Charity Helps Kids of Injured Workers Attend College

Kids' Chance, which provides scholarship assistance to kids whose parents have been catastrophically or fatally injured on the job, is working to reach the people who need it most.

By: Nancy Grover | December 14, 2015

Jeff Kight was sworn in as a Georgia Superior Court judge in 2012. That fact is not too surprising, considering he was his high school valedictorian. But Kight’s journey had an unusual twist; one that could have derailed his path even before it began.

Kight’s father suffered a permanent occupational back injury in 1990, rendering him unable to work. With the help of an organization that provides scholarships for children of parents killed or disabled on the job, Kight was able to attend college and law school. He hasn’t forgotten the help he received from Kids’ Chance.

“The financial help was important,” Kight said. “But what I took most out of Kids’ Chance was the compassion and the support that the Kids’ Chance family showed to me and my family.”

Kight’s story is one of many from Kids’ Chance recipients who say their lives were turned around by the organization such as the woman who graduated from Duke Medical School and another whose scholarship to culinary school helped her become the youngest chef in the history of the Four Seasons in Atlanta. While Kids’ Chance started in Georgia, there are now more than 30 chapters throughout the country. Organizers are working on opening more and finding recipients to help.

The Organization

Kids’ Chance started in 1988 when a Georgia attorney, Robert Clyatt, realized multiple family members were becoming injured as they worked in the lumber industry in his area. The children of workers would often take on the job of a parent who had been injured and then become injured themselves, creating a cycle of injured workers.

“He founded Kids’ Chance with the sole mission to provide scholarship assistance to kids whose parents had been catastrophically or fatally injured on the job,” said Robert Wilson, CEO and founder of Workerscompensation.com. “It grew at a total grassroots level in several states.”

“The financial help was important. But what I took most out of Kids’ Chance was the compassion and the support that the Kids’ Chance family showed to me and my family.” — Jeff Kight, Georgia Superior Court judge

Several years ago, the national chapter of Kids’ Chance was created to assist the state chapters. Wilson, who serves on the national advisory board, is helping to raise awareness and grow the number of states with Kids’ Chance organizations.

“With Kids’ Chance of America’s involvement, there is now corporate level support, sponsors and funding,” Wilson said. “But all the money is administered at the state level.”

Each state’s chapter involves a cross section of board members such as plaintiff and defense attorneys, families, claims professionals, and others involved in workers’ comp. Recipients are chosen based on their needs and scholastic records.

Challenges

“Really the challenge is not raising money but finding applicants and getting the word out to them that there is potential help, even for trade schools,” Wilson said. “So it’s not just [traditional] colleges.”

But often the children affected by a parent’s workplace injury or death are nowhere near college age. Last year, the organization extended its outreach efforts through a program called Planning for College. The program involves identifying children of workers catastrophically injured or killed. Their names and information are included in a national database and the child’s family is contacted at least annually. When the child turns 15, information about the organization’s scholarships is provided.

“Planning for college never starts too early,” according to Kids’ Chance of America’s website. “Financial hardship often results from the death or serious injury of a parent due to a workplace accident, making it difficult for deserving children to pursue their educational dreams, even if those college-age years seem far away.”

“The objective is to help us identify and engage families, children of families impacted by a serious workplace injury or death,” said Vicki Burkhart, executive director of Kids’ Chance of America. “The difference with this and what we’ve done in our outreach before is we are really trying to reach people at the time of the injury/incident or close to it. In many cases the kids are young — two, four, or six years old.”

Bob Wilson, CEO and founder, Workerscompensation.com

In such cases, information about the children is put into a database, and annual contact is made with the families. When the child nears college age, the national office links the information to the appropriate state chapter to follow up. The results can be life-changing.

“People may not have had their family on a college track to begin with,” Wilson said. “So I may be dealing with a family who lost a father and has a 2-year-old child. I can inform them about the program and get the literature [about Kids’ Chance] to the claims adjuster so they can register, and we will track their progress. When they are 15, we’ll get in touch.”

More than 100 children were included in the database last year, and organizers hope to increase the number incrementally each year. Part of the challenge is raising awareness within the industry so practitioners think about the children of workers injured or killed.

Raising Awareness

Attendees to the recent National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference® & Expo saw a presentation about Kids’ Chance during the opening ceremonies. These efforts go a long way to reach those who can help with the organization.

“I can’t tell you how many people got back to us because they saw us at the conference,” Burkhart said. “The audience aligns almost exactly with what we do as a nonprofit organization.”

The idea of attending conferences and other industry events is not to raise money. Instead, organizers hope to reach people who are in contact with families when a workplace tragedy occurs.

“It’s so employers and insurers and people dealing with all these injured workers could say, ‘I’ve got somebody who could use that,’” Wilson said. “I spoke with someone [at the conference] who had never heard of Kids’ Chance and knew of someone who suffered a catastrophic injury and has a couple of kids. The goal in our outreach at conferences is not to get money but get the word out so people know it’s available.”

Nancy Grover is the president of NMG Consulting and the Editor of Workers' Compensation Report, a publication of our parent company, LRP Publications. She can be reached at [email protected].

How a Carrier Partner Can Help Navigate a Challenging Management and Professional Liability Market

A combination of a choppy economy with increased claims frequency and severity could lead to rate increases in the Management & Professional Liability market.

By: Risk & Insurance | April 3, 2024

Rates in the management & professional liability (M&PL) markets were on the rise from 2020 to early 2023 and are now falling rapidly.

M&PL divisions manage a number of different insurance products including management liability (D&O), professional liability (E&O), employment practices liability (EPL), fiduciary liability policies, cyber, etc. In 2023 and into 2024, a big influence on the marketplace has been the extremely aggressive and softening public company D&O market.

Though these rates have been softening for management liability, that may change over the next few years as companies continue to adjust their business models motivated by economic uncertainty. Layoffs were up nearly 200% last year, Forbes reported, even as other recession indicators, like the inflation rate, improved. A recession could lead to an increased claim activity and force carriers to raise rates.

“Whenever there is a meaningful downturn in the economy, we tend to see claim frequency pop up,” said George Schalick, Jr., senior vice president of the Management and Professional Liability Division at Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY).

With continued fiscal uncertainty, businesses potentially already burdened with pandemic-related claims should seek a carrier with a long history in M&PL products. They will provide much-needed risk management guidance and be better positioned to support their insureds during market fluctuations.

Why Insureds Might See an Uptick in M&PL Claims

George Schalick, Jr., Senior Vice President of the Management and Professional Liability Division, Philadelphia Insurance Companies

The current soft market might come as a bit of a surprise as it does not track with previous underwriting cycles and economic conditions. Afterall, many privately held and non-profit organizations struggled during the early days of the pandemic with shutdowns and rapidly declining revenues. But the Government assistance programs, like the Paycheck Protection Program loans, helped keep many afloat during the tough times.

“During COVID many organizations stopped doing business until they were able to sort out all of the health and safety challenges,” Schalick said. “They were forced to lock down, but then all the government assistance programs allowed them to keep people employed. The increased volume of claims we anticipated we would see coming from the lockdowns and restrictions that were imposed upon businesses in the U.S. didn’t manifest at first.”

“Just because there wasn’t an onslaught of reported claims at the beginning of the pandemic, doesn’t mean the circumstances that would give rise to a claim being reported didn’t occur. Courts and the judicial system were closed or slowed and now that they are back open, we’re starting to see the circumstances that occurred during the COVID lockdowns becoming claims today,” Schalick said. “Litigation is progressing.”

Added to the delayed pandemic litigation is a concern over newer claims that might be filed as the country inches toward an economic downturn. Though a recession was avoided in 2023, experts think a soft dip could occur in 2024, with 76% of economists saying there’s a 50% or less chance of an economic downturn this year — that almost always results in more management liability claims.

“During the Great Recession in 2008, we saw an almost immediate spike in claims because of the economic conditions and the pressure it placed on organizations. They were making personnel changes with significant belt tightening almost immediately.” Schalick said.

What’s in Store for M&PL Policy Rates in 2024?

Despite an uptick in claims and increased economic uncertainty, management liability rates haven’t increased, resulting in market-wide pricing levels that may not meet the increased pressure of rising settlements and jury verdicts.

“Rates are going the other direction and settlement values are not falling,” Schalick said.

The mismatch between rates, claim frequency and severity is, in part, because carriers experiencing the dramatic soft market in the public D&O market are seeking premium gain in the private and non-profit market.

“In the public company market, the rates have been decreasing significantly. The rates were increasing in the private, not-for-profit market, and rightfully so, but there’s a desire to supplement overall mid-size D&O for carriers who also write private not-for-profit, and they see that as an opportunity to aggregate premium,” Schalick said. “So the always competitive landscape in the private, not-for-profit market has dramatically increased in the last 18 to 24 months.”

Still, companies of all sizes and types should be concerned about management liability rates in the future. Legal system abuse is resulting in increases in both the amount of litigation and the size of verdicts plaintiffs are receiving.

Certain areas of the country are particularly vulnerable to this type of legal system abuse. As a result, insureds in these localities are likely to be vulnerable to rate increases.

“The environment is so positive for the plaintiff that forces premium increases so carriers are able to stay in that market long term,” Schalick said.

Why a Tenured Carrier Partner Can Help Insureds Navigate An Uncertain Market

It’s clear that insureds are facing an uncertain M&PL market over the next few years. Fortunately, carriers with a long history in the M&PL space will be there to offer stability.

Philadelphia Insurance Companies has been supporting this market for 35 years. PHLY is committed to offering long-term rate stability, even as economic and claims trends start to push premiums upwards. They have an appetite for all sorts of companies, large and small, for-profit and nonprofit alike.

“We’ve been at this game for a long time and are one of the most tenured underwriters in this space,” Schalick said. “We like to stay very consistent.”

PHLY has worked with both for-profit and non-profit on management liability policies. With dedicated M&PL teams throughout the company’s 13 regions, PHLY provides the support agents and brokers are looking for on behalf of their clients. The teams know their regions well and can respond to local trends. They’re also dedicated to making the renewal process as easy as possible for their partners and policyholders.

“We have real confidence in our results, so we focus a lot on making the renewal experience as painless as possible for all agents and insureds,” Schalick said.

The company is also investing in tools to help insureds avoid losses. Earlier this year, they launched a new online risk management platform, PHLYGateway, which offers resources for insureds on how to create an employee handbook and trainings on issues such as recognizing workplace sexual harassment and discrimination.

If insureds have questions, they can consult a Best Practices Help Line, provided via the platform. That way, they can get on the spot risk management guidance to help them prevent claims.

To learn more, visit: https://www.phly.com/mplDivision/managementLiability/default.aspx.

This article was produced by the R&I Brand Studio, a unit of the advertising department of Risk & Insurance, in collaboration with Philadelphia Insurance Companies. The editorial staff of Risk & Insurance had no role in its preparation.

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