Payroll gains with workers’ comp robust

• Wage growth will likely continue to drive workers’ compensation payroll growth throughout 2024 despite a slowdown in overall employment, according to a report by the National Council on Compensation Insurance.
• Employment gains slowed in 2023 from 2022, but overall payroll gains — a key metric for workers’ comp — remained robust.
• The 2023 labor market looks solid when compared to pre-pandemic growth trends, and it appears much more ‘normal’ than the past few years.
• The quarterly briefing shared that three industry groupings — education and healthcare, leisure and hospitality services, as well as government — accounted for more than 80% of all employment gains in 2023.
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Workers comp fraud arrest in Florida

• Angel Santos Tzunun was arrested in Miami for worker’s comp. fraud after she allegedly concealed payroll to avoid paying a higher worker’s compensation premium.
• Fraud detectives determined that Tzunun concealed more than $2 million in labor costs from contractors and avoided more than $100,000 in workers’ compensation premiums on two separate insurance policies.
• An investigation revealed that the owner of Angel M.E. Construction Corp, Mr. Angel S. Tzunun actively concealed payroll to avoid paying a higher workers’ compensation premium.
• In 2021, Tzunun renewed his contract with Southeast Personnel Leasing, with a reported annual payroll of $4,200.00. Based on the reported payroll, a premium fee of $665 was paid from January 1, 2021, to March 29, 2021.
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Injured worker files lawsuit after striking gas main

• A man filed a lawsuit against Stake Center Locating LLC in Illinois and Ameren Illinois, alleging he was thrown from the machinery he was operating at a construction site after striking an unmarked gas line.
• The defendants were negligent in their duty to locate and mark utility lines at specified premises before excavation work was carried out, according to the complaint.
• As a result of the alleged negligence, Miller was injured when the machinery he was operating struck an unmarked gas line. The incident resulted in injuries to his right knee, right elbow, left wrist, and left thumb.
• The plaintiffs are seeking damages over the jurisdictional limits of all inferior trial courts. They are represented by attorney Aaron Sanders of Kolker Law Firm.
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Navigating workplace violence in New York

• The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in July 2022 that from 2014 to 2019, the number of workplace homicides in the United States increased by 11 percent.
• In response, a bill recently introduced in the New York State Senate would require retail employers in New York to assess workplace violence hazards and develop and implement comprehensive written workplace violence plans.
• States are increasingly addressing workplace violence prevention, with at least twelve states having enacted workplace violence prevention laws or adopted regulations applicable to healthcare settings.
• Federal regulators have also taken steps to develop a workplace violence prevention standard for healthcare settings.
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