Georgia

Thursday, May 13 2010 - , , , , , - 0 comments

RLD Associates has expanded their premium audit services to GA. Go to www.rldassociates.com/insurance_field_services_territory/ to view the entire coverage area.

Brief Reflection on TRIA: 9/11

Thursday, September 17 2009 - , - 0 comments

After the World Trade Center Attacks, there were concerns about large losses due to potential future events caused by terrorism. Congress passed the Terrorism Risk Inusrance Act as a temporary solution which would allow private insurers and the federal government to share ceratain costs. The act was considered temporary which was gave the market time to adjust. Originally enacted on November 26, 2002, the act was exteneded an additional two years to expire on December 31, 2007. Under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, the expiration date was extended once again until December...

PCRB Test Audit Success

Tuesday, September 01 2009 - , , , , - 0 comments

RLD Associates has received excellent news regarding the PCRB test audit program. If you currently participate in the program, or are interested in doing business in PA but are concerned about the test audit program, please see our latest newsletter. The article can be found by clicking on this link: PCRB Test Audit Success .

Pick Up All Payments

Friday, June 19 2009 - , , - 0 comments

In a recent report from the New York Times (full article here www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/nyregion/18hardhat.html ) 3 illegal aliens were paid $3.85 million for injuries on the jobsite. Courts are not only awarding settlements to illegals, but awarding large sums. Premium auditors should take note and be sure to investigate records thoroughly, and ask pointed questions when performing an audit to make sure all labor is picked up. This is part of the intensive RLD Associates training program....

Stop Work Orders and Misrepresentation of Employees

Friday, June 12 2009 - , , - 0 comments

When performing a premium audit one of the hardest things for an auditor to do is distinguish between independent contractors and subcontractors performing work for an insured. Besides legality, auditors may fell intimidated by forceful individuals that want their contracted labor left off the audit for premium purposes. In a step that may have a direct affect on these audits, the NJ legislation has passed a bill giving the director of the Division of Workers' Compensation power over certain contractors. The bill states that the director has the ability to issue stop work orders against contractors...

Temporary Furniture Store Wholesale

Friday, June 05 2009 - , , - 0 comments

The DCRB has added a new classification to their manual: 871 Employment Contractor – TEMPORARY FURNITURE STORE – WHOLESALE. This code will be applicable to temporary staff that is provided to customers with the classification 921.

Search Form To Aide Premium Auditors: Subcontractors

Friday, May 22 2009 - , , , - 0 comments

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has created a search form within their website that can aide premium auditors when auditing a risk with subcontractors. The search is a policy coverage search . The user (or in this case the premium auditor) enters the name of the company in question, and the results will show the workers compensation policies for that particular company including the policy number, insurance carrier, effective dates and cancelations. Their website states that the information is pulled from databases maintained by the PCRB....

NCCI Names New Board

Friday, May 15 2009 - , , - 0 comments

Bruce Kessler is the chief underwriting officer and executive vice president of ACE INA. Michael Klein is the president of Commercial Accounts for Travelers. Barbara Klein, joining the board as an independent member, is a former senior vice president and chief financial officer of Computer Discount Warehouse (CDW). Brian Melas is a senior vice president for Commercial Markets and manager, Commercial Markets Administration for Liberty Mutual. George M. Reider, Jr., also joining the board as an independent member, is a former insurance commissioner for the state of Connecticut and a prior president...

Delaware Code 815 becomes All Inclusive

Friday, May 01 2009 - , , - 0 comments

Anyone performing a premium audit on an auto repair shop understands the difficulty of classifying clerical employees. While there are disagreements regarding counter personell, pretty much everyone involved would consider it fair to classify a "true" clerical employee as 953. The DCRB has announced in a recent circular that due to "problematic issues" and "systematic misclassifications" that DE 815 will be all inclusive. This will certainly make life easier for the premium auditor. However will this punish a business for hiring a clerical employee that works in an...

Fraud in California

Friday, April 17 2009 - , - 0 comments

In Los Angeles, two individuals were arrested for insurance premium fraud. They owned a janitorial business named Bell Building Company. Since 1998 they have been reporting to their insurance company that they were the only ones on payroll. However, they actually had a rather large company with hundreds working for them. The accusation leads to an estimate of over $4 million that the company should have paid to the carriers had they reported payroll honestly. Unfortunately this type of thing is easily avoided with a physical audit. Facts from the California Department of Insurance press release...

Roofer’s Premium Nonpayment Unnecessary

Monday, March 30 2009 - , , , - 0 comments

An owner of a roofing company was charged with multiple counts regarding not paying workers compensation premiums. In order to mislead his insurance carrier he misclassified his employees by reporting them as carpenters rather than roofers, and filed false tax returns. Experts estimate over the course of five years the roofing company avoided paying approximately $119,000. He is scheduled to be arraigned on April 29th, 2009. Don't allow this to happen to you. Be sure to hire a professional, detailed service company for your premium audits that understands how to ask thorough questions, review records...

WA No Longer Monopolistic?

Friday, March 13 2009 - , , - 0 comments

The Building Industry Association is calling for a reform in the way Washington does business regarding Workers Compensation. As you may know, Washington is currently a monopolistic state. The BIAW suggests converting Washington into a competitive state thus allowing private insurance companies to do business.

RLD Recognized as a Leader among PCRB Test Audits

Thursday, October 23 2008 - , , - 0 comments

Taking the leap into PA is not an easy step for an insurance company, and we are well aware of that here at RLD Associates. Under the PCRB incentive program, trying to charge the correct premium can be a grueling task when your accepted variance is only a small percentage of the total premium charged. We should know, because we have been doing test audits for years now. With almost 20 years experience in PA we know what it takes to do an audit accurately, and pass the accompanying test audit. Evidence of this is shown by our error ratio which is far below the accepted ratio of 20%. We have the...

Generating Additional Premium

Tuesday, September 30 2008 - , , , , - 0 comments

During this soft market many insurance carriers are searching for ways to increase underwriting profit while reducing expenses. This is most challenging to smaller mutual companies. Here at RLD we have been conducting telephone audits for many carriers since 1989 and the results have been impressive. A majority of the risks we audit are workers’ compensation and general liability based exposures. We obtain accurate and up to date gross sales and payroll information which in turn leads to additional premium generated on expired policies. In addition, current policies can be amended to reflect...

Workers Compensation Audit

Monday, September 29 2008 - , - 2 comments

Introduction: Workers Compensation Insurance is a necessary evil, trumped only by the associated annual audit. Since States require all businesses to have insurance for employees, they also set WC standards and prices, which is important to remember when blaming the Insurance Company for the high prices. There is no way to avoid an audit, so it is far better to be well prepared and informed than slightly complacent in the hands of a well trained auditor. The Auditors: Certain insurance companies employ their own auditors, in which case you will be dealing directly with the Insurance Carrier. Others...