Yukon employers to obtain $10-million in rebates from Employees’ Compensation Board – Yukon Information

The Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board is giving employers rebates of $ 10 million this month.

Employers with a good account will receive discount checks based on the total premiums paid in 2020.

Heather Avery, spokesperson for the Workers’ Compensation Board, said the rebate will be paid directly into their accounts for employers with outstanding payments for the assessment rate. After the outstanding accounts have been settled, any remaining discount available will be issued as a check to these companies.

“We are pleased to be able to grant this discount due to the careful management of the compensation fund,” said President Kurt Dieckmann in a press release on January 21.

“It will bring valuable financial relief to employers in the Yukon, especially those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The rebate checks are made out of the Board of Directors Compensation Fund, which has enough cash to cover the total and ongoing costs of financing workers injured at work.

The compensation fund had a surplus of 141 percent at the end of 2020, so some of the money could be returned to employers.

Avery stated that the compensation fund is invested in the market. Potential surpluses or deficits are controlled by market fluctuations and not by the number of workers injured in the workplace in 2020. It was a pleasant surprise to end the year in surplus after the pandemic dampened markets earlier this year.

“The markets crashed when the pandemic first hit and they sat deep for a while, but when the markets came back the funds came back,” Avery said.

The fund’s target range is around 125 percent, and the Compensation Board’s fund has hovered around that range while the markets have been low. This target range keeps the evaluation rates stable and provides a buffer.

“If the funds are doing really well (in the market) and we have a surplus, it means we have more money than we need…. So we just give the money back to these employers, ”Avery said.

This is the fifth time the remuneration board has issued discount checks to employers. The last discounts were granted in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Avery found that the compensation agency saw a 13 percent decrease in compensation claims in the workplace in 2020 compared to 2019.

“This is the same across the country. In all countries, business-related shutdown requests declined with the first and second waves of COVID-19, ”Avery said.

In the Yukon, pandemic closures in the first half of the year resulted in many companies ceasing to work or employing fewer staff. Although fewer claims were made, the Board’s costs were not materially affected.

“We’re still paying out money on backlogs and operating costs,” said Avery.

The discount controls are intended to help employers affected by the pandemic in the Yukon.

“I think the board is happy to be in this financial situation, which can bring financial relief to employers in the Yukon. We know for sure that it has been a difficult year for business, ”said Avery.

Contact Gabrielle Plonka at [email protected]

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