TORONTO — Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) has announced it will rebate $1.5 billion in total to eligible Schedule 1 businesses from surplus insurance funds.
Analysis prepared by Ontario General Contractors Association (OGCA) director of government relations David Frame projects contactors will receive a total of $196 million in rebates out of annual premiums of $576 million.
The rebates were to be delivered to WSIB accounts the week of April 25. Frame reported in a memo to OGCA members that on April 25 the WSIB announced it is increasing the rebate to 34.02 per cent of 2020 or 2021 premiums from the previously announced 30 per cent for qualified employers.
The refund was possible due to the WSIB’s elimination of its unfunded liability (UFL) and other cost savings. In 2010 it had a UFL of $15 billion and employers were required to pay large increases to their premiums to help the board regain its footing. Construction employers were paying well over 50 per cent of their premiums to pay down the UFL.
In 2019 the system reached full funding and the WSIB over the last few years has sharply reduced premiums.
By 2021 the system reached 120 per cent funding. Frame reported. Even with the $1.5-billion refund, there will still remain more than $5 billion surplus funding.
“OGCA has been a leader in the employer community to reduce WSIB costs,” Frame wrote.
“With our colleagues in the Construction Employers Coalition we supported a fully funded compensation system and demanded the government and WSIB refund the surplus when financial health was obtained.”
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