Oregon Proposes Modest Workers’ Comp Rate Hike for 2027
- The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services proposed a 2.1% average increase in the pure premium rate for 2027, raising employer costs from an average of 89 cents to 92 cents per $100 of payroll — the second-lowest rate on record for the state, despite the increase.
- The proposed hike is driven by Senate Bill 1519, a 2026 law taking effect Jan. 1, 2027 that raises the weekly compensation rate to 75% for injured workers earning up to 75% of the state average weekly wage, while lowering compensation to 65% for workers earning above that threshold.
- The state’s premium assessment rate, which funds the Workers’ Compensation Division, Oregon OSHA, the Workers’ Compensation Board, and related worker-protection offices, will remain unchanged at 9.8% of premiums for the sixth consecutive year; self-insured employer assessment rates also stay flat at 0.1% for individual/public-sector self-insured entities and 0.5% for private-sector groups.
Lawmakers Push Bill to Shield Sports Officials From Employee Classification
- Bipartisan bills introduced in New Jersey’s Assembly and Senate would classify amateur sports officials as independent contractors under state employment law, exempting them from the state’s “ABC test” that otherwise presumes workers are employees unless three specific criteria are met.
- Supporters, including State Rep. Dan Hutchison and state Senator Kristin Corrado, argue that classifying officials as employees would saddle school districts, municipalities and youth sports organizations with added costs and administrative burdens including workers’ compensation, wage-and-hour compliance, and payroll tax withholding.
- Cherry Hill athletic director Mike Beirao estimated his district currently spends about $120,000 on officials for high school events plus $40,000 at the middle school level, and warned that reclassifying officials as employees could roughly double those costs, potentially forcing program cuts.
- The New Jersey Department of Labor has reportedly disputed whether officials meet the final two prongs of the ABC test in individual cases, according to umpire association director John Gallante, who said officials themselves don’t want employee status and that neither officiating associations nor schools and leagues could sustain the cost increases that reclassification would bring.
Court Upholds $15,000 Damages Cap for Uninsured Independent Contractor’s Injury
- The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that an independent contractor and sole proprietor welder hired to build or repurpose a staircase at Blanca Forestry Products’ sawmill, is limited to $15,000 in damages under state law after falling from the staircase, since he did not carry his own workers’ compensation insurance.
- The court held that the statutory damages cap is not a waivable affirmative defense but rather a fixed jurisdictional limit courts must apply regardless of how the defense was pled, rejecting the contractor’s argument that Blanca waived the cap by failing to plead it with sufficient specificity.
- He later submitted an affidavit claiming he wasn’t actually performing contracted work at the time of his fall, contradicting his earlier deposition testimony and complaint where he admitted to working as an independent contractor under an agreement with Blanca. The court found this new account did not create a genuine factual dispute since his original statements functioned as binding judicial admissions.
- The court also rejected his arguments that Blanca’s own workers’ compensation policy might have covered him and that Blanca should be equitably estopped from invoking the cap for failing to ask whether he carried his own coverage, noting the contractor was well aware he lacked such insurance.