Interesting Phone Call Today
We had a long, long phone call today with someone at NCCI, the Workers Comp rating bureau in most states. We had found an error in an experience modification factor, an error by NCCI itself and not in...
View ArticleI really gotta up my game...
Sigh. LexisNexis has announced, as they are wont to do this time of year, their choices for best Workers Comp blogs. This blog is not one of them. Again.But the winners are really great sources of...
View ArticleMichigan Clarifies Independent Contractor Rules
The Michigan Supreme Court has clarified the criteria for when a worker is to be considered a true independent contractor rather than an employee. The Michigan Supremes ruled, in Auto-Owners Ins. Co....
View ArticleSome Cautionary Thoughts on Employers' Workers Comp "Fraud"
Been seeing a number of blog posts and articles about when employers commit "fraud" in relation to Workers Compensation insurance. Now, don't get me wrong--there are indeed employers out there who are...
View ArticleShameless, Stan Lee-Type Plug
When I was a kid, Stan Lee was the master of self-promotion over at Marvel Comics, then kind of an underdog to DC. Any way, this being January, the time of year when all good premium auditors are...
View ArticleA Report Card For Insurance Regulators
An interesting attempt to quantify and grade insurance regulatory efforts by the various states can be found here. Not sure if I necessarily agree with their criteria in all cases, but this is an...
View ArticleWorkers Comp Issues in 2015
Interesting article here, about possible issues that could impact Workers Compensation in this new year. One of the items here that piques my interest is that of "opt-out", that is, states giving...
View ArticleFlorida Upholds WC As Exclusive Remedy
In a fairly important ruling, the Florida Supreme Court has upheld the "exclusive remedy" aspect of Workers Compensation in that state. In Moreles v. Zenith Insurance Company, the court has now ruled...
View ArticleFirst 2015 Employer Charged Over Alleged Workers Comp Premium Fraud
For those keeping score at home, here is the first news report I've spotted in 2015 about an employer being criminally charged for allegedly under-reporting payroll to lower Workers Comp insurance...
View ArticleGrand Bargain Unraveling?
Workers Compensation was conceived as a "Grand Bargain" between workers and employers, wherein workers traded the right to seek damages for workplace injuries for a "no-fault" system with established...
View ArticleThis Month's Employer Charged Criminally Over WC Premiums
I wrote last month about what I described as the first 2015 news story I had seen about an employer being charged criminally over Workers Comp premiums. Here's February's entry in that category: A...
View ArticleThe Siren Call of WC "Reform"
We have a new governor in Illinois, and he, like so many before him, is calling for Workers Comp "reform". This is something of a perennial siren song here and in many other states.Not that it's...
View ArticleAnother Desperate Small Business Slammed By A "Shock Audit"
So, we got another email the other day from a small business facing financial ruin over what we like to call a 'Shock Audit". This business, a husband and wife team, operated a small business that used...
View ArticleTwo News Items With A Common Cause
I came across two separate news items today, from different states, each one having something interesting in common with the other.In Arizona, a bill has been introduced to allow workers to file...
View ArticleAn Interesting Phone Call
I just received a very kind phone call, from an attorney who had retained my services as an expert in litigation over proper Workers Compensation insurance premiums. Based on technical input from me,...
View ArticleSaving Santa Claus on Workers Comp
It's true. We're in the process of obtaining Workers Comp premium reductions/refunds for a Christmas-themed amusement park in a town called Santa Claus, a refund in excess of $10,000. So that pays for...
View ArticleCanary In The Insurance Industry Coalmine
For years now, a lot of states' insurance regulatory agencies have been withering and dwindling, as experienced people flee or retire, never to be replaced. The seductive philosophy of deregulation has...
View ArticleNCCI and the Tennessee Assigned Risk Plan
Tennessee has announced that, effective July 1, 2015, NCCI (the National Council on Compensation Insurance) will take over as plan administrator for the Assigned Risk Plan for Tennessee. The Assigned...
View ArticleHere We Go Again
So, our new Illinois governor wants to make further "reforms" in Workers Compensation in the Land of Lincoln. Alas, his approach appears to be pretty much confined to making injured workers get less...
View ArticleLumberman's Underwriting Alliance: WTF?
There are a lot of news stories recently about a small Workers Compensation insurer, Lumberman's Underwriting Alliance, being put into "rehabilitation" by a Missouri judge, putting the Missouri...
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