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Cumulative Trauma Claims At All Time High

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau is reporting that the share of workers’ compensation indemnity claims involving a cumulative trauma injury continued to rise throughout 2024 and is now at an all-time high. “There’s no sign of it slowing down,” say WCIRB officials. The Bureau is a private organization with quasi-governmental responsibility. It is financially … Read More »

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Employer Fights What Carrier Reported to the Bureau

A real estate management company maintains that the manner in which a $70,000 workers’ compensation claim settlement was reported to the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau caused its X-Mod to … Read More »

Less Rate Volatility For Smaller Classifications

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s actuarial committee members gave their support for a change to the Bureau’s ratemaking process that should keep workers’ comp rates for smaller classifications from swinging widely from one year to the next. The Bureau already has a policy that limits changes from increasing or decreasing rates by more than … Read More »

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Executive Exemption At Issue In Premium Dispute

One of the dangers in buying insurance online rather than through an agent or broker can be the lack of advice following professional questions. This story could be the result of one of those situations. The California Department of Insurance’s Administrative Hearing Bureau is being called to adjudicate a premium dispute between an assisted living … Read More »

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Classification Changes Coming

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s Classification and Rating Committee approved a plan that could have employers with payroll assigned to classification 2102 covering fruit and vegetable dehydrating operations being combined with employers that perform preserving and pickling operations. The move, if approved by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, would take effect September 1, 2026. The … Read More »

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Surface Mining, Ore Milling Operations To Remain Separate Classes

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau says the workers’ comp data underlying classifications covering employers performing surface mining (1122) and ore milling (1452) have low credibility for ratemaking purposes due to the relatively few risks covered and the limited payroll in each classification. But after studying whether combining the operations into a single classification or … Read More »

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Written Premium Down, But Charged Rates Tick Up

California workers’ comp carrier’s written premium was down some 4% for the first quarter of 2025 compared to last year. At the same time, carriers’ average charged rates were up 1% — the first increase in average charged rates in over a decade (see charts). The findings are from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s … Read More »

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Workers’ Comp Experience Deteriorates

California’s workers’ compensation industry reported an underwriting loss of $1.3 billion in 2024, as written premium dipped slightly to $15.5 billion, while losses and expenses increased. The 8.4% underwriting loss was the first by the industry since 2014. The totals compare to a 2023 pretax underwriting profit of $1.3 billion, which accounted for 8.5% of … Read More »

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