Quote of the day
"Many of those initiatives we have experienced are an improved administrative process, a level playing field when dealing with employees and employers, unbiased decision-making and prompt hearings and resolution of claims that are heard at [the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations]."
Bob Dove, president and CEO of Hawaii Employer Mutual Insurance Company, the state's largest workers' compensation carrier, regarding Hawaii's improvement from the third most expensive state in the nation for workers' comp in 2002 to the 15th in 2006
CDI Seeking Victims of Jailed Roseville Broker
The California Department of Insurance wants consumers who may have been victimized by a Roseville insurance broker to come forward. Mindy Elizabeth Latorre has been charged with taking $116,000 from her clients for personal use when she was supposed to purchase commercial general liability, commercial property, workers’ compensation and commercial auto insurance. Sacramento Business Journal
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Cost of Workers’ Comp Drops in Hawaii
Hawaii, the third most expensive state in the nation for workers’ compensation premiums in 2002, improved to 15th in the nation by 2006, according to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, a “direct result of the decrease in injuries filed and the internal changes initiated by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations,” says Bob Dove, Hawaii Employer Mutual Insurance Company.
Go to the full story in the Honolulu Advertiser
Go to the full story in the Pacific Business Journal
Chicago Official Says Mayor Rebuffed Workers’ Comp Reforms
Four years ago, Chicago Ald. Ed Burke’s staff suggested several measures to slash the city’s soaring workers compensation bills, including finding new jobs for city employees who had recovered from their injuries. Mayor Richard Daley’s administration, however, rejected almost all of them. By Tim Novak, Chicago Sun-Times
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West Virginia’s BrickStreet Addresses Workers’ Comp Changes
Since last year, representatives from BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co. have spoken at least 450 times to employers around the state in an effort to clarify recent changes to the workers’ compensation system and BrickStreet’s policies. This spring, the sole private insurer in the state until July 1, 2008, appointed 55 independent insurance agencies in West Virginia to work with policyholders. By Jessica Legge, Times West Virginian (Fairmont, W.V.)
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Coin Dealers Testify They Didn’t Sell Coins to BWC Investment
An Ohio coin collector testifies that he had no idea how coins he purchased from indicted coin dealer Tom Noe ended up in the inventory records of the $50 million rare coin investment Noe managed for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Prosecutors are trying to support charges that Noe used his political connections to secure the investment, stole millions from it for personal use and then tried to cover it up by producing false records and inventories. By Mark Niquette, Columbus Dispatch [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
Slow Judge Credited with Speeding NSW Workers’ Comp System
Critics say he is one of the slowest judges in Australia and that he hands off almost 99 percent of his caseload to his deputies, but the New South Wales industrial relations minister says Justice Terry Sheahan deserves credit for revamping the state’s workers’ compensation commission. By Chris Merritt, the Australian
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Joint Effort Boosts Wellness in New Hampshire Workplaces
In New Hampshire, the Patriot Healthcare/Comp-Sigma wellness program uses workers’ compensation loss-control strategies to cut healthcare costs by combining Patriot’s low-premium, high-deductible health insurance plan with an in-house wellness program that Comp-Sigma administers. By Ken Sheldon, New Hampshire Business Review [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…