California Workers’ Compensation Costs Dropping

The good news, at least for California employers, is that the 2012 overhaul of the state’s system of compensating workers for job-related illnesses and injuries appears to be having its stated effect. Although the changes – a deal between employers and unions that drew Gov. Jerry Brown’s blessing – increased cash benefits to disabled workers, it also cracked down on medical costs. By 2015, the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau says in a new report, employers’ average insurance premiums, which had topped $6 per $100 of payroll in 2003, had dropped to $2.86.

The WCIRB’s recommendations are advisory; insurers are free to charge whatever they believe the market will bear.