Expanding the workers’ comp market
- Beginning Jan. 1, 2023, concrete, HVAC, asbestos abatement, and tree service contractors in California will be required to have workers’ compensation insurance, regardless of whether they have employees.
- Senate Bill 216, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law, requires that all contractors with or without employees will need to have workers’ compensation insurance by Jan. 1, 2026.
- Only C-39 Roofing contractors are currently required to have workers’ compensation insurance, regardless of whether they have employees.
- This minimum requirement created an unfair competitive disadvantage for contractors who are subject to higher business costs and puts employees and the public at risk for injuries, the California Contractors State License Board said.
More funds for workers’ comp
- The Workers’ Compensation Reinsurance Association is distributing a $35 million surplus to policyholders in Minnesota.
- Policyholders are the more than 100,000 employers in the state who had workers’ compensation premiums in the calendar year 2020.
- Any policyholder whose portion of the distribution exceeds $15 will receive a check from the WCRA. Pre-notice letters will be mailed to recipients in October, with the checks to follow about a month later.
- The WCRA was created 42 years ago by the Minnesota Legislature to improve the system of providing workers’ compensation insurance at fair and reasonable rates to Minnesota employers.
Another state decreases rates
- Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro recently announced that workers’ compensation insurance rates will decrease for the sixth year in a row, effective Dec. 1, 2022.
- Both the voluntary market and the residual market will see rate decreases in the double digits.
- “Lowering worker’s compensation costs time and time again helps our local businesses, who have faced several years of uncertainty and economic difficulty due to the pandemic,” said Navarro.
- This year’s decrease in worker’s compensation insurance rates is expected to be coupled with the reversal of voluntary and residual market trends – the residual market is expected to see a greater rate decrease.
Dollar General is being investigated by OSHA
- Dollar General is facing another $1.68 million in fines after government safety inspectors found violations at four of the chain’s stores in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, federal regulators said.
- OSHA found dirty and disorderly storage areas and materials stacked unsafely at locations in Mobile and Grove Hill, Alabama; Tampa, Florida; and Dewy Rose, Georgia.
- Those conditions put workers at risk of slipping, tripping, and getting struck by falling objects, and fire hazards, OSHA said.
- Dollar General has faced more than $9.6 million in initial penalties after 182 inspections since 2017.