4123-17-32. Self-insuring employer assessment based upon paid compensation

The administrator of workers' compensation, with the advice and consent of the bureau of workers' compensation board of directors, has authority to determine and levy against self-insuring employers amounts to be paid to support the safety and hygiene fund, the administrative cost fund, the portion of the surplus fund that is mandatory and the portion of the surplus fund used for claims reimbursement for self-insuring employers under division (H) of section 4123.512 of the Revised Code, pursuant to sections 4121.12, 4121.37, 4121.66, 4123.34, 4123.342, and 4123.35 of the Revised Code in conjunction with rule 4123-19-01 of the Administrative Code. The administrator hereby sets the self-insuring employer assessments to be effective July 1, 2020, for the period July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, payable in two equal remittances by February 28, 2021, and August 31, 2021, as follows:

(A) The assessments shall be on the basis of the paid compensation attributable to the individual self-insuring employer as a fraction of the total amount of paid compensation for the previous calendar year attributable to all amenable self-insuring employers.

(B) Paid compensation means all amounts paid by a self-insuring employer for living maintenance benefits, all amounts for compensation paid pursuant to sections 4121.63, 4121.67, 4123.56, 4123.57, 4123.58, 4123.59, 4123.60 and 4123.64 of the Revised Code, all amounts paid as wages in lieu of such compensation, all amounts paid in lieu of such compensation under a non-occupational accident and sickness program fully funded by the self-insuring employer, and all amounts paid by a self-insuring employer for a violation of a specific safety standard pursuant to section 35 of article II, Ohio Constitution and section 4121.47 of the Revised Code. Any reimbursement received from the surplus fund pursuant to section 4123.512 of the Revised Code by a self-insuring employer for any such payments or compensation paid shall be applied to reduce the amount of paid compensation reported in the year in which the reimbursement is made. Any amount recovered by the self-insuring employer under section 4123.931 of the Revised Code and any amount that is determined not to have been payable to a claimant in any final administrative or judicial proceeding shall be deducted, in the year collected, from the amount of paid compensation reported.

(C) The assessments shall be computed for all self-insuring employers operating in Ohio by multiplying the following rates by the individual self-insuring employer's paid compensation for calendar year 2019:

(1) Safety and hygiene fund: 0.0100.

(2) Administrative cost fund, BWC: 0.0950.

(3) Administrative cost fund, IC: 0.0826.

(4) Surplus fund (mandatory): 0.0150.

(D) The assessment to fund the portion of the surplus fund that is used for claims reimbursement for all self-insuring employers operating in Ohio who have not made an election to opt out of the right to reimbursement under the provisions of division (H) of section 4123.512 of the Revised Code shall be computed by multiplying the following rate by the individual self-insuring employer's paid compensation for calendar year 2019:

Surplus fund (disallowed claims reimbursement): 0.0060.

(E) An employer who no longer is a self-insuring employer in Ohio or who no longer is operating in this state shall continue to pay assessments for administrative costs and for the portion of the surplus fund that is mandatory. The assessments shall be computed by such employer by multiplying the following rates by the individual employer's paid compensation for calendar year 2018:

(1) Administrative cost fund, BWC: 0.0950.

(2) Administrative cost fund, IC: 0.0826.

(3) Surplus fund (mandatory): 0.0150.

(F) If the paid compensation for a self-insuring employer for calendar year 2019 is less than fourteen thousand eight hundred seven dollars and fifty cents, the minimum assessments shall be paid as follows:

(1) Safety and hygiene fund: $ 148.08.

(2) Administrative cost fund, BWC: $ 1, 406.71.

(3) Administrative cost fund, IC: $ 1, 223.10.

(4) Surplus fund (mandatory): $ 222.11.

An employer who no longer is a self-insuring employer in Ohio or no longer is operating in this state and who has less than fourteen thousand eight hundred seven dollars and fifty cents, in paid compensation for calendar year 2018 shall have a reduced minimum assessment. The minimum assessment shall be ninety per cent of the above minimum assessments in this paragraph in the year after becoming inactive, eighty per cent in the following year, seventy per cent in the following year, and so forth, being reduced ten per cent each year, until the assessment is phased out over ten years. The bureau may, in its discretion, permit an employer to pay its total assessment obligation under this paragraph in a single payment, discounted for present value at a rate determined by the bureau. An employer electing to pay its assessment obligations in a single payment must continue to administer self-insured claims and pay compensation and benefits pursuant to paragraph (C) of rule 4123-19-05 of the Administrative Code.

(G) If an individual self-insuring employer has become self-insured in the last five years (on or after July 1, 2015) paid compensation shall be as defined in paragraph (B) of this rule and shall additionally include compensation paid in calendar year 2019 by the state insurance fund for claim costs directly attributable to the employer prior to becoming self-insured.

(H) The initial assessment to a self-insuring employer in its first calendar year of operation as a self-insuring employer shall be prorated to cover the time period that self-insurance was in effect, but shall not be less than the minimum assessment for a self-insuring employer as provided in paragraph (F) of this rule.

(I) Pursuant to rule 4123-19-15 of the Administrative Code, the following assessment, to be billed and payable in two equal remittances by February 28, 2021, and August 31, 2021, shall be computed for all self-insuring employers by multiplying the following rate by the individual self-insuring employer's paid compensation for calendar year 2019:

Self-insuring employer guaranty fund: 0.1172.

(J) Beginning with the assessment remittance billed and payable by August 31, 2019, all self-insuring employers must pay assessments under this rule using the online payment offering on the bureau's website. The bureau may waive the online payment requirement with written justification and supporting documentation, satisfactory to the bureau, from the self-insuring employer and filed with the bureau by the payment due date on the assessment remittance. The written justification and supporting documentation must demonstrate the self-insuring employer's inability to remit payment through the online payment offering on the bureau's website.

(K) If an employer fails to pay the assessment when due, the administrator may add a late fee penalty of not more than five hundred dollars to the assessment plus an additional penalty amount as follows:

(1) For an assessment from sixty-one to ninety days past due, the prime interest rate, multiplied by the assessment due;

(2) For assessment from ninety-one to one hundred twenty days past due, the prime interest rate plus two per cent, multiplied by the assessment due;

(3) For an assessment from one hundred twenty-one to one hundred fifty days past due, the prime interest rate plus four per cent, multiplied by the assessment due;

(4) For an assessment from one hundred fifty-one to one hundred eighty days past due, the prime interest rate plus six per cent, multiplied by the assessment due;

(5) For an assessment from one hundred eighty-one to two hundred ten days past due, the prime interest rate plus eight per cent, multiplied by the assessment due;

(6) For each additional thirty-day period or portion thereof that an assessment remains past due after it has remained past due for more than two hundred ten days, the prime interest rate plus eight per cent, multiplied by the assessment due.

For purposes of this paragraph, "prime interest rate" means the average bank prime rate, and the administrator shall determine the prime interest rate in the same manner as a county auditor determines the average bank prime rate under section 929.02 of the Revised Code.

Effective: 7/1/2020
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 4121.12, 4121.121
Rule Amplifies: 4121.37, 4121.66, 4123.34, 4123.342, 4123.343, 4123.35
Prior Effective Dates: 01/01/1990, 07/01/1990, 07/01/1991, 07/01/1992, 07/01/1993, 01/01/1994, 07/01/1994, 01/01/1995, 07/01/1995, 07/01/1996, 07/01/1997, 07/01/1998, 07/01/1999, 07/01/2000, 07/01/2001, 07/01/2002, 07/01/2003, 10/06/2003, 07/01/2004, 07/01/2005, 07/01/2006, 07/01/2007, 07/01/2008, 07/01/2009, 07/01/2010, 07/01/2011, 07/01/2012, 04/22/2013, 07/01/2013, 07/01/2014, 07/01/2015, 07/01/2016, 07/01/2017, 07/01/2018, 07/01/2019