Quote of the day
"The state Investment Board has done a good job of investing our money."
Washington Department of Labor & Industries spokesman Robert T. Nelson, explaining the reason behind new, lower workers' comp premiums for employers.
Washington’s Rate Holiday in Effect
Washington employers and workers will save $315 million over the next six months as the Department of Labor and Industries declares a “rate holiday” for certain premiums paid to a workers’ compensation fund. That means Washington workers will see less money deducted from their paychecks. By C.R. Roberts, Tacoma News Tribune
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Sunshine State Legislation Aids First Responders
Legislation passed late last week in Florida would ease workers’ compensation requirements for police, firefighters, paramedics and other first responders for benefits related to occupational diseases. It also would increase benefits for responders who have a mental or nervous injury and extend payment of total disability benefits to certain retirees.
Go to the full story by AP via WPBF-TV (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.)
Go to the full story in the Lakeland Ledger
Bloomberg Names Sept. 11 Health Czar
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appoints a new pointman on World Trade Center illnesses. Jeffrey Hon’s job will be to smooth out inconsistencies in pension benefits among city agencies whose employees responded to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. By Jordan Lite, New York Daily News
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Spitzer Targets Worker Misclassification
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer plans to step up enforcement against thousands of employers that misclassify workers as independent contractors to avoid taxes and workers’ compensation. By Steven Greenhouse, New York Times
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Ontario Premiums to Stay Steady for Second Straight Year
Average premiums for workers’ compensation in Ontario will remain unchanged in 2008 for the second year in a row, according to the province’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board., based on the expectation that health and safety and return-to-work rates will continue to improve. By Canadian Press via Toronto Star
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Connecticut Police Official Helps Town Correct Benefits Snafu
“Painstaking” scrutiny by a West Haven, Conn. Police Department benefits coordinator of every active and retired police officer’s files since her arrival in 2004 helps the town recover $327,000 in workers’ compensation benefits that it paid instead of the state. By Melissa Yaremich, New Haven Register
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South Carolina Gov Praises Workers’ Comp Bill
By agreeing on “business-friendly” workers’ compensation reform, lawmakers in South Carolina managed to meet one of Gov. Mark Sanford’s top priorities just before the session adjourned. Rates in the state have spiked in the past two years, and change in the law was a top priority of the business sector. By Zane Wilson, Myrtle Beach Sun
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