The Department of Insurance has approved emergency workers’ compensation rules dealing with COVID-19 and California employers. The rules were recommended by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau to bring fairness for employers’ experience rating during the COVID-19 pandemic amid shelter-at-home orders and for dealing with claims of workers who contract COVID-19 on the job. The […]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s workers’ compensation rating agency plans to implement a new class code for telecommuting employees on Jan. 1, 2021. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California started work on the new classification after swaths of companies ordered employees that could work remotely to start working at home after the […]
As more of America’s workers were asked to work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber criminals jumped at the opportunity to take advantage, it seems. Remote work means work being handled on the cloud as employees share files and need a convenient way to access them. But cyber criminals are banking on workers […]
COVID-19-related losses for property-casualty insurers are likely to top $100 billion, with workers’ compensation accounting for about a third of all payouts, according to a new report by Wells Fargo & Co. The report estimates that workers’ compensation could see total COVID-19 claims payouts of up to $34 billion, but that factors like the severity […]
As protests around the country descended into rioting and civil unrest, many businesses that have been looted, or seen their shops damaged or completely destroyed, will obviously be turning to their insurance to file a claim. While many companies were unsuccessful in filing business interruption claims for the COVID-19 crisis, claims for damage and theft […]
Musculoskeletal disorders from manual labor in factories, construction, printing and warehouse work are one of the most common types of workplace injuries and account for one-third of all workers’ compensation costs. These injuries take a profound economic toll on both workers who suffer these injuries and on employers who pay more for their workers’ comp […]
One bit of good news coming from the COVID-19 pandemic is that the economic downturn has boosted efforts to close older workers’ comp claims that have been lingering as both sides cannot agree on a settlement. Due to the financial pain brought on by the sudden downturn, injured workers who have been reluctant to settle […]
Employers whose businesses continue to operate are obviously concerned about the coronavirus spreading through their worksites, so many have started testing their workers. Recent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance authorized employers to conduct COVID-19 testing and check temperatures of employees. But doing so could expose a business to a number of employee legal actions […]
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order requiring that workers who either test positive for COVID-19 or are diagnosed by a physician as having coronavirus are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. The order means that it will automatically be presumed that the employee contracted the virus on the job if they test positive […]
State Compensation Insurance Fund has announced that it will accept any workers’ comp claims for a diagnosed case of COVID-19 filed by essential workers. Workers deemed “essential” who contract COVID-19 would be presumed to have caught the virus at work, and hence would be eligible for all normal workers’ comp benefits under the law. Only […]