New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board Announces Adjustments for COVID-19

The New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board (NYCIRB) announced two changes that will positively impact employers:

1. Employers who are paying employees sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic will pay a less-expensive rate for Workers’ Compensation insurance.
   • There is a new classification for those employees – code 8873–Telecommuter Reassigned Employees.
   • The classification rate will mirror the rate for code 8810–Clerical Employees.
   • This classification only applies for 30 days past the date that the stay at home order is lifted.
2. COVID19 claims will be excluded from the experience rating calculation.
   • Claims with a diagnosis of COVID-19 and an accident date on or after December 1, 2019 are to be excluded from the experience rating calculations of individual employers

Read the full letter here.

Similar changes are being adopted in other states as well. The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) recently published Manual Rule Changes related to workers’ compensation premium calculations. Click here to our news brief on these NCCI Changes.

Action for Employers:

Employers should track the payroll that is assignable to these reclassified employees to help with audits and billing. GKG has a tracking tool available for all clients; contact your GKG team if interested.

Depending on your preference, most carriers will make the change mid-term and/or pick it up at audit.