WSIB Releases 2015 Premium Rates

Ontario's WSIB has released its 2015 premium rates for employers and rates have been frozen for the second year in a row for most employer rate groups. 

Premium rates are set for all employers within a particular rate group (or industry) and set as a percentage (%) of each $100 of insurable earnings. Industries with a higher likelihood of workplace injuries typically have higher premiums. These include:

• Form Work and Demolition ($18.31 per $100 of insurable earnings)
• Roofing ($14.80 per $100 of insurable earnings) 
• Logging ($13.04 per $100 of insurable earnings)

Comparatively, industires with lower workplace accident costs have lower premiums, such as Legal and Financial Services ($0.21 per $100 of insurable earnings). Click here to see the full 2015 Premium Rates table.

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Update: Not everyone happy about WSIB premium rate freeze. Industry group frustrated that rates have not decreased in line with safety improvements and sees continued high rates as "tax." Read more...

Impact of Firefighter Legislation:

• The only exception to this premium freeze is rate group 845 Local Government Services, which will see its rate increase by 28.57% from $2.24 to $2.88 per $100 insurance earnings, "as a result of expanded coverage under the presumptive legislation for firefighters.”
  

Other WSIB tidbits:

• Maximum insurable earnings are increasing $85,200 from $84,100 for 2015. This represents a 1.3% increase. The WSIB states that increases are directly linked to average income data collected by Stats Canada.

• In its continued efforts to improve its financial situation, the WSIB announced that its ratio of assets to liabilities ratio has improved from 56.9% as of December 31, 2012 to 64.5% as of March 31, 2014. It aims to reach 80% by 2022 and be fully 100% funded by 2027. You can learn more here.

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Have any WSIB related questions? Please contact Anna Aceto-Guerin or any member of the Clear Path team. We'd love to help. If you'd like to register for an upcoming learning session, you can learn more about Clear Path's NEER, WSIB, and Claims Management workshops here.

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