Workers' comp agreement protects small businesses

Oklahoma City-based Corporate Resource Management was under the assumption it had purchased coverage through Realm, a New York insurance provider. As it turned out, the coverage was invalid, leaving CRM's 211 Missouri client businesses without coverage Nov. 1, 2002-Nov. 1, 2003.

The settlement, announced Jan. 20, was filed in Cole County Circuit Court and stipulates that CRM accepts responsibility to pay for workers' compensation awards that occurred during the time period when no coverage was in place. There are currently eight known outstanding claims still pending, for which CRM is responsible under the agreement. CRM is providing a letter of credit as security for payment of those claims, which have a projected value of $231,284.07.

A news release from Nixon's office said that CRM also will make a $44,000 payment to the state's Merchandising Practices Revolving Fund to reimburse the state for the costs of the investigation and enforcement of the Merchandising Practices Act.

In October, Nixon obtained a similar judgment against Quick Labor, which collected $900,000 in workers' compensation premiums from Missouri businesses but failed to implement the coverage.