Workers’ Comp Break in Kentucky

October 20, 2023

Kentucky lowers workers’ comp rates

  • Kentucky Department of Insurance Commissioner Sharon P. Clark announced that an annual filing insurance carriers use to develop rates for workers’ compensation coverage showed its 18th consecutive overall decrease in loss costs.
  • Loss cost is the amount of money an insurance company must pay to cover a claim and is an important factor in calculating premium costs.
  • The 2023 filing, approved by the Kentucky Department of Insurance, and effective Jan. 1, 2024, was submitted by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc.
  • The loss cost figures show an average reduction of 6.4 percent for the 586 industrial classes used in Kentucky.
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Update on workers’ comp fraud in New York

  • New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang heard from incarcerated New Yorkers, staff, and administrators that they were suffering because of abuses of the workers’ compensation system.
  • Lang’s tour of state prisons led to the release of a report on the abuses made public in May 2023.
  • The union for many Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) employees, the New York State Correction Officers and Police Benevolent Association is negotiating a new contract.
  • According to the IG’s report, in some prisons, up to 40% of staff are out at any given time on workers’ compensation.
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Mental stress added to workers’ comp

  • Nova Scotia is introducing legislation that would allow citizens who suffer from prolonged mental stress to claim workers’ compensation.
  • The claim for lost wages for what’s referred to in the amendment as “gradual onset stress” would be submitted to the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia for approval.
  • Existing workplace stress injury benefits under the province’s Workers’ Compensation Act cover only an acute reaction to a traumatic event.
  • The province says the legislative change would bring Nova Scotia in line with other jurisdictions across Canada but would be a first among Atlantic provinces.
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Albany County hosts COVID/workers’ comp workshop

The Workers’ Compensation Board in Albany County is continuing its webinar series next week to help workers who believe they contracted COVID-19 on the job, especially those who have missed time from work or are suffering from ongoing or “long-haul” symptoms.

A one-hour online session, on Monday, Oct. 23, from noon to 1 p.m., will provide information on workers’ rights when it comes to filing a workers’ compensation claim and the cash or medical benefits they may be eligible to receive.

Workers have two years from the time they contracted COVID-19 to file a claim.

More information on COVID-19 can be found on the board’s website, including information on how to file a COVID-19 workers’ compensation claim,
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