Written premium totals in California’s workers’ comp market are up nearly 5% through the first half of the year at $8.6 billion on a gross of deductible basis. That compares to $8.2 billion carriers reported during the first half of 2025. California ended 2025 with $15.7 billion in written workers’ comp premium. The Workers’ Compensation …
The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau adopted updates to its data quality enforcement program that could lead to more carriers facing sanctions for classification errors. The changes also clarify that carriers could face fines under each section of the Premium Audit Accuracy Program if violations are found. The Bureau is a private organization with quasi-governmental …
California employers, on average, saw a 6% rate hike in the first quarter of the year after the Insurance Commission approved an 8.7% increase in advisory pure premium rates effective last September 1st. Advisory rates are set to go up another 6.6% at the beginning of September, although many individual classes are increasing over 20%. …
California’s advisory pure premium rate for clerical employees who work remotely is decreasing by 4% to just under ten cents per $100 of payroll as of September 1, 2026. The September 1st rate marks the first time that the decrease in the telecommuter rate wasn’t limited by Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau rules since it …
The Third District Court of Appeal held that a workers’ comp policy was properly canceled as it overturned a decision by the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board holding that an insurer improperly canceled a policy after an insured did not cooperate with a premium audit. The court notes that the insurer made multiple requests for access …
Norcal Crew, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit competitive youth rowing program, prevailed in a dispute with its workers’ comp carrier and the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau. The organization successfully fought off reclassification of its operations to a class with an advisory pure premium rate 2.5 times higher than the workers’ comp rate for its historical classification …
The Fourth District Court of Appeal issued a second decision in the two-decade-long dispute between State Compensation Insurance Fund and the temporary nurse staffing firm ReadyLink over workers’ comp premium owed on per diem payments. The ruling upholds the award of over $500,000 in additional premium and allows State Fund to recover its appeal costs. …
A small electrical contractor who appealed a premium audit bill to the California Department of Insurance Administrative Hearing Bureau is getting some of the additional premium back. The parties settled before trial. But it is an interesting story and lesson. D&D Electrical and State Farm ask the Department to dismiss D&D’s appeal, filed last year, …