Ohio OKs additional $5B comp dividend

The board of directors of the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation on Monday agreed to distribute an additional $5 billion dividend to ease the impact of the pandemic on the state’s employers — bringing the total distributed by the bureau to $8 billion this year. This dividend is four times the total premiums collected from Ohio employers in policy year 2019.

On Wednesday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine asked the bureau to consider an additional dividend to help keep “businesses open and people employed,” he said in a statement.

The BWC will apply this new dividend to employers’ unpaid balances first and will distribute checks for the remainder in mid-December. The agency issued a $1.54 billion dividend in April and another $1.34 billion in October.

The agency provides workers compensation insurance to about 245,000 private employers and 4,000 public employers in the state.

More insurance and workers compensation news on the coronavirus crisis here.