Yellowknife, NT (November 28, 2019) – The Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut (WSCC) have announced the 2020 employer assessment rates.
The workers’ compensation system provides a form of group insurance. The assessments employers pay are pooled into a fund called ‘the Workers’ Protection Fund’. This fund protects individual employers against lawsuits related to workplace injuries and is used to pay benefits and provide services to injured workers.
As the stewards of this fund, the WSCC evaluates and updates employer rates annually to ensure coverage of current and future claims costs for injured workers and to ultimately, sustain the Workers’ Protection Fund for the future.
This year, the average provisional target assessment rate per $100 of assessable payroll will be $2.40, a $0.30 increase from the average rate in 2019.
This provisional target rate is the rate employers would pay if there was only one rate for all employers. The amount each individual employer pays is based on their annual payroll and the group rate for their industry.
In 2020, the average rate is increasing by $0.30 because of higher claims costs and the requirement to build reserves to ensure the long term sustainability of the Workers’ Protection Fund.
WSCC’s operating costs remain unchanged. However, beginning in 2020 the costs that are associated with WSCC administration, safety promotion, regulation and enforcement will be allocated equally across all employers to promote fairness and accountability within collective liability.
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Maggie Collins
Communications Manager
T: (867) 920-3854
TF: 1 (800) 661-0792 ext. 3854