Workers' Comp Articles

Industry Articles and Resources
The following articles have been written by Renaissance staff and by members of our partner firm, Lynch, Ryan & Associates.

Making Sense of Workers Compensation Market Swings

This article by J. Bruce Cochrane, President discusses the various market cycles in workers compensation. While actual rate adequacy can be documented on an insurer’s bottom line, the long-tail nature of workers compensation forces insurers to take a longer term view of rate adequacy for this line than for any other line of insurance. It can take several years for the losses from any given year to settle out sufficiently to make a final profitability determination for that year. This article discusses ways that agents can recognize and capitalize on market swings. [more]

Contractor Law Update Vexes Firms

In this article, Worcester Sunday Telegram Business Editor Andi Esposito examines the difficulties facing employers in the wake of a recent update in Massachusetts law regarding independent contractors. Lynch Ryan's Jon Coppelman comments on the problem that the law creates for contractors and other employers in terms of responsbility for workers compensation coverage. [more]

Are You a Good Risk?

Organizations must present an attractive risk to underwriters or run the risk of being forced into assigned-risk pools. In this article, (The Journal of Workers Compensation, Fall 2004) Jon Coppelman presents an overview of the conventional under-writing process and its various components, including a discussion of the limitations of the proc-ess. He suggests a variety specific situations - organizational expansions, the aging of the work force, and downsizing - where the paper process may fall short, and offers guidelines for defining a "good risk."  [more]

Good Grief! Does Our Future Lie in California?

This article by Thomas Lynch (The Journal of Workers Compensation, Winter 2004) examines the pre-reform California workers compensation dilemma. It presents an overview of the historic underpinnings of the workers compensation system, identifies some of the forces that led to system breakdown, and suggests that the answer to the problems - for employers in California and elsewhere - lies not in the legislatures or the courts but in the workplace.  [more] 

Best Practices for Workers Compensation

Learn new tips, tools, and practices that will help you to manage your workers compensation program. We’ve compiled some of the most important topics from the archive of our weblog, the Workers Comp Insider. Topics range from performance measurement to prevention – we add new features monthly. [more]

Down The Rabbit Hole

Attorney General Tom Reilly has parachuted himself and his office smack-dab into the middle of the Massachusetts workers' compensation rate filing debate. In doing so, he threatens to pull the entire system headfirst down the rabbit hole, right behind Alice and the March Hare.[more]

Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Risk Management for Employees Who Drive

When employers hire drivers, they routinely check driving records. That's just common sense. But when the same employers hire craftsmen, salesmen, technicians, attorneys, accountants, and others who have to drive to carry out their jobs, the screening focuses exclusively on the technical skills needed to perform the work.[more]