Massachusetts Lowers Employer Assessment for Workers’ Compensation

The Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA) reduced the assessment that private employers pay to the state on workers’ compensation policies to 5.6 percent of the policy premium for the new fiscal year, down from 5.75 percent during the last fiscal year.

The new assessment rate is for policies that began on July 1.

The assessment rate for self-insured employers remains at 5.31 percent of the policy premium while the assessment rate for private employers that have opted out of participating in the state’s second injury fund will remain 1.66 percent, according to a memo from Linda Edmonds Turner, director of DIA.

This is the second year in a row the assessment has been lowered.

The DIA administers the workers’ compensation system and acts as a court to settle disputes. DIA is funded through assessments on workers’ compensation policies and self-insurance programs.

While the assessment on employers by DIA is going down, workers’ compensation rates rose an average 1.5 percent beginning July 1. The last time Massachusetts raised workers’ compensation rates was in 2001, when the rates rose by an average of 1 percent.

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