When Jeffrey Zucker needs to get a lot done at work, he eats half a weed gummy. Far from putting him at risk of a Maureen Dowd-level stupor, the 5-milligram dose of THC he gets gives him just a slight buzz that makes him more focused and creative, he says. Continue reading
As more and more Americans hold nontraditional jobs that don’t have benefits attached — think freelance graphic designers or Uber drivers — cities and states are exploring ways to ensure those workers still have access to workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, and other support such as help paying for health insurance.
Think tanks and some tech and labor leaders have called for truly “portable” accounts that travel with the worker no matter how he or she earns money. Washington state Rep. Jessyn Farrell, a Democrat, proposed a bill last week that takes a first step toward a more flexible, inclusive benefit system. Continue reading
A bill moved forward Tuesday that would limit permanent total disability workers compensation benefits paid to Arkansas workers. Continue reading
Nevada Insurance Commissioner Barbara D. Richardson has approved an average 10.7% decrease in voluntary workers compensation loss costs for the state, effective March 1. Continue reading
Business interruption is a top global corporate risk for the fifth year in a row. But worries about Brexit and incoming U.S. President Donald Trump also made the list of companies’ 2017 fears and uncertainties in a new Allianz report.
About 37 percent of respondents rated business interruption as their biggest risk worry, essentially even with 2016, the latest annual Allianz Risk Barometer noted. This year’s report – Allianz’s sixth annual – was based on a survey of 1,237 risk experts from 55 countries. Continue reading
The marketplace for commercial insurance will continue to favor insurance buyers in 2017, particularly those with strategic risk management and risk transfer strategies, according to Willis Towers Watson’s 2017 Marketplace Realities report.
The report points to strong marketplace capacity as a key driver in market conditions and contends that this ample capacity will likely allow insurers to absorb any natural catastrophe losses in 2016, including those from Hurricane Matthew and the Atlantic hurricane season. Continue reading
Professional employer organizations (PEOs) began their rise after the adoption of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 cleared a path for the creation and expansion of such entities. Between 780 and 980 professional employer organizations operate across all 50 states. According to the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations, approximately three million employees work under a PEO arrangement and the PEOs industry earned, on the top end of the estimate, $156 billion in gross revenues in 2014 (gross revenues are the total payrolls plus the fees charged by the PEO).
PEO contracts are co-employment arrangements whereby the professional employer organization and the client with whom it contracts both retain some right of control over the individual worker or workers collectively. Such relationship is wholly different than a leased employee or the use of a borrowed servant. Leased employees and borrowed servants are under the absolute control of the special employer. Co-employment vests responsibility and control with both parties to the contract. Continue reading
Now that the yearly task of filing personal taxes has passed, this is an opportunity to discuss another type of filing for businesses that occurs every year – the workers’ compensation and general liability audits. In comparison, insurance audits and filing taxes are similar in that both are mandatory, annually. The workers’ compensation and general liability audits are conducted at the end of each policy period to verify that the premium is correct for the exposure during the policy period. In the event there is a claim, the claim might be denied because the premium exposure for the policy term within the policy period where the claim occurred was underinsured. Continue reading
