Livermore Falls voters approve more money for workers comp insurance

Dec. 18--LIVERMORE FALLS -- Residents voted Tuesday to transfer $25,213 from the undesignated fund to cover an increase in the town's workers compensation insurance premium.

The estimated contribution for the 2020 renewal is $48,703, factoring in a 3% dedicated member credit of $1,670, according to an email Town Manager Stephen Gould received from a senior underwriter for the Maine Municipal Association Risk Management Services in November.

The town had raised $23,490 in June for the premium.

Less than a dozen residents, including five selectmen, attended the special town meeting at the Town Office.

The workers compensation experience modification rate has increased 115% as of Jan. 1, 2020, according to Susan Caston, senior underwriter for MMA's Risk Management Services' email to Gould.

"Experience rating is a procedure that modifies an employer's premium to reflect expected

experience based on the employers prior workers' compensation claim history. This procedure

compares an employer's loss history to what was "expected" for that type of business based on

the reported payrolls. The experience rating calculation gives more weight to the frequency of

injuries, but does not overly penalize an employer for the seriousness of one particular claim," according to the state of Maine website.

"Workers' compensation provides for benefits for occupational injuries or disease suffered by an

employee, regardless of fault. The benefits include payment of medical services and lost wages,

subject to a limit set by law. Workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy for the coverage of

work related injuries by the employer," according to the state site.

There is one severity loss that is having a large influence on the town's modification experience rate and it was from the 2018 year, according to Caston's email.

This will affect the 2021 and 2022 experience modifications and the modification will likely not decrease until 2023, she wrote.

As of Nov. 25, the town's workers' compensation insurer has paid out $96,846, including all medical bills in an ongoing employee injury case, Gould previously said.

The injury occurred in 2018.

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