The scandal-wracked Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation is promising that the state's businesses will not have to pay more for comp insurance despite more than $215 million in investment losses.
BWC, in a statement issued Friday, said that the loss==which has been attributed to unauthorized actions by a fund manager==represented just 1.3 percent of its $15.5 billion total investment portfolio and "employer premiums will not be increased."
Revelations about the agency's losses last month forced the resignation of the BWC Director James Conrad after it was disclosed that a fund investment manager could not account for up to $12 million in rare coins he had purchased for the BWC.
The actions of former fund manager Tom Noe==a major Republican fundraiser who is now the target of federal and state criminal investigations==have become a political issue for state Democrats as Gov. Bob Taft and other Republican politicians have returned more than $100,000 they received from Mr. Noe.
Meanwhile, the state attorney general is suing MDLA Active Duration Fund Ltd. to recover $215 million in BWC money that it lost. The lawsuit charges, among other things, that the firm lied about exceeding limits on leveraging of fund monies.
BWC, in its statement, reassured that "the State Insurance Fund is stable and 100 percent fully funded, meaning the agency has the resources it needs to pay the cost of every worker claim filed."
The agency noted that an investment fund review ordered by Gov. Taft is underway and stated that the investment funds that are under scrutiny "represented only two of approximately 149 funds in which BWC invests."
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