SWCB: Assessments for Reopened Case Fund 'Skyrocketed'

By Michael Whiteley, Eastern Bureau ChiefAn attorney for the New York State Workers' Compensation Board contends that improper cost-shifting by the state's workers' compensation carriers has caused liabilities of the state's Reopened Case Fund to "spiral exponentially," at the expense of employers.Michael Papa, an associate attorney in the SWCB General Counsel's Office, said in an affidavit filed in New York Supreme Court Friday that the reserves needed to support the fund jumped to $1.15 billion in 2012 from $770.8 million in 2006, while assessments levied against carriers...