Worker’s Comp Penalties Up 20%

Worker’s Compensation penalties are up nearly 20%. Tennessee’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development says the $1 million in fines it collected in the last fiscal year is a record.

Generally, any company with five or more employees is required to carry worker’s compensation insurance. In the construction industry, the requirements are stricter – companies with one employee have to carry it. If an employer is found to be out of compliance, they are fined.

Scott Yarbrough is Director of the Worker’s Compensation Uninsured Employer’s fund. He credits the double digit increase in penalties to a law change in 2004 that allowed the department to hire more investigators.

“We have a staff of about 15 who are trying to combat the problem of injured employees not being covered by worker’s compensation insurance when they get hurt and work.”

Just two years ago, the state fined only 69 employers, this year it fined 292. Yarbrough says the majority of this year’s fines range from $1,000 to $10,000.