Delaware provides more clarity on rates

• The Delaware Compensation Rating Bureau issued an information bulletin to provide clarity around the rate approval filing processes and notify members of the recent passage of House Bill No. 228.
• The measure does not impact workers’ compensation insurance, and thus, all filing procedures for insurer workers’ compensation loss cost multiplier filings remain unchanged.
• There is an important distinction for workers’ comp which has been clarified in a recent communication from the Delaware Department of Insurance.
• Title 18, Chapter 26 applies specifically to workers’ compensation rate filings, and carriers should continue to use its rate filing rules when making workers’ compensation rate filings.
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Minnesota could be on hook for workers’ comp claim

• The city of Minneapolis might have to pay $145,000 to a SWAT team leader whose unit drove around in an unmarked van firing plastic bullets at people without warning after the police murder of George Floyd.
• Sgt. Andrew Bittell was one of two police officers who beat Jaleel Stallings for 30 seconds after Stallings fired back at the SWAT team.
• Stallings claimed self-defense and was acquitted by a jury of eight charges, including two counts of attempted murder.
• A Minneapolis City Council committee will be asked to settle Bittell’s workers’ compensation claim along with others, totaling over $1 million. Following Floyd’s murder, 144 MPD officers were awarded workers’ comp settlements totaling over $22.2 million.
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More concern about safety at Amazon warehouses

• U.S. lawmakers have raised questions about Amazon’s commitment to the safety of its warehouse workers.
• Over the past decade, the number of Amazon warehouse injuries has continually been alarmingly high. In fact, in 2022, there were 6.6 serious injuries for every 100 Amazon workers, which is more than double the rate of injury among warehouse workers as a whole.
• Amazon workers who suffered serious injury while on the job may have a legal claim against the company. As we’ve discussed in prior posts, state workers’ compensation laws provide limited benefits to workers, regardless of fault.
• Injured workers who can establish that their injuries were the result of an employer’s willful or intentional disregard for their safety may be able to pursue a personal injury lawsuit against their employer.
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Milling company pleads guilty after explosion

• Didion Milling Inc. pleaded guilty to criminal charges in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin.
• As part of a plea agreement, the company has agreed to pay a total of $1 million in criminal fines and $10.25 million in restitution to victims of a May 31, 2017 catastrophic explosion at its Cambria, Wisconsin, corn mill facility.
• Five Didion Milling employees were killed in that explosion and others were injured.
• Didion Milling pleaded guilty to counts six and seven of the indictment, charging it with falsifying records related to its Occupational Safety and Health Act and Clean Air Act obligations to conceal violations from government agencies.
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