WARREN State panel gives WCI extension on financial plan

The company's good safety record worked in its favor, a state official said.
WARREN -- Members of a state panel that had challenged WCI Steel's ability to continue paying its own workers' compensation costs have decided to give the troubled steel company 60 more days to resolve its financial woes.
The Self-Insured Review Panel of the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation had scheduled a hearing Wednesday for WCI in Columbus, but BWC spokesman Jeremy Jackson said the members agreed to a 60-day extension.
WCI is in the middle of a restructuring process after reporting losses of $17.5 million in the first half of fiscal 2003. Jackson said bureau officials will give the company more time to complete a plan aimed at restoring profitability.
"WCI is a pretty good company, and they do a good job of making workplace safety a priority," Jackson said. "I think that contributed to the decision."
WCI, a major Trumbull County employer with about 1,800 hourly and salaried workers, has been self-insured for workers' compensation since 1988.
Estimate disputed
The company has estimated it would have to pay about $6.5 million a year for coverage under the state BWC plan, more than three times what the company spent last year. Records show WCI spent $1.9 million on workers' compensation costs in 2002 and spent $700,000 in the first half of fiscal 2003.
Jim Samuel, BWC chief of corporate affairs, has questioned the WCI estimate. He also argued that, if WCI was operating under a bureau policy, coverage would continue for injured workers even if the company no longer existed.