement.

The school board seeks full benefits for Ms. Zwerner, including lifetime medical benefits, which she would be eligible to receive immediately, and wage benefits.

“We do not want to see these significant benefits jeopardized by letting the deadline for filing lapse,” Ms. Lahren stated. “We firmly believe that the Workers’ Compensation Commission is the correct forum to determine this case, not the Circuit Court.”

In her lawsuit, Ms. Zwerner argues the school district’s alleged gross negligence serves as an exception to workers comp exclusivity.