The Million Dollar Question

How do you know if your business or organization is being charged the correct amount for workers compensation insurance? I’m not talking about whether or not you think your premium is too high. I’m asking what procedure do you have in place to confirm that what your business actually does is properly reflected in your rate classification? I’m waiting…OK that’s what I thought.

Does This Describe Your Company?

When you first went into the widget manufacturing business you understood that if you were going to have employees, you were going to have to buy workers compensation insurance. (If you didn’t realize it now would be a good time to read my previous article). So you called your insurance agent and said you were about to hire your first employee. Your agent had always done a great job on your car insurance so you figured she’s probably an expert at workers comp insurance as well. The agent came out and looked around your new business. She then studied her workers comp rating manual from ABC insurance company and picked one of the available 330 classifications approved by the Pennsylvania Compensation Rating Bureau (PCRB) and assigned it to your business. The insurance company then charged you a premium based on your classification and your payroll. End of story right?

Now It’s 10 Years Later

Congratulations! Not only have you remained in business for 10 years you’ve really prospered. Now instead of just one employee, you have 50. And boy has your business changed. No longer do you just make widgets, you distribute, install, and service them. In fact, you don’t really manufacture them at all. Five years ago you decided it was cheaper to outsource the manufacturing part of the business. Throughout this time your agent checked in with you and steadily increased your payroll as your number of employees increased. But she hasn’t walked through your facility in 10 years and doesn’t understand that your business has fundamentally changed. Therefore, you’re still paying your workers comp premiums based on a manufacturing rate. Think a manufacturing rate might be higher than a service rate?

Is Misclassification Pretty Rare?

NO! In fact there are companies out there that do nothing but audit organizations’ workers comp premiums looking for mistakes. The industry consensus is that anywhere from 60%-75% of all companies have some sort of miscalculation figured into their premium.

What Could that Mean to My Organization?

Assume that the rate for widget manufacturing is $8 for each $100 of payroll. We’ll further assume that 40 of your 50 employees are currently classified as such and as a group represent $1,200,000 of payroll. Your unadjusted workers comp premium for this group would be $96,000 per year. But what if your employees were properly classified at the lesser widget service rate? For this example we’ll assume the rate to service widgets is $5 for each $100 of payroll. Well, you just saved yourself $36,000 a year. Multiply that by the number of years you’ve been misclassified and you may start sobbing uncontrollably!

There are risks of injuries on the job that range from a paper cut to loss of a limb. When an accident occurs in a workplace, employees fill out a report to submit a workers’ compensation claim. Most claims that are filed are legitimate and will pay for an employee’s damages. Sometimes, though, dishonest workers make an exaggerated claim or say that an injury was work-related when it wasn’t.

Take Valerie Scroggins, for example. She told her bosses at New York City Transit that she hurt her shoulder on the job and couldn’t work. She collected $13,348 in workers’ compensation for that injury. But at the same time, Ms. Scoggins went out on a European tour with her band and had no trouble playing drums. A videotape of her banging away in a concert is one of the pieces of evidence that led to her arrest and charges for grand larceny and insurance fraud.

These false claims can be disastrous for a business owner. Some claims can be so costly that they can cause them to lose their business. That is why employers should pay close attention to the claims that are made in order to weed out any workers’ compensation fraud.

Some red flags that can identify false claims are:

Accidents that happen on Mondays. For instance, an employee will hurt his back over the weekend (perhaps in a softball game or painting his friend’s garage) and come in to work on Monday without disclosing the injury. A few minutes into his shift and- surprise! His back goes out while picking up a box.

Nobody to corroborate the accident. If there are no witnesses to the injury, there is a higher probability that it is a false claim.

More and more people are shopping on-line, and it is only increasing. The security and convenience of e-commerce is, over time more and more people buy more confidence. And, in the selection and the increase in the number of people in the shops, prices are falling, as sellers know that the greater competitiveness.

This is true for many things. It certainly applies to car insurance. Now, the consumer can shop online for a special rate for automobile insurance. The addition, many Web sites now give you a citation for comparing different companies save even more time and money. Now you can use your data only once, not 4 or 5 different times. They do not need to wait to maintain for the next operators. And of course, you can comfort of their homes at any time of any day. And all for free.

With a multitude of Internet sites, you can, in just a few minutes a bid. Something should be noted, however, that the accuracy of the quotation. Take the image of an estimate. If it looks promising, please contact the insurer, either by telephone or e-mail. Or spend in the office, if you are in the vicinity. Let the officers know you are interested and you want to know more.

he importance of life insurance

The new zuteilend impartial of the threat of a potential loss, from one organization to another, in return for a reasonable royalty is generally seen as an insurance policy.

Life insurance is insurance or an agreement between the owner of the insurance contract and insurance companies, for which the insurer agrees to pay a sum of money to the appearance of the person insured or persons’ death.

Millions of people affordable life insurance to protect their income by their disability, complementary sickness, accident, health and life, and that companies offer a number of insurance coverage risk factors.

The insured events are mainly related to the life or the lives of the people in policy, as death due to an accident or illness.

On the life insurance purchased restore income, which would be lost if a worker passed away. Revenues are exempt from tax, and can help plan for retirement, estate planning, cash accumulation and transfer of assets to beneficiaries.

Given the competition in the market, there is an insurance offered and their pricing policies also vary depending on the nature of the life insurance affordable.

Long term health care insurance is relatively new when compared to other policies. Furthermore, there seems to be a lot of differences in policies offered from insurer to insurer. Therefore, if you must get the best for far less, you must take the time to get useful information. Here are things to be sure about…

You need to be really sure of the type of coverage you’ll be most comfortable with. Would you like to spend your last days in a nursing home or would you like in-home care? Would you like to ensure your daily benefits then will be in tandem with the cost of long term care when you need it? Do you know which features provide the particular value you want from this policy?

These are questions you must have clear answers for if you do not want to buy the wrong policy or pay a lot more for what you do not really need or want. Once you get these right you can save if you do the following…