Quote of the day
"Those dollars aren't going to make our lives any different, or change the way we do our jobs, so why even go there?"
Mark Gjovig, chairman of North Dakota's Workforce Safety and Insurance, about consultants' reports suggesting major pay raises for board members
North Dakota Workers’ Comp Board Raises Pay
North Dakota’s workers compensation board is raising the pay directors get for attending meetings from $104 daily to $135 daily, which will equal what state lawmakers are paid for a day at the legislature, in addition to a half-day’s pay for travel time and meeting preparation.
Go to the full story by Dale Wetzel, AP via Bismarck Tribune
Go to the full story by Dale Wetzel, AP via Fargo Forum [may require registration] Go to the full story by AP via KXMB-TV (Bismarck/Mandan)
Go to the full story by AP via Jamestown Sun
Will WSI Go Mutual?
The North Dakota House majority leader says state lawmakers will begin exploring whether to make the Workforce Safety and Insurance, the state’s workers’ compensation agency, a mutual insurance company that competes with other insurers to provide coverage. By Janell Cole, Dickinson Press [may require registration] Go to the Full Story…
Garden State Legislators Move to Fast-Track Urgent Claims
New Jersey lawmakers advance a bill that would require some of the most pressing workers’ compensation claims to be considered within 10 days. The bill would apply to workers whose requests for urgently needed medical treatments are denied by their workers comp insurers. By Dunstan McNichol, Newark Star-Ledger [may require registration]
Dominant Rhode Island Insurer to Cut Rates
The Beacon Mutual Insurance Co. says it will lower its workers’ compensation rates by an average of 7.2 percent as of Oct. 1. The revised rate will apply to new policies or those that are renewed and will save policyholders about $10 million, according to Beacon officials.
Go to the full story by Timothy C. Barmann, Providence Journal [may require registration] Go to the full story in the Providence Business Journal
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North Carolina City Issues ‘Shock Payment’
The city of Statesville, N.C., settles a workers’ compensation claim for $175,000 with one of the first African-American members of its fire department. The amount is one of the largest the city has had to pay to settle a workers’ comp claim. By J.R. Munoz-McNally, Statesville Record & Landmark
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Former Ohio Lawmaker Evades Charges in Influence Scandal
Former Ohio state Sen. Jeffry Armbruster will not face charges on allegations he used his office to significantly cut the workers’ compensation premiums of a gas station business that he co-owned. A state ethics panel last year referred the case for possible criminal prosecution, saying that it believed Armbruster may have violated state law by combining discussions about his own workers’ comp issues with talks about a bill affecting the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, resulting in an 88% reduction in premiums. By Jim Provance, Toledo Blade
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Unpaid Liabilities of Defaulted New York Trusts: $363M
The unpaid liabilities for several defaulted workers’ compensation trusts in New York total about $363 million, the state Workers’ Compensation Board revealed last week. The majority of that amount resulted from several trusts managed by Bermuda-based Compensation Risk Managers L.L.C., according to the board.
By Roberto Ceniceros, Business Insurance
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