Directors of Ohio's Bureau of Workers Compensation unanimously approveda proposal to rebate $1 billion in workers compensation premiums to 210,000 employers in the state.

The board also signed off on a base-rate reduction of 2.1 percent for private employers for teh 2014 policy year.

Under the deal, rebate checks ranging from $5 to more than $3 million will go to businesses, local governments and schools by July.

Also pending is a request by Gov. John Kasich to the state legislature to authorize the workers compensation agency to allow it to move toward a prospective-payment system, subsequently requesting its board to issue an additional $900 million in premium credits to employers in order to mitigate transition costs.

The two are in addition to a court decision in March that could provide businesses in the state another $860 million.

The state is appealing a decision by a Cleveland judge that awarded some employers $860 million deemed overpayments to the fund.

The state argues that the decision was wrong on both the facts and the law.

At the same time, the president of the group representing the workers in the lawsuit urged the state to immediately refund the $860 million the court ordered them to repay 270,000 employers.

Earl Stein, president of Pay Us Back Ohio BWC Inc., said that was the way the BWC could really show its “commitment to economic development” in the state.

Special Reports /

$1B in Rebates Approved by Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation

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