When Inflation Hits Workers’ Compensation

How a renewed inflationary cycle is reshaping premiums, medical delivery, and disability benefits across the U.S. workers' compensation system.

When the Workplace Overheats

Occupational Heat Exposure, Regulation, and Workers' Compensation in a Warming Climate

Medicaid Cuts: Workers' Compensation Pays?

Trump Administration's Medicaid Work Requirements May Shift Enormous Costs to Employers and Workers' Compensation Insurers

Medicaid Care Workers: Not Jointly Employed

 In a significant ruling for the home care and Medicaid services industry, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed that a financial management services vendor does not qualify as a joint employer of home care workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The decision in Talarico v. Public Partnerships LLC, decided May 19, 2026, carries important implications for workers' compensation coverage, overtime liability, and the rights of workers who are exposed to occupational hazards, including asbestos, in home health settings.

Medical Records Fees Reshape Claims

The cost of obtaining medical records in New Jersey workers’ compensation cases has been significantly restructured. Senate Bill 2253—signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy as P.L. 2022, c. 114, effective September 22, 2022—slashed the permissible fees that hospitals and licensed health care professionals may charge for copies of medical and billing records. Three years on, a January 5, 2026, regulatory amendment to N.J.A.C. 8:43G-15.3 has updated hospital licensing standards to bring administrative rules into full alignment with the statute, closing a gap that had persisted since 2011.

NJ Workers’ Compensation: Profit Surge

An Analysis of Premiums, Profitability, and Trends from the NJCRIB 2025 Annual Report

Ebola: A Global Workers' Peril

A deadly new chapter in the decades-long struggle against Ebola has arrived. On May 16, 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), its highest level of alarm, as the Bundibugyo virus (BVD) rapidly spread across northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and crossed the border into Uganda. With no approved vaccine and no targeted therapeutics, this rapidly spreading, often fatal hemorrhagic fever poses an urgent, underappreciated threat to workers around the globe, particularly those in healthcare settings.

Single Payer’s Workers’ Compensation Gamble

For more than a decade, this blog has tracked what I have called “The Path to Federalization,” the steady, incremental expansion of federal authority over what was once an exclusively state-run workers’ compensation system. From the World Trade Center Health Program in 2010 to the Affordable Care Act’s Libby Care pilot, from Supreme Court validation of the individual mandate in 2012 to the Medicare Secondary Payer offset debate, each chapter has added a new stone to that path. California’s 2026 gubernatorial race is laying the boldest stone yet.

Virus on Board: Are We Ready?

Hantavirus, the Andes Strain, and the Workers' Compensation System's Preparedness for Person-to-Person Infectious Disease Outbreaks

Pabst Brews a Legal Storm

On April 15, 2026, the Wisconsin Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling that will reverberate through asbestos litigation, workers’ compensation law, and premises liability for years to come. In Estate of Carol Lorbiecki v. Pabst Brewing Co., 2026 WI 12, the court held that a brewery owner could be found liable under Wisconsin’s Safe Place Statute for a steamfitter’s fatal mesothelioma, even though the worker was employed by an independent contractor, not by Pabst. The decision affirms a $6.9 million judgment, including punitive damages, and clarifies important principles governing the rights of workers exposed to occupational hazards on third-party premises.

EPA Sued Over Asbestos

On April 21, 2026, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its Administrator Lee Zeldin in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The complaint, filed as Case No. 1:26-cv-01350, seeks to compel the EPA to fulfill a mandatory, non-discretionary duty under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), a duty that has gone unfulfilled for over a year, leaving millions of workers and their families exposed to the continuing hazard of legacy asbestos.

Workplace Disease & Household Liability

A landmark California Supreme Court ruling in 2023 reversed earlier lower-court decisions and shielded employers from "take-home" COVID-19 liability — but the legal landscape for occupational disease exposure to household members remains complex and evolving. Here is what workers' compensation practitioners, employers, and injured workers need to know.

Dying at Work — Who's Counting?

Workplace fatality data, political interference, and the workers left behind.

Healthcare Costs Crush Workers' Compensation

The cost of medical treatment is not just rising — it is accelerating. And nowhere is this felt more sharply than in the workers' compensation system, where medical payments now constitute a dominant and growing share of every claim. What was a slow-burning crisis a decade ago has become an urgent structural challenge for employers, insurers, policymakers, and injured workers alike.

Chemical Glove Selection is Critical

How Proper Hand Protection Impacts Workers' Compensation Benefits

AIG Remains in Workers' Compensation

The 2012 Prediction That Didn't Come True

Older Drivers: Fatal Crash Risks

Workers age 55 and older who drive as part of their jobs face a troubling reality: they are twice as likely to die in work-related crashes compared to their younger colleagues. This sobering statistic has profound implications for workers' compensation systems nationwide as America's workforce continues to age.

Sleep, Pain, and Hospital Workers

The Hidden Epidemic Driving Workers' Compensation Claims

Winter Storm Workers' Compensation Guide

Winter storms pose significant dangers for workers across all industries. As temperatures drop and snow accumulates, the workplace becomes a minefield of potential hazards that can result in serious injuries and costly workers' compensation claims.

NJ's Fee Schedule Gap

New Jersey's Medical Billing Problem: When "Reasonable and Customary" Costs You a Fortune