The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on workers compensation claims varied substantially by state in the first half of 2020, with claims figures significantly affected by outbreak severity and whether a coronavirus presumption order or law was in place, according to a study released Thursday by the Workers Compensation Research Institute. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based WCRI researchers said there was “tremendous variation…
Indiana lawmakers have proposed a bill Monday that would allow workers to choose their own physicians to treat their workplace injury or occupational disease. H.B. 1339 would allow workers to choose their own attending physician and require employers or their insurers to reimburse the chosen health care provider for the treatment of the compensable injury or illness. The bill states…
A bill introduced Wednesday in Illinois would make several changes to the state’s workers compensation code, including introducing protocols for investigating insurer premiums and changing the way cumulative trauma is covered. H.B. 218 would amend the Employer’s Liability Rates Article of the Illinois insurance law, to state that “a premium is excessive if it is likely to produce a profit…
The COVID-19 vaccine rollout has begun in health care and senior living facilities across the U.S., and employers in many industries are eagerly awaiting the chance to have their employees vaccinated against the coronavirus. However, employers must balance their desire for a safe workplace with the risks of requiring vaccinations and the potential workers compensation implications if a worker experiences…
An Indiana bill filed Monday would assume that the workers of general contractors or subcontractors performing government-support projects are employees for workers compensation and tax purposes. S.B. 126 would amend state laws to establish a presumption that workers providing labor on government projects are employees unless the contractor or subcontractor can provide proof they are properly classified as an independent…
Lawmakers in Indiana are slated Thursday to consider legislation that would call on several state agencies to study worker misclassification. H.B. 1132 would require the Department of State Revenue, the State Department of Labor, the Worker’s Compensation Board of Indiana, and the Department of Workforce Development to report before Sept. 1 and through 2024 to the state’s Interim Study Committee…
Illinois lawmakers on Thursday filed an amendment to extend the presumption of compensability for workers who acquire COVID-19 on the job. House Amendment 1 would modify H.B. 782, which was signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in June, to extend the state’s COVID-19 rebuttable presumption, which expired at the end of 2020, to June 30, 2021. The presumption law…
There were 5,333 fatal workplace injuries recorded in the United States in 2019, a 2% increase from the 5,250 in 2018 and the largest figure since 2007, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday. Demographics data painted a different picture: fatalities among workers age 55 and over increased 8% from 1,863 in 2018 to…
Workers compensation will likely continue to face challenges from the pandemic and will need to adapt to address COVID-19-related treatment gaps, according to a report released Thursday by Mitchell International Inc. In its 2020 Industry Trends Report, the San Diego-based property/casualty technology company predicts that the workers comp industry will continue to see shortages of primary care physicians and delays…
While at least 17 states have passed laws or issued orders that expanded access to workers’ compensation benefits for employees who contract COVID-19, many of those directives are creating new exposure for only a sliver of the workforce, new research by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute shows. WRCI studied policies adopted by Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota and Missouri in…
