Roofers wary of lower workers' comp rates

Tallahassee - Pointing to issues such as heavy demand for repairs after hurricanes and an increase in young, inexperienced workers, a roofing-contractors industry group Tuesday argued against lowering workers' compensation insurance rates for roofers.

By Jim Saunders

Leaders of the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association urged state regulators to freeze the roofing industry's rates, rather than approve a decrease that would take effect in 2025.

The arguments came during a hearing held by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation to consider a proposal to reduce rates for employers by an overall average of 1 percent.

While it might seem counterintuitive for an industry group to oppose reducing rates, leaders of the roofing contractors association — which has a self-insurance fund — expressed concerns about stability and a potential increase in future claims.

"FRSA believes that considering recent hurricanes and those over the past few years, we will begin to see more inexperienced labor hired as contractors struggle to keep up with the growing demand for work," Lisa Pate, the association's executive director, said. "Many older workers are retiring, and the pull for younger employees who want to work on roofs is dwindling. This trend will place more inexperienced workers on roofs and job sites and open contractors up to additional exposure. It's only a matter of time before injuries and claims increase and rates swing in the opposite direction. Consistency in the rates will help mitigate this exposure."

The National Council on Compensation Insurance, better known as NCCI, proposes rates each year to regulators for the workers' compensation insurance industry. In August, NCCI proposed an overall average 1 percent decrease for 2025, seeking to continue a string of years of reduced rates.

As an example, regulators approved a 15.1 percent decrease that took effect this year and an 8.4 percent decrease that took effect in 2023.

During Tuesday's hearing, NCCI officials presented their 2025 proposal. A summary released in August by NCCI described the workers' compensation system as "healthy" and said that while "consumer inflation has been elevated, the inflation for workers' compensation medical costs remained stable." It also said a combination of continued claims "frequency declines and moderate benefit costs at or below the level of wage growth, have continued to put downward pressure on overall WC (workers' compensation) system costs relative to collected premiums."

But the proposed overall 1 percent decrease reflects numerous types of employers. Pate said what is known as a roofing rate "class code" would see a 7.89 percent decrease. She described such a rate as "unsustainable."

Tuesday's hearing came six days after the Category 3 Hurricane Milton made landfall in Sarasota County and caused property damage across the state. It also came after Hurricane Helene caused widespread damage in September.

"Our experience has taught us that immediately after a hurricane, the large influx of inexperienced workers into potentially insecure environments can quickly lead to an increase in claims costs," Debbie Guidry, administrator of the association's self-insurance fund, said.

It was not immediately clear Tuesday when regulators will decide whether to approve the NCCI proposal or require changes.