OHIO Employers to pay more for workers' comp

The increase could kill some businesses, chamber official says.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Businesses and public employers will pay at least $800 million more in workers' compensation premiums as the state, citing the poor economy, plans to end a series of reductions dating to 1996.
The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation will recommend to its oversight commission to end the rebates to keep the workers' compensation system completely funded, bureau spokesman Jim Samuel said Wednesday.
The five-member commission consisting of business and labor representatives sets the agency's investment policy and approves rate changes or premium reductions.
Beginning July 1, businesses would pay about $600 million more in premiums. Public employers such as schools will pay $200 million more after January.
Companies that pay electronically can pay 50 percent in August and the rest in November, Samuel said.
Despite the best efforts of the state and the business community to make employers aware of the increase, "this will come as a major shock because they haven't thought about it," Andy Doehrel, president of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday.
"Without a doubt there are going to be some businesses that this could be deadly to," he said. "It's that major of a change in a very tough economic time."
Past reductions
In the past, Ohio was in an "enviable" position compared with other states because of the reductions, Doehrel added.
The state will still offer discounts to employers that participate in certain programs, Samuel said. Those include:
UPrograms to create drug-free workplaces.
UA 10-step program that emphasizes safety and ways to manage workers' comp claims.
UA program that reduces premiums if a company pays injured workers their full salary instead of going through workers' comp.
House Speaker Larry Householder said his staff is exploring whether the Legislature can do anything to help.
During a bad economy, workers' comp premiums and "other expenses like that on business do nothing but have a negative effect on employment," said Householder, a Glenford Republican.
Returned $9.3 billion
The reductions began after the agency decided in 1995 to keep its surplus at $3 billion and return any additional money to employers. Over the years the bureau returned $9.3 billion.
Last July, for example, the bureau provided a one-time refund of $600 million, or a 75 percent reduction in businesses' workers' comp premiums. In 2001, the bureau announced a similar refund on premiums that totaled $1.4 billion.
"We understand people don't like what's happening," Samuel said. "But if you were in another state, you wouldn't have got the $9 billion we gave back over last seven years."
Ohio workers' comp premiums remain 39 percent lower on average than in 1995, Samuel said.