Annual assessments increased from last year

• The Department of Industrial Relations just announced its annual assessments for 2024. The total assessments are $1.7 billion – an 8.5% increase from the $1.57 billion for 2023. It is effectively a tax on employers.
• Insured employers will pay just over 6% of the premium added on to the 2024 workers’ comp premium.
• Self-insured employers are assessed based on the total amount of workers’ comp indemnity they pay. Next year, the assessment rate will be 11.1% of their total indemnity compared to the 11.8% they are currently paying.
• Insured employers are again spared what used to be an annual 2% assessment to fund the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA), which has enough money to fund its workers’ comp liabilities.
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Report on Texas workplace injury, illness rates

• The Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers’ Compensation annually compiles data on work-related injuries and illnesses in Texas for the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Texas private industry employers reported 178,800 total recordable nonfatal cases for 2022.
• This represents an incidence rate of 1.9 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers in Texas, the lowest rate in the last 10 years. The national rate is 2.7.
• At the supersector level in the goods-producing domain, manufacturing reported an incidence rate of 2.1, construction a rate of 1.3, and natural resources and mining a rate of 1.0.
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WorkComp Solutions wins best workers’ compensation broker in the U.S.

• WorkComp Solutions, a workers’ compensation insurance firm, in Lakeland, Florida, won the CompLaude Award as the best workers’ compensation broker in the United States.
• The CompLaude Award is an annual accolade, given by WorkComp Central, an organization in the workers’ compensation industry.
• Nominees are selected based on their impact on clients, through the development of creative solutions, and their commitment to addressing customer requirements in workers’ compensation programs.
• The award recognizes the fostering of an entrepreneurial culture throughout the organization and support for the injured worker advocacy model.
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Construction worker injured after falling through manhole

• A construction worker in Frisco, Texas, is in critical condition after falling into a manhole.
• The man was working around a manhole near Main Street and FM 423, lost his balance and fell about 25 feet to the bottom.
• Frisco Fire’s special operations team responded and hoisted the man out.
• The construction worker was flown to a Plano hospital in critical condition.
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