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 …
A California law enacted last month that eases the path to workers’ compensation benefits for employees who contract COVID-19 will require an unprecedented level of documentation and communication between claims managers and employers. “I have joked that this should be …
California workers had filed 5,093 COVID-19 workers’ compensation claims as of Tuesday, according to the state Department of Industrial Relations, a pace that might lead to a lower impact on costs than projected by actuaries. The potential cost of the …
Regulators and lawmakers in more states are demanding that workers who claim they were sickened by COVID-19 get a fair hearing, if not an outright presumption in their favor. The Wyoming House of Representatives and Senate both passed a bill …
An executive order by California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week is the most aggressive yet among the directives issued by 13 states that require workers’ compensation insurers to pay at least some COVID-19 claims. Pressure is growing on workers’ compensation …
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed an executive order allowing employees across California’s economy to apply for worker’s compensation if they contract the coronavirus, with a presumption that it was work-related unless employers can prove otherwise. The …
If only 10 percent of health care workers contract COVID-19 and all of their claims are deemed compensable, workers’ compensation loss costs for that sector could double or even triple in some states, according to an analysis by the National …
While the potential cost of relaxing a tenet of the workers compensation system to deal with extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19 could top $50 billion, it’s more likely to be one-fifth of that, an analyst reported last week. States like Michigan …
As more states take action to ensure workers who contract COVID-19 are eligible for workers’ compensation, employers in Illinois are hoping to block one of the nation’s most expansive emergency rules. The Illinois Technology & Marketing Association (TMA) said in …
Sympathetic state lawmakers and regulators in states both red and blue promise to make COVID-19 a major cost driver for workers’ compensation insurers. The governors of Kentucky, Arkansas, North Dakota and Florida and state regulators in Illinois, Washington, Michigan and …