Bill Would Double Minimum Workers’ Comp Payment for Older Injuries

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Pennsylvania State Rep. Tim Brennan, a Democrat from Bucks, plans to introduce legislation raising the minimum weekly workers’ compensation payment to $200 for anyone whose injuries occurred before Jan. 1, 2010. The minimum has been $100 a week since 2007, so it would be the first increase in more than 20 years. The bill has not yet been submitted for introduction.
Brennan said in a memo to House members that the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council unanimously supports the increase.
He said that while the statewide average weekly wage has been raised annually, benefits for people with permanent disabilities who cannot return to work never increase, putting them at risk of falling below a livable payment.

Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Joshua Hershman on Nov. 2 accepted as filed the National Council on Compensation Insurance’s proposed 4.9% overall decrease in voluntary market loss costs and 5.8% decrease in assigned risk rates, effective Jan. 1, 2027.
Contracting gets the largest voluntary loss cost decrease, at 6%, followed by manufacturing at 5.5%, goods and services at 4.4% and office and clerical at 3.6%.
The decrease reflects a 4% drop from experience and 1.9% from loss development, partly offset by small increases for benefit changes (.4%) and loss-based expenses (.5%). The filing is based on Connecticut loss experience for policy years 2023 and 2024.
The order sets the Workers’ Compensation Commission assessment at 2.4% of standard premium and raises the annual payroll for partners and sole proprietors from $89,200 to $92,400. The department received no public comments and didn’t hold a public hearing.

Teachers at Bardmoor Elementary in Seminole, Florida, say their workers’ compensation claims for mold-related illness keep getting denied, according to Tracey McConnell, president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association. The Pinellas County School District says exposure claims require state employees to “provide clear evidence that their exposure was solely caused by the school,” and that the evidence “must link a specific concentration of the substance to their particular diagnosis.”
McConnell raised the issue at an Oct. 27 school board meeting and asked the district, at the very least, to restore sick days teachers had to use, noting they were in moldy classrooms 7.5 hours a day. She said board members reportedly knew teachers were being exposed. Emails obtained by 10 Tampa Bay News show teachers reported leaks, mold and termite damage to district officials.
McConnell said a Pre-K art teacher’s room had visible leaks reported in early August with nothing done that month. Human Resources reportedly said it would file a workers’ comp claim for her after a positive mold test in her room.
The district said that of 10 classrooms tested, eight were negative and two showed elevated levels of organic material associated with an apparent leak from a cabinet beneath a sink.

The New Jersey Department of Labor issued stop-work orders last month to Joli Roofing Specialists of Keller, Texas, and Jose Roman of Irving, Texas, who were installing a roof at the store in Audubon, New Jersey.
NJDOL cited violations including misclassification of construction workers, failure to pay the overtime rate, unpaid or late wages, and earned sick leave record and notice/posting violations.
Ten workers are affected. Violators of a stop-work order face fines of up to $5,000 per day, and the order may be lifted once remaining back wages and penalties are paid and all related issues are resolved.