Report identifies workers comp risks in construction industry

• Higher material and commodity prices increased the need for protection against property damage during construction, according to Selective’s General Contractors Risk Report.
• The labor shortage created a need to hire more inexperienced workers, resulting in increased incidents of injury and workers’ compensation claims.
• Responsibility for subcontractors’ errors has long been a general contractor risk, but it is heightened with high prices, labor scarcity, and material shortages.
• The push to attract more women and minorities to the construction industry will continue and there will be increased demand for multi-use properties that combine corporate and entertainment centers with residential opportunities.
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Ohio determined to cut down on fake workers’ comp claims

• There is an estimated $80 million to $320 million in fraudulent medical and compensation payments in Ohio each year, according to the state’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
• However, there are several ways to detect this fraud.
• If the claimant is off work and never answers their phone or claims to have limited availability to attend medical appointments necessary for treatment, he or she could be working at another job
• The claimant is performing seasonal work and their season is about to end, and they claim an injury that is unwitnessed or doesn’t make sense based on their duties.
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Overpayment-workers’ Comp claim-good faith in Missouri

• An appellant challenged a decision finding that he had been improperly paid federal pandemic unemployment compensation and state employment benefits because he was ineligible for benefits due to an open workers’ compensation claim in Missouri.
• The employer and workers’ compensation insurance carrier confirmed that the appellant was not paid any temporary total disability benefits under the workers’ comp system.
• The appellant made a good faith effort to attend all telephone hearings and to inform the division of the difficulties he encountered.
• The conclusion that his application for review was untimely was in error, so the judgment is reversed and remanded for a hearing on the merits of whether the appellant was disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits.
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States reduce workers’ comp

• A new report by S&P Global Market Intelligence found that 36 states saw reduced workers’ comp insurance rates in the first quarter of the year.
• The most significant rate reduction was the 79 rate cuts across nine states representing an aggregate calculated premium change of $22.3 million.
• Georgia and South Carolina approved of hundreds of rate cuts in the first quarter, with Georgia regulators approving 206 rate decreases.
• South Carolina allowed 314 rate reductions to go into effect.
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