
Florida Rate Decrease Expected Next Year
- Workers’ compensation insurance rates in Florida should decrease by an average 6.9% in 2026 under a proposal by the National Council on Compensation Insurance.
- Rates are set by the Florida Commissioner of Insurance.
- That follows on declines in lost-time claim frequency for policy years 2022 and 2023, as of year‐end 2024, according to a summary from NCCI.
- “The workers compensation system remains healthy. For the last decade, the system has broadly benefited from a steady drop in claim frequency, rising wages, and moderate severity. The changing workforce and evolving economy also continue to impact workers compensation,” the summary notes.
- Florida ranked No. 30 in the nation for workers’ comp costs in 2024.
- Commissioner Mike Yaworsky on Nov. 18 last year ordered an average 1% rate decrease in workers’ compensation rates effective Jan. 1.
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NYSIF Moves to Clawback Payout from Long Island Firm
- New York’s State Insurance Fund has filed a lawsuit seeking to force an Islandia-based real estate company to reimburse the agency for workers’ compensation benefits it had paid to a worker injured at a construction site in 2022.
- The suit, filed in state Supreme Court in Nassau County on Aug. 29, states that the worker, Christopher Santoro of Suffolk “was seriously, severely and permanently injured” at a construction site along Jericho Turnpike in Woodbury overseen by the limited liability Islandia company, Exit 58 Islandia LLC, on Sept. 15, 2022.
- Santoro, according to the lawsuit, was employed by Colson Communications Inc. of Ronkonkoma, which provided contractor-related services for Exit 58 Islandia, the general contractor on the project site, according to the lawsuit.
- Santoro is listed as the New York State Insurance Fund’s assignor in the case.
- The fund alleged that Staller knew about “an elevated risk” of injury at the worksite but failed to provide “reasonable and adequate protection” to workers there.
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NJ First Responders Get Mental Health Counseling Coverage
- New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed into law legislation providing workers compensation coverage for certain counseling services for first responders, while ensuring confidentiality of mental health-related communications.
- A5792 recognizes the unique pressures faced by first responders and guarantees that counseling for trauma and other job-related mental health needs is both accessible and protected.
- “This law makes it clear that their mental health matters as much as their personal safety, by giving them the support they need to continue serving with strength and compassion,” co-sponsor Assemblywoman Mitchelle Drulis said.
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