The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) will start sending more than $1.3 billion to Ohio employers on Friday to ease COVID-19’s impact on the state’s business community and economy.
All told, 178,425 private and public employers covered by the BWC State Insurance Fund will receive $1.34 billion in checks and credits to their BWC accounts.
“We’re pleased to answer Governor Mike DeWine’s call to do what we can to assist our business community during these challenging times,” said BWC Administrator/CEO Stephanie McCloud.
The dividend follows a similar dividend in April, both made possible by BWC’s healthy investment returns on employer premiums, a declining number of injury claims, and prudent fiscal management. The dividend equals 100 percent of the premium employers paid in policy year 2019.
Approximately $184 million will go to local government taxing districts, such as counties, cities, townships and schools, and the remainder to private employers. BWC will first apply the dividend to an employer’s unpaid balance, then send a check for the rest. Checks will be mailed in five batches over the next week.
For a county breakdown of the dividend, visit this link on BWC’s website. Dividends for specific public employers are public record and can be found at this link. BWC’s Board of Directors approved a dividend of “up to” $1.5 billion at its Sept. 25 meeting. The final dividend amount was determined Oct. 2 after BWC’s “true-up” period concluded, where employers reconciled their premiums due for the 2019 policy year.
Additionally, back in May, the BWC started sending millions of face masks to Ohio's employer community to weaken the spread of COVID-19 under its "Protecting Ohio’s Workforce – We’ve Got You Covered" initiative. The BWC board recently approved a second rollout, which will begin in the coming weeks and continue over the next several months. The bureau is sending 23 million masks, virtually all made in Ohio, to employers in good standing at no impact to their premium.