CA - Grandfather Clause Added to Administration's SIBTF Reforms
06/30/2026 | 0
California Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration added a grandfather clause that would exempt some pending and active cases, including those filed before July 1, 2020, from the tighter eligibility requirements proposed as part of a reform of the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund.
Identical budget trailer bills introduced in the Assembly and the Senate on Friday also include provisions that would:
Maintain the deadline for the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board to act on a petition for reconsideration past Wednesday's scheduled sunset date.
Require assessments to be paid th
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A divided Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that the Workers’ Compensation Board erred in failing to require a carrier to produce evidence that a worker’s accepted condition was not the major contributing cause of his need for treatment of a combined condition.
Case: In the Matter of Beamon v. SAIF Corp., Np. 517, 06/10/2026, published.
Facts: Don Beamon worked for MMNW Holding Co. After he injured his lower back while at work, Beamon was diagnosed with a disc herniation.
MMNW had workers’ compensation coverage with SAIF Corp., which accepted the disc herniation as compensable
A Texas appellate court upheld the summary dismissal of a claim for death benefits by the family of a worker who died in a motor vehicle accident while traveling home, in an employer-owned vehicle, from his place of work.
Case: Darling v. Old Republic Insurance Co., No. 11-24-00323-CV, 06/25/2026, published.
Facts: James Darling worked for Energy Transfer LP. He was killed in a motor vehicle accident on April 25, 2019. At the time of his death, Darling was driving home in an employer-owned vehicle from the plant where he worked.
Procedural history: Darling’s heirs filed a c
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim for his fall from a ladder.
Case: Ochoa v. 3475 Third Avenue Housing Development Fund Corp., No. 31545/19, 06/11/2026, published.
Facts: Julio Ochoa worked as a plumber. He allegedly suffered injuries when he fell while climbing down an extension ladder to retrieve materials stored in a basement.
Ochoa said the ladder was leaning against a wall, but it suddenly slid back and fell, causing him to fall to the ground with it.
Procedural history: Ochoa filed suit against 3475 Third Avenu
As California employers face increasing pressure to control operating expenses, a new actuarial study finds that self-insurance continues to provide a significant financial advantage over traditional workers' compensation insurance.
The study, conducted by Bickmore Actuarial and commissioned by the California Self-Insurers' Security Fund, found that self-insured employers spend between 14% and 22% less on workers' compensation than employers purchasing traditional insurance policies. Across the employers analyzed, the average savings was 19%.
The independent actuarial analysi
A New York appellate court upheld a grant of summary judgment for a worker on his Labor Law claim for a slip-and-fall accident.
Case: DePhillips v. Tishman Construction Corp., No. 157160/21, 06/16/2026, published.
Facts: Giovanni DePhillips slipped and fell on a snow- or ice-covered staircase at a construction site where he was working, carrying lumber.
Procedural history: DePhillips filed suit against Tishman Construction Corp., The Moinian Group, Boston Properties Inc. and Meushar 34th Street LLC.
DePhillips asserted a claim for a violation of Labor Law Section 241(6).
Section 241(6) im
The Nevada Workers’ Compensation Section reported that maximum monthly benefits will increase by 4.1% Wednesday.
The maximum benefit for injuries sustained in the new fiscal year is $5,691.79, up from $5,468.53.
The WCS reported that the average weekly wage in Nevada increased to $1,314.50 from $1,262.94. The average monthly wage, which is equal to 150% of the weekly wage multiplied by 4.33, increased to $8,537.68 from $8,202.80.
Work comp benefits are capped at two-thirds of the average monthly wage.
More information is here.
The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed more than $3.5 million in fines against three companies after federal inspectors determined that the employers failed to protect workers during post-emergency response cleanup following a chemical spill at the BWC Terminals industrial facility in Channelview, Texas.
The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration initiated three inspections after a Dec. 27, 2025, sulfuric acid spill at the BWC Terminals LLC facility led to multiple injuries.
OSHA found that despite safety warnings, BWC Terminals mixed fresh and spent s
The Ohio Supreme Court vacated a decision by an appellate court directing the Industrial Commission to consider whether a worker’s adult daughter was entitled to death benefits as a dependent.
Darrell W. Holderman worked as a security officer for Merchant Security Services of Dayton, Ohio Inc. He was shot and killed by a prisoner he was guarding in June 2022.
Holderman’s daughter applied for death benefits. She was 39 at the time and alleged that she lived with Holderman and her two minor children. The daughter asserted that he made all payments on the mortgage, trash and sewer s
May 20, 2026
The Connecticut Appellate Court ruled that a worker’s catastrophic injuries were not a reasonably foreseeable consequence of a vendor’s presumed failure to secure its products to a pallet.
Case: Cruz v. Spec Personnel LLC, No. AC 46515, 06/02/2026, published.
Facts: Signify North America Corp. sells lighting products. In 2017, it sold a packaged load of lights weighing approximately 1,300 pounds to Rexel USA Inc., a wholesale electrical distributor.
Signify loaded the lights and a pallet onto a tractor-trailer for shipment to Rexel’s warehouse in Hartford, Connecticut
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim, as the defendants were not alter egos of his employer.
Case: Martin v. Poe Affiliates LP, No. 816210/22, 06/11/2026, published.
Facts: Hector Martin worked for SMC General Contracting Inc. He allegedly suffered injuries while working on a construction project at a property owned by Poe Affiliates LP.
Schur Management Co. Ltd. managed the property, and it hired SMC as the general contractor for the project.
Procedural history: Martin filed suit against Poe and Schur, asserting a claim for
A New York appellate court upheld the summary dismissal of a worker’s claims for her alleged slip-and-fall accident.
Case: Aguilar-Lopez v. iDust Cleaning Services Corp., No. 156599/19, 06/11/2026, published.
Facts: Lafayette Street Partners II LLC rented a property owned by 380 Lafayette Retail Owner LLC.
Lafayette Street hired iDust Cleaning Services Corp., a commercial cleaning service, to clean the property.
Lidia Aguilar-Lopez worked for Lafayette Street. She allegedly suffered injuries when she slipped and fell on a wet staircase at her workplace.
Procedural history: Aguilar-L
The California Senate unanimously voted to send the governor a bill that would make the option to pay indemnity benefits with prepaid debit cards permanent.
The Senate on Thursday voted 36-0 to pass AB 1683, which would eliminate the Jan. 1, 2027, scheduled sunsetting of the pilot program that allows employers and carriers to use electronic payment cards with the written consent of the injured worker.
In February, the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation recommended that lawmakers permanently authorize the program first launched in 2018.
Although State Compensation
The New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board is holding its 2026 Workers' Compensation Forum on Sept. 15 in New York City.
NYCIRB President and CEO Jeremy Attie and Julia Stenberg, chair of the board of governors, are scheduled to deliver opening remarks. Avani Shah, executive deputy superintendent of insurance for the New York State Department of Financial Services, is also scheduled to speak at the event.
Ziv Kimmel, senior vice president and chief actuary for the board, and Guo Harrison, director of actuarial production, will deliver the 2026 "State of the System" presen
New York State Workers’ Compensation Fraud Inspector General Lucy Lang on Friday announced that a man was ordered to pay nearly $10,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to fraud.
Thomas O. Malicki pleaded guilty on June 23 to charges that he defrauded the workers' compensation system by stealing wage replacement checks intended for the deceased mother of his then-girlfriend.
That same day, he paid full restitution of $9,777 and was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge.
The Inspector General’s Office said its investigation determined that between September 2
Pennsylvania lawmakers are proposing a special fund to cover annual cancer screenings not paid for by firefighters' health insurance policies.
SB 1398, by Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Beaver, would establish the Firefighter Cancer Screening Program within the Department of Insurance to pay for the screenings.
Bartolotta said in a statement that though firefighters work in dangerous conditions, one of the greatest threats they face is repeated exposure to cancer-causing chemicals.
"Cancer is now one of the leading causes of firefighter line-of-duty deaths," she said. "Ye
