The California Insurance Commissioner has ordered that the state's average workers' comp pure premium rate be increased 10.2% in 2002. The pure premium rate is a guideline that insurers use when pricing their workers' comp policies, although the rate is not mandatory.

Three unskilled laborers who were hired to clean a film lab at Metrocolor Laboratories in Los Angeles sued, claiming Metrocolor told them to use a particular cleaning substance without revealing that it contained hazardous chemicals that can cause brain and nervous system damage. The workers' skin...

How your workers' compensation insurer manages your claims can have a big impact on your premiums. In a recent case, an employer whose premiums skyrocketed and dividends dropped for several years sued its insurer for overestimating the amounts needed to be held in reserve to pay claims—and...

Manuel Torres installed tires for Parkhouse Tire Service in San Diego. One day while he was working on his knees, Parkhouse sales representative Roy Naas sneaked up behind Torres, grabbed his back-support belt, lifted him off the ground and dropped him back on his knees. Torres suffered a serious back...

California's workplace injury and illness rates continued to drop in 1999 despite record high employment, according to recent data compiled by the state Division of Labor Statistics and Research. Mirroring a national downward trend, California's injury rate fell to 6.3 injuries per 100 full-time...

Last year Gov. Davis vetoed a bill to increase workers' comp benefits. But, as expected, the issue has already emerged in a new bill, S.B. 71, that calls for a study to make recommendations for boosting benefits and implementing other workers' comp reforms. Employer proposals include reducing...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a videotape can be worth many times more when a surveillance camera catches an employee in the act of dramatizing a phony workers' comp injury. That's what happened in a recent case that resulted in the criminal conviction of a malingering employee who...

Workplace injuries and illnesses in California continue to decline, falling from 6.7 injuries for every 100 workers in 1998 to an all-time low of 6.3 per 100 workers in 1999, according to figures just released by the state Department of Industrial Relations. Of the nonfatal illnesses reported, 56% were...

The state Insurance Commissioner has approved a 10.1% premium rate hike for workers’ compensation insurance in response to increases in medical costs that have battered workers’ comp insurers. Although the approved boost is only advisory, increases adopted by the commissioner are frequently...

Some California workers' comp insurers have been placed on a financial watch list by the California Department of Insurance because rating agencies have raised questions about the insurers' financial stability. According to the California Workers' Compensation Institute, for each $1 in premiums...

If a pregnant employee is injured at work and her baby is born with health defects or problems, you could get blamed. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to take preventive measures to protect a fetus from harm because some approaches that might seem sensible are actually illegal. We'll look...

A Tosco worker injured in a catastrophic 1999 explosion and fire at the company’s Martinez refinery and the family of another worker killed in the disaster have filed a lawsuit against Tosco. Employees who are injured on the job are generally limited to workers’ comp benefits. But this lawsuit...

A free new 10-page "fact sheet" designed to be given to injured workers has been developed by the state Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation. "Working After a Job Injury" explains employees' rights and responsibilities in returning to work after a workplace...

In continued fallout from a tragic 1999 fire at the Toscore finery in Martinez, the company has agreed to pay $4 million to settle a lawsuit for emotional injuries suffered by a subcontractor’s employee. Alfred “Chip” Simoni witnessed other workers burn to death while working on the...

A California Court of Appeal has ruled that a mechanic whose face was disfigured in a workplace explosion can have cosmetic surgery covered by workers’ compensation. The mechanic suffered severe burns when a welding torch ignited a fireball inside the fiber glass tank he was dismantling. The state...

A new California law requires you to give employees who are victims of a crime at work written notice informing them they are eligible for workers' compensation benefits for their injuries, including psychiatric problems. The notice generally must be provided within one working day of the crime and...

An employee who was discovered playing golf while collecting workers' compensation payments has pleaded no contest to insurance fraud and could face jail time. William LaForge, who was just a few months away from retirement, injured his back when he fell on the steps outside the Daly City high school...

You may be shopping around for new workers' compensation or other business insurance because your current insurer has decided not to renew your policy, or it wants to make significant changes in your coverage. Or you may simply be trying to get a better deal. Regardless of the reason, many employers...

When employees are off work because of a job injury, it can be to everyone's benefit to get them back to work quickly. Returning employees to work with an adjusted schedule or a light-duty assignment can save employers money by reducing workers' comp costs. Employees can earn more money and feel...

The state Insurance Commissioner has taken over control of Golden Eagle Insurance Co., California's third largest workers' compensation carrier. The action grew out of concerns about Golden Eagle's financial solvency. The Insurance Commissioner is optimistic that several insurers will join...