Skyrocketing claims costs and higher accident rates are pressuring the commercial auto insurance market, as insurers impose increasingly larger rate hikes and more are pulling out of the market or restricting who they will cover. While rate increases have been the standard for nearly a decade, since 2022 hikes are growing larger — often in […]
Commercial property insurance rates remain stubbornly high in California for businesses with properties that are susceptible to wildfire risks. Coverage is relatively easy to find at reasonable prices in any of California’s larger cities, but in small cities and towns, it’s a different story. Business with facilities in any areas that abut woodlands and other […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has released an updated version of the “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal” poster to account for upcoming changes to workplace anti-discrimination laws. The Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act, signed into law last year, comes into effect on June 27, 2023, at which time employers will need to swap out […]
The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) recently released a detailed set of frequently asked questions about a new bereavement law that requires employers in the state with five or more workers to provide leave for up to five days to a worker who loses an immediate family member. The law, which took effect Jan. 1, […]
Under new U.S. Treasury Department rules, businesses with fewer than 20 employees and less than $5 million in annual revenue will have to start reporting ownership and control information to the federal government every year. The requirement, issued under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), is expected to affect 32 million small businesses across the country. […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued new guidance on how employers can properly use software, algorithms and artificial intelligence-driven decision-making tools when screening job applicants and selecting candidates. The EEOC has grown concerned about possible adverse impacts of these technologies that can help employers with a wide range of employment matters, like hiring decisions, […]
The commercial property insurance market continues hardening, with average rates up 9.3% in the first quarter of 2023, according to MarketScout. Rates for business properties have been climbing steadily for the last six years, but those increases have grown at a faster clip since the COVID-19 pandemic crippled global supply chains and disrupted economies around […]
The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) recently released a detailed set of frequently asked questions about a new bereavement law that requires employers in the state with five or more workers to provide leave for up to five days to a worker who loses an immediate family member. The law, which took effect Jan. 1, […]
In a sign of the long-lasting effects of reforms enacted a decade ago, California’s workers’ compensation rate-making agency will recommend that average benchmark rates increase a mere 0.3%. The recommendation by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, based on claims costs and frequency remaining low and slower cost inflation, would apply to policies incepting on […]