State makes changes to workers’ comp law

• In many states, if a worker dies on the job there are limits to the workers’ comp their spouse can receive.
• In Tennessee, lawmakers recently passed legislation to amend workers’ compensation laws.
• The change adds Tennessee to the list of states that are more favorable to surviving spouses.
• Typically a widow or widower gets a portion of their late spouse’s wage, but they can now get a one-time lump payment if they choose to marry again.
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Small businesses across Canada could get a $3B boost

• If five overfunded workers’ comp boards rebated their excess funds, it would give a $3 billion boost to small businesses, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
• Boards in British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Yukon were overfunded, meaning boards exceeded their desired funding target.
• British Columbia’s board continues to be massively overfunded at 146% when its own funding target is 130%.
• Rebating the excess funds would amount to $2.5 billion for BC businesses.
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Return-to-work trends among injured Texas workers

• In Texas, 69% percent of employees who returned to work within six months of being injured in 2020 remained on the job for at least nine months.
• That compares with 59% in 2019, according to the Texas Department of Insurance, which looked at 2007-2020 data from the state’s workers’ compensation system.
• Overall, their average days away from work were 43. Claimants who returned to work within six months needed about two years to return to their pre-injury wage levels.
• The sustained RTW percentage had generally increased or remained stable when claimants went back to work 12, 18, 24, and 36 months after an injury.
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