As has been the case over the past several years, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) will be sending out another round of rebate to employers. In the next couple of weeks, BWC will begin sending out checks equal to 88 percent of an employer’s 2018 premium, totaling $1.5 billion to over 180,000 employers. This rebate represents the fifth such rebate of a billion dollars or more since 2013. There are a few important things to note:
To be eligible, Ohio employers must meet all of the following criteria:
- The employer must be a state-funded employer,
- the employer must have been billed for premiums during FY 2018,
- the employer must have completed their premium true-ups for FY 2018,
- the employer must have active, reinstated, combined, canceled – business sold, or debtor-in-possession status by Sept. 6, 2019.
In total, the BWC has saved Ohio employers nearly $10 billion in workers’ comp payments through dividends, credits, and rate reductions since 2011.
Roger Geiger, Vice President and Executive Director of NFIB in Ohio stated “Small business owners, who make up the majority of state fund employers, appreciate the earlier announced base rate reduction and now the proposed rebate. On behalf of our 22,000 members, NFIB applauds the BWC’s efforts to continue to return more of Ohio employer’s hard-earned dollars back to them. These latest proposed rebates will allow entrepreneurs to further reinvest back into their businesses to expand, hire, and enhance their workplace safety programs.”
The BWC is able to issue such a large rebate to employers due to strong returns on its investments and also due to the fact workplace injuries, and costs associated with those injuries are decreasing. One factor that has helped reduce claims costs is employer participation in workers’ compensation programs, like our NFIB’s. Our programs provide claims management services, to help reduce claims costs, and can help employers eliminate potential workplace injuries by offering comprehensive safety services.
