Pennsylvania’s independent nonprofit workers’ compensation insurance rating bureau filed documents recently stating that premiums across the state were erroneously raised earlier this year after a major insurance carrier “materially overstated” its reported losses from payouts to injured workers.

The insurer has not been named and the Pennsylvania Insurance Commission has begun an investigation into the “mistake.” However, the consequences have rippled widely. Injured workers’ access to workers’ compensation benefits has been negatively impacted and employers paid an estimated $260 million more in premiums than necessary. Meanwhile, the General Assembly in Harrisburg took advantage of the circumstances, forcing passage of Republican-led legislation intended to override a 2017 decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that found a relevant provision of the Workers’ Compensation Act to be unconstitutional.

Profiting From Workers, Employers Alike