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…
Workers compensation patients who undergo lumbar surgeries have higher percentages of reoperation and readmission compared to those undergoing similar surgeries in group health, the Workers Compensation Research Institute reported in a study released Thursday. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based WCRI researchers examined 30- and 90-day reoperation and readmission rates for injured workers who underwent lumbar spine surgeries in 18 states from October 2015…
A construction company that appealed the Indiana Workers Compensation Board’s award of medical and disability to a worker who fell through the roof not only lost its appeal, but saw the worker’s award increased by 5% by the court. In KNK Group v. Sarver, the Indiana Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed the board’s ruling that the company did not…
The increase in facility costs for hospital emergency room visits has “significantly” outpaced medical inflation, with facility costs growing approximately three times faster than the hospital outpatient producer price index, according to an analysis of workers compensation emergency room costs released Friday by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. The Boca Raton, Florida-based ratings agency said in its report that…
Despite substantial reductions in recent years, opioids continue to be widely dispensed to workers with work-related injuries in several states, according to a study released Thursday by the Workers Compensation Research Institute. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based institute studied factors that are associated with longer-term opioid use, finding that the strongest predictor of such use is opioid prescribing early in a claim….
Heath D. Shelton, a 36-year-old Smithton man, has pleaded guilty to a single count of making a false statement to receive federal disability compensation under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act. Shelton was working for the US Postal Service as a letter carrier when he injured his back in 2012. He started receiving federal disability payments for his injury. Later on,…
An insurer that covered a subcontractor must defend the contractor in the electrocution death of a subcontractor employee, an Illinois federal district court ruled Monday. Columbus, Ohio-based State Auto Property & Casualty Insurance Co. issued an insurance policy to Centralia, Illinois-based Rock Branch Ironworks Inc. for the policy period April 2018 to April 2019, according to the ruling by the…
