In previous blog posts, I have discussed some upcoming changes and latest news on workers compensation. Here is summary of issues the industry should have on its radar for upcoming months or in the year of 2017.

1. What some may not realize is that the workers’ compensation protections are not available to all workers within the U.S. in 14 states, smaller employers with 5 employees or fewer do not have to secure coverage. In Georgia, employers with 3 employees or fewer are not required to obtain workers’ comp coverage. In addition, there are court cases around the country that occupational diseases that take several years to develop are often barred by the statute of limitation, leaving workers with no other recourse. So it would not be a surprise to see reforms in this area.
2. Options to Workers’ Compensation System. Texas has a unique system that allows employers to completely opt out of workers’ compensation benefit. Oklahoma employers had an option that allows them to develop a private benefit plan that replaces workers’ comp system, but it was recently ruled unconstitutional by Oklahoma Supreme Court. It is this concept of an option that is looking to spread to another state. Bills on this issue has been introduced to some states. It is certainly not going away anytime soon.
3. Exclusive remedy. In early 2016, the District Court of Appeals in California allowed an injured worker to pursue a civil claim against a utilization review provider because the provider failed to warn him about the potential risks of medication withdrawal. The entire industry should be paying very close attention to this area of increased litigation around exclusive remedy.
4. The New Types of Business. The on demand economy is creating new concerns about what constitutes an employer/employee relationship. Is Lyft driver a employee of Lyft or independent contractor? We would probably see more regulations or legislations towards this area.
5. Regulatory Changes. There are some states in particular we should be keeping an eye in terms of potential regulatory reforms in 2016. New York employers continuously push for additional reforms to reduce the costs. We may also see Florida legislature’s responses to the most recently Florida Supreme Court rulings, Westphal and Castellanos (check out my previous blog post on these two cases).
6. Federal Regulation. Although the workers’ compensation system is state-regulated system, the federal government is already involved in some ways. For instance, OSHA has a tremendous impact on workers’ compensation. Its new issued regulation imposes a tighter control and higher requirement on the employers to report injuries at the work place. It would be interesting to see the development of new regulations issued by the federal government in the year of 2016.
7. Besides the presidential election, this year also means election time for governor and insurance commissioners. The workers’ compensation industry needs to be paying attention to these elections because the insurance commissioners can have significant influence over procedures, policies and enforcement in their respective states.