Massachusetts has reduced the assessment rate employers pay to the state on workers’ compensation insurance policies, the Baker Administration announced Friday.
For fiscal 2018, which started July 1, employers will pay an assessment of 4.56 percent on their total insurance premium. It is the third straight year in which the state has reduced that rate, with rates of 5.6 percent in fiscal 2017 and 5.75 and 5.8 in the two years before that.
The rate is set each year by an agency within the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, which administers the workers’ compensation insurance system. That agency, the Department of Industrial Accidents, is funded through assessments on workers’ compensation policies, and self-insurance programs for employers operating in Massachusetts. The department collects statutory fines and fees.
All employers in Massachusetts are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance for their employees. That insurance pays for medical treatment for job-related injury or illness, covers compensation for lost wages and provides retraining for qualifying workers.
