All information presented on this article comes from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. To find out more, follow the links under the appropriate heading.

Minnesota Department Of Labor And Industry (DLI) Workers’ Compensation Penalties — Prohibited Practices

Prohibited Practices

  • Statute violated — Minnesota Statutes 176.194, subd. 3
  • Assessment statute — Minnesota Statutes 176.194, subd. 4
  • Penalty payable to — Assigned Risk Safety Account (ARSA)
  • Assessed against — insurer, self-insured employer, third-party administrator or adjuster

Special Note

Prohibited-practice penalties may be assessed in addition to any other penalties provided by the workers’ compensation laws. They may be assessed against insurance companies, self-insured employers, third-party administrators that act on behalf of an insurer, adjusters, the Minnesota Insurance Guaranty Association or any other entity.

Determination

A penalty may be assessed when the department finds that any of 11 specific types of prohibited conduct have occurred in the handling of claims.

Types of Prohibited Conduct

  1. Failing to reply, within 30 calendar-days after receipt, to all written communication about a claim from a claimant that requests a response.
  2. Failing, within 45 calendar-days after receipt of a written request, to commence benefits or to advise the claimant of the acceptance or denial of the claim by the insurer.
  3. Failing to pay or deny medical bills within 45 days after the receipt of all information requested from medical providers that is necessary to make a payment determination.
  4. Filing a denial of liability for workers’ compensation benefits without conducting an investigation.
  5. Failing to regularly pay weekly benefits in a timely manner, as prescribed by the rules adopted by the commissioner, after weekly benefits have begun. Failure to regularly pay weekly benefits means failure to pay an employee on more than three occasions in any 12-month period, within three business-days of when payment was due.
  6. Failing to respond to the department within 30 calendar-days after receipt of a written inquiry from the department about a matter related to benefits. Responses must be substantive and address the question.
  7. Failing to pay pursuant to an order from the department, compensation judge, court of appeals or the supreme court, within 45 days from the filing or the order, unless the order is under appeal.
  8. Advising a claimant not to obtain the services of an attorney or representing that payment will be delayed if an attorney is retained by the claimant.
  9. Altering information on a document to be filed with the department without the notice and consent of any person who previously signed the document and who would be adversely affected by the alteration.
  10. Providing fraudulent written information to the department or an employee pertaining to a workers’ compensation matter.
  11. Failing to pay a claim, or otherwise correct behavior on a claim, for which a penalty assessed has been paid or become a final order.

The prohibited conduct most commonly penalized by the department is failing to respond to the department within 30 days after receipt of a written inquiry from the department about a matter related to benefits.

Calculation

The penalty amount is based on the number of penalties assessed against the party for violations during the previous 12-month period prior to the current violation. The chart below shows the current penalty amounts for each violation.

Items 1 to 6

Violation number Penalty amount
1 through 5 Warning
6 through 10 $3,000 each
11 through 30 $6,000 each

 

Items 7 and 11

Violation number Penalty amount
1 through 5 $3,000 each
6 through 30 $6,000 each

 

If a party has 31 or more violations during a 12-month period, a penalty of $6,000 is assessed for each violation. In addition, the department may refer the party to the Minnesota Department of Commerce for license review.

How to Avoid a Penalty

Although the law requires a response to the department’s written request within 30 days, we realize the information we request may not be readily available, especially when an older claim is involved. When a party receives a request from the department but is unable to supply the requested information within 30 days, contact the department. Telling the department the information cannot be immediately supplied will generally satisfy the statutory requirement to respond to the initial request. The department will continue to expect to receive the information that was requested.

When the department asks for information that a party no longer has available because their file has been destroyed, they should contact the person who made the request. Often, alternative ways to obtain the information can be found.

Communication with the department is the keyto avoiding penalties for failure to respond.

DLI Workers’ Compensation Contacts, Hotline, and Resources

DLI Work Comp Campus

Source: Work Comp Campus 

Attention Work Comp Campus Users

  1. Work Comp Campus works best in Google Chrome.
  2. When you are setting up an account, you will need to authenticate the new account in your email inbox before you can login.
  3. The authentication email message may take up to 30 minutes to arrive in your email inbox. Please be patient.

CAMPUS CENTRAL | CAMPUS LOGIN

See also

Work Comp Campus feedback form

Campus Answer (Half)-Hours for Group Administrators

Attend the Session Related to Your Specific Group Type

  • Insurer, self-insurer, third-party administrator and trading partner group administrators.
  • Law firm group administrators,

Past Sessions

  • Nov. 19, Group administrators – Video recording
  • Nov. 23, Rehabilitation provider group administrators – Video recording
  • Dec. 2, Insurer group administrators – Video recording
  • Dec. 3, Law firm group administrators – Video recording
  • Dec. 4, Rehabilitation provider group administrators – Video recording
  • Dec. 15, Law firm group administrators – Video recording
  • Dec. 16, Insurer, self-insurer, third-party administrator and trading partner group administrators – Video recording
  • Dec. 18, Rehabilitation provider group administrators – Video recording
  • Jan. 12, Law firm group administrators – Video recording
  • Jan. 12, Insurer, self-insurer, third-party administrator and trading partner group administrators – Video recording
  • Feb. 3, Insurer, self-insurer, third-party administrator and trading partner group administrators – Video recording
  • Feb. 4, Law firm group administrators – Video recording
  • March 4, Special Compensation Fund assessment, report of benefits – Video recording | Presentation | FAQs | More …

Campus Answer Hour Sessions for all Stakeholders

  • Electronic data interchange (EDI) trading partners – there are currently no sessions scheduled.
  • eForm trading partners – there are currently no sessions scheduled.

Past Sessions


About DLI’s New Workers’ Compensation Claims Portal

Work Comp Campus, the Department of Labor and Industry’s (DLI’s) new workers’ compensation claims portal, rolled out Nov. 2 2020. The move from a paper-based, form-driven system to an online and data-driven system allows Campus to be accessible and available on computers, tablets and smartphones, meeting the expectations of today’s Minnesotans, who want quick, easy access to their workers’ compensation claim information.

Work Comp Campus improves support to injured workers and provides greater insight into claims and disputes for all parties. It allows quicker access to claim information among its users to ensure work injuries are reported, treated and compensated in a streamlined manner.

Before even beginning to build Campus, DLI extensively surveyed internal and external groups of its then-current workers’ compensation system users about what they need and how they want to access what they need. As each part of the system was built, it went through rigorous and varied testing, was cleaned up, corrected, sometimes expanded and was then tested again.

To build this state-of-the-art workers’ compensation system, DLI partnered with Minnesota IT Services (MNIT), the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals, the Office of Administrative Hearings, Thomson Reuters and the national IT consulting firm CapTech.

What Does Campus Mean for Me?

Law Firms

With Work Comp Campus, attorneys have access to a streamlined process to submit filings, have real-time access to the complete, accurate and up-to-date Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) file and are able to manage calendars for proceedings at DLI and the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals.

Benefits for law firms

  • Access a complete, accurate and up-to-date DLI file online, without needing to come to DLI for a physical file.
  • File documents with DLI in a streamlined and efficient manner.
  • File a Notice of Appearance to access your client’s Campus claim file.
  • Electronically notify your clients and other parties of the filings made to disputes at the DLI Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) unit.
  • Provide schedule availability for ADR mediations and conferences.
  • Receive notices of events from ADR.
  • Dispute a claim with medical or rehabilitation request to ADR through Campus (or with a claim petition filed through C-Track).

Impacts to law firms

  • Create a Campus account to interact with DLI, which is separate from your C-Track account.
  • Organizations can manage their users and claims through a secure Campus account.
  • No more paper filings to DLI.
  • Communicate policies, statutes and rules to your clients in a more transparent process, minimizing risks and costs to your clients.
  • Easily access complete, accurate and up-to-date DLI files, allowing you to better represent your client in disputes and settlements.

News for law firms

Join the Campus Answer Hours for Law Firms

We’re hosting Campus Answer Hour sessions for Law Firms and you are invited. Campus Answer Hours are scheduled virtual question and answer sessions about Work Comp Campus, DLI’s new workers’ compensation claims portal. Campus Answer Hour sessions provide opportunities for you to ask questions and get information about Campus.

SCHEDULE, HOW TO JOIN

  1. Download the calendar invitation below for a Campus Answer Hour to your calendar:
    • There are currently no sessions scheduled.Downloading help:  Click the link above; click on the downloaded .ics file; find and open the tentative meeting on your calendar; click accept.)
  2. Invite your colleagues.
  3. Gather your questions about Campus. If you’d like, submit your questions ahead of time by email to [email protected].
  4. At the time of the event, join via Webex (link and login information is contained in the calendar invitation).
  5. Join the dialogue with Campus experts and other employers by asking questions about Campus.

Available presentations from past Campus Answer Hour sessions

Subscribe to get updates

Trading Partners

With Work Comp Campus, insurers’ electronic data interchange (EDI) trading partners are able to maximize data-driven and automated processes for submitting and receiving information with the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI).

Campus allows trading partners to submit claim information via FROI and SROI EDI, and provides various metrics about reporting information. Trading partners can quickly view information relating to both accepted and rejected files within Campus.

Benefits for trading partners

  • Ability to view metrics and statistics surrounding filing information.
  • Ability to view information relating to files quickly.
  • Submission and correction of information via EDI and clearly understandable EDI transaction errors.

Impacts to trading partners

  • Eliminates paper filings; submit files to DLI via full EDI and eFROI/eSROI (webforms available).
  • Moving from the TE to the TR model for EDI transactions may impact the timeliness of filings.
  • Organizations can manage their users and claims through a secure Campus account.
  • Maximized data-driven and automated processes minimize the need to login to Campus for the trading partner’s staff.

News for trading partners

Join the Campus Answer Hours for Trading Partners

We’re hosting Campus Answer Hour sessions for Trading Partners and you are invited. Campus Answer Hours are scheduled virtual question and answer sessions about Work Comp Campus, DLI’s new workers’ compensation claims portal. Campus Answer Hour sessions provide opportunities for you to ask questions and get information about Campus.

Subscribe below to get updates and watch your inbox for announcements of more Campus Answer Hour sessions.

SCHEDULE, HOW TO JOIN

  1. Download the calendar invitation below for a Campus Answer Hour to your calendar:
    • There are currently no sessions scheduled.Downloading help:  Click the link above; click on the downloaded .ics file; find and open the tentative meeting on your calendar; click accept.)
  2. Invite your colleagues.
  3. Gather your questions about Campus. If you’d like, submit your questions ahead of time by email to [email protected].
  4. At the time of the event, join via Webex (link and login information is contained in the calendar invitation).
  5. Join the dialogue with Campus experts and other employers by asking questions about Campus.

Available presentations from past Campus Answer Hour sessions

Subscribe to get updates

Vocational Rehabilitation Providers

With Work Comp Campus, vocational rehabilitation providers are able to electronically create, file and view documents related to an employee’s vocational rehabilitation or a dispute related to rehabilitation.

Benefits for vocational rehabilitation providers

  • File and serve required forms through simple and efficient online submissions.
  • Understand deadlines to avoid late-reporting penalties.
  • Manage registrations and renewals to stay in compliance with Minnesota laws.
  • Stay up-to-date with required certification and education programs.

Impacts to vocational rehabilitation providers

  • There is no impact to how you report to your insurer. However, your insurer no longer reports information to DLI via paper, but instead reports through electronic data interchange (EDI).
  • Organizations manage their users and claims through a secure Campus account.
  • No more paper filings to DLI.
  • Increased transparency allows the vocational rehabilitation provider to better support and educate injured workers throughout the claim process.

News for vocational rehabilitation providers

Join the Campus Answer Hours for Rehabilitation Providers

We’re hosting Campus Answer Hour sessions for Rehabilitation Providers and you are invited. Campus Answer Hours are scheduled virtual question and answer sessions about Work Comp Campus, DLI’s new workers’ compensation claims portal. Campus Answer Hour sessions provide opportunities for you to ask questions and get information about Campus.

SCHEDULE, HOW TO JOIN

  1. Download the calendar invitation below for a Campus Answer Hour to your calendar.
    • There are currently no sessions scheduled.
    • Downloading help:  Click the links above; click on the downloaded .ics file; find and open the tentative meeting on your calendar; click accept.)
  2. Invite your colleagues.
  3. Gather your questions about Campus. If you’d like, submit your questions ahead of time by email to [email protected].
  4. At the time of the event, join via Webex (link and login information is contained in the calendar invitation).
  5. Join the dialogue with Campus experts and other employers by asking questions about Campus.

Available presentations and recordings from past Campus Answer Hour sessions

Subscribe to get updates

How Can I Get More Information?

Agency News

Apprenticeship, Dual-Training Pipeline, and Youth Skills Training

Construction Codes, Licensing, and Building Trades

Labor Standards, Worker Rights, Wage and Hour

  • Prevailing wage updates – Stay current with all prevailing-wage updates and additions.
  • Truck survey – Notice of truck operating cost survey. To be completed by truck owner operators, trucking contractors and trucking firms.
  • Wage and Hour Bulletin – Tips about how to comply with Minnesota wage and hour laws.

Minnesota OSHA and Workplace Safety

  • Construction Seminars – Announcements about the free Minnesota OSHA Compliance Construction Seminar series featuring a presentation about a specific construction safety or health topic.
  • Safety Lines – A quarterly newsletter and other updates from Minnesota OSHA.

Rulemaking

Workers’ Compensation

Change to Requests for Information Process Begins July 17, 2023

Source: Change to requests for information process begins July 17, 2023

The Department of Labor and Industry’s Compliance, Records and Training compliance services officers will change the method of sending requests for information (RFI) to claim administrators beginning Monday, July 17, 2023.

Instead of sending an email message through Work Comp Campus, where the recipient must log into Campus to retrieve the request, the request will be sent directly via encrypted email.

Because the body of the email message will contain pertinent claim information, as well as the actual request for information, recipients will not be required to log into Campus to view the request. The subject line will be:  “This is a request for information from the DLI Compliance, Records and Training unit.”

This change makes the RFI process more efficient for both DLI and for its stakeholders and improves the likelihood of timely responses to those requests. Currently, many requests go unanswered and are eligible for costly prohibited practices penalties.

As a reminder, failure to respond to an RFI within 30 calendar days is a prohibited practice under Minnesota Statutes § 176.194.

Users are still required to respond to the RFI via Campus by submitting EDI/eForm transactions, by filing Campus webforms (such as the discontinuance webform) or by uploading a response to the Campus claim as appropriate. As noted, failure to respond to the request within 30 calendar days will result in a prohibited practices penalty as allowed by Minn. Stat. § 176.194, subdivision 3(6). Emailed replies and submissions will not be accepted and are considered invalid. All responses and uploads must be done through Campus.

Group Administration

Compliance, Records and Training strongly encourages all claim administrators to adjust their Campus permission of “Designated Contact for Information Requests from DLI” to a single email address at which to receive the RFI messages and remove the permission from all other users. If multiple users have this permission, the RFI encrypted email messages can be sent to any one of those users. If one email address has this permission, the RFI encrypted email messages will always go to that email address. The email address can be a group email address; however, a person’s first name and last name must be associated to the user account in Campus.

Group Administration Manual

See page 11 in the group administration manual for information about accessing group administrator settings and page 22 for information about editing member permissions.

For Assistance

For group management questions related to assigning permissions in Campus, email Cheryl Scherbel at [email protected] or Lynne Knowles at [email protected].

If there are issues opening encrypted email messages, contact your company’s IT services to check for any internal issues or the Workers’ Compensation Division Help Desk at [email protected], 651-284-5005 (press 3) or 800-342-5354 (press 3). Help desk live support is available from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

To Contact the Department of Labor and Industry

Request for Information Update

Source: Request for information update 

The Department of Labor and Industry’s Compliance, Records and Training (CRT) unit has now completed the first few weeks of its new process of sending encrypted email messages containing the request for information (RFI) letters to claim administrators. From the CRT perspective it is going well; responses have been timelier. However, one issue is some claim administrators are responding directly through those email addresses instead of responding into the Work Comp Campus file.

As instructed in each of the RFI email messages, you cannot send your response to those email addresses, and any RFI responses received at those email addresses will not be opened or processed. If you have responded via email only, and there is no response from the claim administrator “in the Campus file” within 30 days of that RFI letter, a prohibited practice penalty will be assessed under Minnesota Statutes 176.194 for failing to respond to a department request within 30 days. To avoid receiving a penalty be sure to respond to those RFI email messages from CRT through the Campus file only.

Quick Tip

  • To respond to an RFI in Campus, go to that employee’s main page and select the yellow button labeled “Submit Filing.”
  • Then, from the drop-down menu labeled “filing name,” select an appropriate label and select “Save.”
  • Next, select the “Upload document” button (making sure it is already in PDF).

See “How to upload a document in Campus.”

If you have questions about an RFI, contact the sender via the phone number in the email message.

CRT strongly encourages all claim administrators to adjust their Campus permission of “Designated Contact for Information Requests from DLI” to a single email address to receive all RFI messages and remove the permission from all other users. The email address can be a group email address; however, a person’s first name and last name must be associated to the user account in Campus. Another benefit of this approach, from a management standpoint, is that tracking the requests will be easier because the requests will then flow through a centralized point rather than through individual adjusters. For additional information about this change refer to the July 7 message, “Change to requests for information process begins July 17, 2023” on the Campus central webpage.

To Contact the Department of Labor and Industry

DLI Resumes Issuance of Noncompliance Penalties

Source: DLI resumes issuance of noncompliance penalties 

In the past, additional requests for information (RFI) were sent when there was no response to the initial RFI. Such additional requests will no longer be sent and penalties will resume.

Due to noncompliance, the Department of Labor and Industry’s Compliance, Records and Training is resuming issuing penalties according to Minnesota Statutes § 176.194, subdivision 3(6). These penalties will be assessed against the claim administrator (insurer or third-party administrator).

Penalty structure: the first five violations result in a written warning; the sixth through 10th violations result in a $3,000 penalty; and 11 or more violations result in a $6,000 penalty.

Minnesota Statutes § 176.194, subd. 4, states: “If an entity has more than 30 violations within any 12-month period, in addition to the monetary penalties provided, the commissioner may refer the matter to the commissioner of commerce with recommendation for suspension or revocation of the entity’s (a) license to write workers’ compensation insurance; (b) license to administer claims on behalf of a self-insured, the assigned risk plan, or the Minnesota Insurance Guaranty Association; (c) authority to self-insure; or (d) license to adjust claims.”

The number of violations are determined on a rolling 12-month calendar basis and are cumulative against the claim administrator. If there are multiple offices, the violations are not assessed against the individual offices, but contribute to the total.

Compliance, Records and Training strongly encourages all claim administrators to adjust their Work Campus permission of “Designated Contact for Information Requests from DLI” to a single email address to receive all RFI messages and remove the permission from all other users. The email address can be a group email address; however, a person’s first name and last name must be associated to the user account in Campus. Another benefit of this approach, from a management standpoint, is that tracking the requests will be easier because the requests will then flow through a centralized point rather than through individual adjusters.

For additional information about this change refer to the July 7 message, “Change to requests for information process begins July 17, 2023” on the Campus central webpage.

To Contact the Department of Labor and Industry
Web: Work Comp Campus
Email: [email protected]

Video Transcript

This instructional video will provide updated and clarifying information on the Request for Information or RFI response process as of July 17th, 2023. The Department of Labor and Industry’s Compliance Records and Training Unit began sending requests for information via encrypted email instead of sending an email message through Work Comp Campus. The request is sent via encrypted email, and no PIN is needed.

Please note that second request emails are no longer being sent. If an RFI is received on a claim your company no longer handles, your response should be to call the Compliance Officer and provide the name of the new insurer or claim administrator, along with the effective date. Otherwise, it will be considered as a failure to respond and may result in a penalty.

.If you have an issue opening the encrypted email message, follow up with someone from your organization regarding access to avoid a penalty, read the entire email message. This is important because it may contain multiple questions or issues to be addressed.

Respond to all requests in Campus. Responses must be substantive and address the questions and issues. React within 30 calendar days of the emailed message date. Read the entire email message. It shows claim details, including the Campus claim number and the claim administrator’s claim number. The body of the email shows the details of the information being requested. It is important to note that there may be more than one question or issue that needs to be resolved.

The Compliance Officer’s phone number is listed at the bottom of the email. Please call if you need clarification of the questions or issues posed in the email.

Emailed replies and submissions will not be accepted and are considered invalid. To begin your response in Campus, log into Campus and open the employee’s claim. Once you access the employee’s individual claim, the Claim Details page will load. If you have any difficulty locating the claim, click on the “Include Inactive” box to see all claims. This box is highlighted in red on the image shown.

Responses may include one or more actions, such as submitting an EDI transaction, uploading a document or written reply, issuing an additional payment, or completing a web form. If the response involves an EDI submission, follow your company’s procedure. For all other types of responses, click on the “Submit Filing” button in the upper right-hand corner and select the option that best aligns with your actions.

You can confirm responses were successfully submitted in Campus by reviewing the employee’s Campus claim. It is your responsibility, within your organization, to confirm that an RFI response was accepted by either reviewing Campus for EDI transmission or documents uploaded. Calls or emails to confirm if everything is complete will not be responded to.

If an EDI transaction was submitted, look for the accepted transaction in the Claims Reporting History tab. If a document was uploaded or generated, look for it in the Claims Documents tab. If an additional payment was made, look for it in the Claims Reporting History or Claim Payments or Benefits tab. If a web form was submitted, look for it in the Claims Documents tab.

To be compliant and avoid penalties, respond to all items on the RFI within 30 calendar days of the email. An RFI can be sent to any of the email addresses designated by your organization in Campus to receive information requests from DLI. At the time the email was sent, CRT strongly encourages all claim administrators to adjust their Campus permissions of designated contact for information requests from DLI to a single email address and remove that permission from all other users. A benefit of this approach from a management standpoint is that tracking the request will be easier because the requests will then flow through a centralized point rather than through individual adjusters.

To check the current status and make updates to your organization’s permissions for email, use the Group Administrator Manual resource linked at the end of this video.

The prohibited conduct most commonly penalized by the Department is failing to respond within 30 days after receipt of a written inquiry about a matter related to benefits. To avoid a costly prohibited practice penalty, respond to all requests relating to Campus within 30 calendar days and review the claim when you see the responses in Campus. The submission is complete.

  • Failure to respond to the original RFI will result in a prohibited practice penalty per Minn. Stat. §176.194, Subd. 3(6).
  • If a penalty is assessed, consider the penalty assessment as another request for the information sought by DLI.
  • If there is no response to that additional request, another penalty may be issued.

The penalty amount is based on the number of penalties assessed against the party for violations based on a rolling 12-month period prior to the current violation. The first 5 violations result in a written warning. The 6th through 10th violations result in a $3,000 penalty. 11 or more violations result in a $6,000 penalty.

The following contacts may also provide additional help in fulfilling your requirements under the RFI process:

  • For clarification about an RFI you have received, call the Compliance Officer at the number listed at the bottom of the email message. The sender will not respond to questions posed via email.
  • For Campus questions, contact the Workers’ Compensation Division Help Desk at 651-284-5005 and press 3, or 800-342-5354 and press 3. You can also email the Help Desk at [email protected].

For EDI transaction submission issues, email [email protected].

All resources mentioned in this video can be found in the notes section following the video.

Resources