Gov. DeWine Requests $5 Billion In Dividends For Ohio Employers

COLUMBUS, OHIO – As employers across the state continue to feel the economic crunch brought on by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday requested that the Bureau of Workers Compensation send up to $5 billion in dividends to employers across Ohio.

If approved by the bureau's Board of Directors next week, the move would boost the amount of dividends issued by state officials to a total of $8 billion this year, according to a news release issued by the governor’s office.

The $5 billion would be the agency’s third dividend of at least $1 billion since the pandemic began and the largest one-time dividend issued, the release said. The bureau distributed $1.54 billion in April and $1.34 billion in October. The $5 billion represents four times the total dividends that the bureau collected from its members during policy year 2019.

‘This pandemic is unprecedented, and continues to financially impact Ohio employers and businesses,” DeWine said in the release. “Issuing these dividends is important. This is about keeping businesses open and people employed.”

As part of the governor’s request, public and private employers in Franklin County would receive about $559 million while employers in Cuyahoga County would receive $528 million. The City of Columbus would be in line for the biggest payout provided to a single employer with a total of $64 million being requested for county workers.

Bureau of Workers Compensation officials said that in addition to the agency being asked to issue its largest one-time sum of dividends, the number of times it has sent money back to employers in a single year also represents a first in a year marked with them because of the global health crisis.

“Unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions,” BWC Administrator and CEO Stephanie McCloud said in the news release. “Even so, the State Insurance Fund is well positioned to cover our injured workers for years to come.”

The Bureau of Workers Compensation’s Board of Directors is scheduled to meet Monday, when it is expected to vote on the request. The bureau provides workers compensation benefits to about 245,000 private employers across Ohio and about 4,000 public employers including cities, counties and public schools.

“As Ohio businesses confront the economic challenges of a COVID world, this kind of financial relief can be the difference between closing and staying open,” Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said in the release. “We don’t want Ohio businesses and the jobs they create to be a casualty of the pandemic.”