A look at the recent workers’ comp trends

• Costs for workers’ comp insurance are declining nationwide, according to a study by the National Academy of Social Insurance.
• From 2016 to 2020, the total amount spent by employers on workers’ compensation insurance fell from $100.2 billion to $93 billion per year.
• Total benefits paid increased by 0.5% between 2016 and 2019 but fell by 6.0% due to a 6.5% decrease in the first year of the pandemic, the academy found.
• Cash benefits were stable, while medical benefits declined by 12.0% and by 11.4% between 2019 and 2020 alone. Employer costs declined more than worker benefits over the study period on both a total basis—from $100.2 billion to $93.0 billion—and a standardized basis, sustaining a long-term trend.
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Contractor accused of workers’ comp fraud

• A  framing contractor was charged with workers’ compensation fraud, one of a dozen such cases referred to the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
• Jose Merino, owner of JMC Framing LLC and JMC Contracting LLC of Inver Grove Heights, faces two counts of theft by swindle stemming from a Minnesota Department of Commerce investigation.
• Merino allegedly “engaged in a scheme to evade workers’ comp insurance premiums” and made multiple misrepresentations in his applications for workers’ comp insurance.
• The Commerce Fraud Bureau received 29 workers’ compensation/premium evasion referrals in 2022 and fielded 12 in 2023.
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Maine Workers’ Compensation Act permits liability for sexual harassment 

• An Act to Ensure Accountability for Workplace Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault by Removing Certain Intentional Torts from Workers’ Compensation Exemptions was enacted into law in Maine.
• An employee, supervisor, or officer or director of an employer may be individually liable for sexual harassment, sexual assault or an intentional tort related to sexual harassment or sexual assault.
• The law provides that workers’ comp remains the exclusive remedy for intentional torts with respect to an employer itself, including intentional torts related to sexual harassment or assault like intentional infliction of emotional distress or invasion of privacy.
• The bill also expressly states, however, that this section does not prohibit or limit an action alleging employment discrimination pursuant to the Maine Human Rights Act.
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Wayfair wins New Jersey lawsuit

A former Wayfair Inc. warehouse worker did not have enough evidence to prove he was denied accommodation for an injured rotator cuff and that he was fired because he was disabled, took sick leave, or filed a workers’ comp, claim.

A bad rotator cuff left him unable to do the job’s essential task.

The ruling Wednesday by the US District Court for the District of New Jersey turned in part on Gilbert Wraith’s failure to say when he would return to work.

It also turned on doctor’s notes and other evidence indicating that Wraith couldn’t perform his essential job duties while he was injured.
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