New York Trusts In the latest development in the continuing saga of the New York trust fund, Liberty Mutual is now suing New York, contending that new provisions in the workers comp law unfairly target insurers. It protests that having to make lump sum deposits to the state’s Aggregate Trust Fund for permanent partial disability claims – a new wrinkle – is unfair to insurers since these deposits are not required from self-insured employers or from the state’s largest insurer, the state-owned New York State Insurance Fund.
New Hampshire contractor misclassification – In New Hampshire, compliant employers are speaking up about the competitive edge that fraudulent employers have when they intentionally misclassifying workers as independent contractors. In response, five state agencies are gearing up to investigate contractors throughout the state and penalize those who are improperly classifying their workers.
Risk management wiki – RIMS has revamped its website, and one of the features we find interesting and useful is the new RiskWiki Glossary – an online glossary of Risk Management Terms, edited by members for members.
Violence – Domestic violence is a leading cause of death for women ages 15-44, according to the Centers for Disease Control – and much of it occurs in the workplace. In fact, it’s one of the top causes of workplace fatalities for women. We’ve recently discovered a blog that addresses this topic: Domestic Violence and the Workplace, authored by Kim Wells, the Executive Director of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence (CAEPV).
Firefighter safety – We recently blogged about firefighter fatalities so were interested to learn that the Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI) will be sponsoring a free online symposium on Reducing Firefighter Deaths and Injuries: Changes in Concept, Policy, and Practice from September 22 to October 3. It looks like a substantive offering – more than 20 noted experts will be contributing.
Safety managers social network – Online Safety Community is a new, free social network created for safety managers, foremen, safety engineers, factory and construction workers and anyone else who is concerned with workplace safety. The site is sponsored and created by Ansell Limited as a free service intended to provide a forum that will allow better networking and information sharing among safety professionals, who often work alone in an organization.
Prescriptions and privacy – If you feel like someone has been peeking in your medicine cabinet, you may be right. Business Week recently featured an article on how insurance companies use huge, commercially available prescription databases to learn about applicants’ prescriptions and deny coverage based on that information. The obstacle primarily confronts people seeking individual health insurance, not those covered under an employer’s plan.