The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) is issuing a 100 percent dividend of premiums employers paid in the 2018 policy year. Some business leaders asked how this will impact the 2018 Group-retrospective Rating evaluations.
According to the BWC, the premium base it used to calculate the dividend is as of the snapshot taken on April 4, 2020. The BWC processed the PEC 2018 Group-retrospective 12-month evaluation on Jan. 28, 2020, and financial transactions posted April 10, 2020. The 2018 Group-retrospective Rating premium refunds it provided to PEC employers will reduce the premium amount the agency uses to calculate the rebate. The PEC 24- and 36-month evaluations will occur to capture the performance of the groups, but since the BWC has already provided a 100 percent rebate of the 2018 premium, no further financial transactions impacting the 2018 policy will post to the employer’s policy.
The private employers included in the 2018 Group-retrospective program will receive 100 percent of their experience-rated premium as of April 4, 2020. Similar to the PEC groups, the PA 2018 12-, 24- and 36-month evaluations will occur to capture the performance of the groups, but no further financial transactions impacting the 2018 policy will post to the employer’s policy.
Two-hour Green Period Claim Training Waiver:
Normally, the BWC requires group-experience and group-retrospective rating participants with a claim occurring in the green period to complete a two-hour training class by June 30, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the bureau is waiving the program’s safety activity requirements for the 2019 program year.
Although it has waived the safety training requirement, the BWC encourages employers to take advantage of the online training it provides. Please select this link for information about the online classes the bureau offers.
For questions or concerns about the group-experience or group-retrospective rating programs, the BWC encourage you to email its employer programs unit. Like many Ohioans, they are teleworking as a precaution to slow the spread of COVID-19, but a unit representative will make every effort to respond to your inquiry as soon as possible.