Canadian Payroll Reporter

3 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015 Ontario's WSIB proposing Ontario's WSIB proposing to overhaul rate-setting process to overhaul rate-setting process BY SHEILA BRAWN ONTARIO'S WORKPLACE SAFETY and Insurance Board (WSIB) is proposing a new rate- setting framework to change the way it classifies employers and sets premium rates. It would also eliminate the board's experience rating programs. The proposal is still at the preliminary stage and the board has not yet set a date for imple- menting the changes, other than saying they would not happen before 2018. It has held infor- mation sessions with employers and workers and is now giving stakeholders until early October to submit feedback. "Ontario's workplaces have changed a lot over the past 30 years, and the way we fund workers' compensation needs to change to reflect that evolution," says Jean-Serge Bidal, executive director of strategic revenue policy at the WSIB. The proposed framework includes the following key fea- tures: New classification method: The board is proposing to imple- ment a new classification system that it says will be simpler and easier to understand. Currently, for setting premium rates, the board groups Schedule 1 em- ployers (those not individually liable to pay benefits directly to injured workers) into nine in- dustry classes, 155 rate groups and 840 classification units us- ing a Standard Industrial Clas- sification (SIC) system. Each rate group pays a differ- ent premium rate based on the collective costs of all employers in the group. All employers in a rate group pay the same premi- um rate. The board says the current classification model is outdated. "Since the creation of the SIC system, the structure of the On- tario economy has changed dra- matically and, as professor Har- ry Arthurs and Douglas Stanley (who wrote funding/pricing re- ports for the WSIB) identified, so too has the statistical system aimed at capturing and group- ing industries," the board says in a paper. The current model is also "based on an assumption which has been proven to be wrong in many instances — the assump- tion that employers undertaking a similar business activity or en- gaged in the same industry will present a similar 'risk' to the sys- tem," adds Bidal. The WSIB recognizes there can be significant differences in workplace injuries between two employers within the same in- dustry and of the same size and operations, based on workplace culture, health and safety and other factors, he says. "As a result, some employers feel that they are paying for the claims experience of other em- ployers in their rate group, while others are benefitting based on the better claims experience of other employers." The board is proposing to replace this system with a new model adapted from the North News CPR | September 2015 see 74 PER CENT on page 8 50% of Canadians are living pay cheque to pay cheque. Canada's payroll professionals are responsible for ensuring that $865 billion in annual wages and taxable benefits get paid to employees, accurately and on time. PAYROLL PROFESSIONALS – KEEPING CANADA PAID.™ NATIONAL PAYROLL WEEK S E P T E M B E R 1 4 - 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 1":30--$"t/18 8IBUJGZPVEJEOU SFDFJWFZPVS PAY CHEQUE ON TIME? SFDFJWFZPV

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