Thousands of employers in Ohio who were overcharged for workers’ compensation insurance premiums will have to wait at least a few more weeks before collecting a share of the $420 million court settlement, according to one of the attorneys involved.
The settlement in July 2014 ended a class-action lawsuit against the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation that dragged on for years. It created a fund to repay businesses that were overcharged for workers’ compensation premiums from July 2001 to June 2009.
While case was settled and approved last July, the deadline for filing a claim was in October. The hope was that the money would be paid in February or March. But Stuart Garson, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, said that distributions probably will go out until the first half of May.
About 29,000 claims seeking $261 million were filed; 300,000 employers had been eligible in the case.
Garson said about 95 percent of the claims were mostly straightforward, but others have been more complicated to resolve. They include those involving businesses that have filed for bankruptcy and raise questions about who is entitled to the money.
“They have been difficult to process,” he said.
An earlier court ruling said Ohio’s state insurance fund for injured workers set up an illegal rating system that resulted in employers being overcharged nearly $860 million. The original class-action lawsuit filed in 2007 asked for $1.3 billion in damages. The state settled the case last year rather than appealing to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Ohio BWC administrator Steve Buehrer said at the time of the settlement that there have been major changes to the system. Bueher said the BWC has improved the way premiums and discounts are calculated and updated billing practices. Premiums are continuing to go down as a result of the changes, he said.
Both sides said they were satisfied with the settlement.
In both 2013 and 2014 the BWC announced rebates of $1 billion each year to eligible Ohio employers.
Topics Workers' Compensation Ohio
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