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…
The number of employees who may be covered by the various state laws and executive orders providing some level of compensability for workers who acquire COVID-19 on the job varies substantially based on workforce and the nature of the order, researchers from the Workers Compensation Research Institute found in a study released Tuesday. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based WCRI used data from…
It has been more than eight months since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. and the impact on workers compensation claims continues to be less than predicted, experts say. In much of the country, the number of COVID-19 workers comp claims accepted — even in the 17 states with a presumption law or executive order that allows…
Nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses result in days away from work increased among private industry workers in 2019, compared with the prior year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. In 2019, the private sector reported 888,220 nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses resulting in days away from work. Last year, the BLS did not report this figure. According to…
Two former Berkshire Hathaway companies have been hit with a $250,000 fine by Illinois regulators for selling unapproved workers’ compensation policies to small businesses. The Illinois Department of Insurance says Continental Indemnity Company and Applied Underwriters Inc. also overcharged some Illinois small businesses for workers’ comp insurance. The fine is the result of a market conduct examination conducted by the…
As the pandemic rages on, more states are creating their own standards requiring employers to provide workers with proper COVID-19 training to prevent transmission of the virus, and failure to comply with these measures in some jurisdictions can lead to substantial fines, experts say. Sixteen states — either by way of passage of an emergency temporary standard or a gubernatorial…
A cleaning company employee claims she was fired in retaliation for receiving workers’ compensation after being hospitalized with respiratory issues due to exposure to cleaning chemicals. Brandy Clark filed a complaint Oct. 12 in the St. Clair County Circuit Court against Clements Cleaning Inc., alleging violation of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act. According to Clark’s complaint, she was employed by…
