Actual Claim Costs

Actual Claim Costs are all costs associated with a claim for the duration of the claim. These may include (but are not limited to) direct costs of wage-loss, medical aid, pension and rehabilitation expenses for the employer's injured workers within a specified timeframe.

For additional information, refer to Policy 31.05.05 - Rate Setting for the General Body of Employers (Employers in Class E)

Alternative Assessment Procedure (AAP)

Generally, employers report the payroll of their workers to the province where the work is performed; however, due to an interjurisdictional agreement between all Canadian jurisdictions (the Alternative Assessment Procedure), employers in the trucking, courier, bussing and Bulk Oil, Gas, Fertilizer industries may elect to report their workers' earnings to the worker's home province. Where they have elected to do this, they are not required to prorate payroll between provinces.

For additional information, refer to:

Annual Payroll Reporting

Annual Payroll Reporting is the requirement of all Manitoba covered employers to report their previous year's actual payroll and their estimated payroll for the current year by the last day of February. The payroll figures they provide are used in the calculation to determine the employer's annual premium.

For additional information, refer to Reporting Payroll.

Assessable Payroll

When employers provide their payroll information, they are asked to report both their gross payroll and their assessable payroll. Assessable payroll applies an annual maximum earnings level, or cap, for each worker. For most employers, the gross and assessable payroll amounts are the same; however, if any worker earns more than the maximum assessable earnings level assigned in a given year, the employer only needs to report that worker's earnings up to the maximum and is not required to pay a premium on the amount the worker earns in excess of the maximum.

For additional information, refer to:

Assessment Rate

Each year, the WCB establishes assessment rates for each individual employer. Assessment rates are calculated by examining the costs associated with a particular account over a specified time frame. There are two kinds of costs:

  • direct costs of wage-loss, medical aid, pension and rehabilitation expenses for the employer's injured workers within a specified timeframe; and
  • indirect costs of running the workers compensation system that are no longer apportioned to any one claim, for example, administration costs, claims older than the current rate model uses to factor employer experience, cost relief, the Worker Advisor Office, Employer Advisor Office, Workplace Safety and Health, etc.

These, along with a calculation that represents the collective injury experience of employers with comparable risk are used to determine an employer's assessment rate.

For additional information, refer to:

Average Rate

The Average Rate is the rate all Class E employers (the general pool of employers, which excludes those employers who are self-insured) would pay to cover the cost of the WCB's required revenue if there was no experience rating by employer or industry. 

For additional information, refer to:

Balancing Adjustment

Before running the rate model, the WCB budgets for the required revenue for the upcoming year. Based on this information, the Average Rate for the year is set.

Due to the actuarial limits established in the model to prevent employers' rates from increasing or decreasing too quickly, the model may not generate enough or may generate too much revenue based on the established Average Rate.

To ensure the WCB meets its annual revenue requirement, a final balancing adjustment is applied equally to all employers in Class E.

For additional information, refer to:

Class E Employers

The WCB covers approximately 76 per cent of workers in the province of Manitoba. A regulation of The Workers Compensation Act identifies which industries are exempt from participating in the workers' compensation system. Most employers in the Province of Manitoba who do not have mandatory coverage can opt into the WCB system and pay for optional WCB insurance coverage.

For additional information, refer to:

Classification

Employers registered with the WCB are generally assigned to one industry classification based on their primary business activity(s). In certain circumstances, an employer may be provided with more than one classifications if they operate distinct business activities that are not reliant on one another for operations and according to specific WCB criteria. The nine industry classification sectors are as follows:

Sector 1 - Forestry and Agriculture

Sector 2 - Mines, Quarries and Oil Wells

Sector 3 - Manufacturing

Sector 4 - Construction

Sector 5 - Transportation, Communication and Storage

Sector 6 - Trade

Sector 7 - Service

Sector 8 - Public Administration

Sector 9 - Optional Coverage (by application) 

There are approximately 195 classifications within the industry sectors.

For additional information, refer to:

Collective Liability

The WCB's assessment rate setting system is based on a system of individual experience rating and collective liability. Collective liability ensures indirect costs of running the workers compensation system that are not apportioned to any one claim are shared across the field of all registered employers. For example, administration costs, cost relief and claims older than the current rate model uses to factor an employer's experience would fall within the scope of collective liability.

For additional information, refer to Policy 31.05.05 - Rate Setting for the General Body of Employers (Employers in Class E)

Cost Relief

Cost Relief occurs when claim costs are moved from the experience record of an individual employer to the collective cost pool shared by all Class E employers (the general pool of employers, which excludes those employers who are self-insured).

For additional information, refer to Policy 31.05.10 - Cost Relief/Cost Transfers.

Cost Transfer

Cost transfers occur when claim costs are moved from one employer to another. Generally, these occur when a non-injury employer or one of their workers was the cause of the accident and resulting injury. Once the claim costs have been moved, they no longer impact the rate of the injured worker's employer; however, they will impact the rate of the employer to whom they were moved.

For additional information, refer to Policy 31.05.10 - Cost Relief/Cost Transfers.

Director

The Act permits individuals listed with the Manitoba Companies Office as directors of incorporated entities to obtain optional coverage within annually set minimum and maximum coverage levels. 

For additional information, refer to:

Disposition of Business Enterprise Certificate

When a business is sold, a Disposition of Business Enterprise Certificate is required from the WCB.  The certificate confirms the seller has no outstanding WCB premiums, or has arranged to pay any outstanding debt remaining on the account. The Disposition of Business Enterprise Certificate protects the purchaser from the transfer of any amount owing.

For additional information, refer to:

Employer

The Workers Compensation Act allows the WCB to determine where a person, or an agency of the government, can be considered an employer for WCB purposes. Below are two of the most common situations where the Act is applied: 

  1. Generally an employer is an individual or business who hires others to do work on an ongoing basis and maintains control over the individuals doing the work.
  2. Under the Independent Contractor Policy 35.10.50, a self-employed individual may be considered an employer if they pay workers greater than the minimum amount established each year.

For additional information, refer to:

Employer’s Experience Rating

Experience rating means that although all employers share in the costs needed to pay the claims of injured workers and the cost of running the WCB system, employers will have higher or lower rates depending on their own claims costs and the claims costs of their industry.

For additional information, refer to:

Imposed Payroll

When an employer does not provide payroll information to the WCB within specified timeframes, or where the employer is shown to be uncooperative, the WCB will impose a payroll amount to the employer.

For additional information, refer to:

Independent Contractor

There are two definitions/types of independent contractors.

  1. A self-employed person, including a partner in a partnership, who does not employ workers.
  2. A sole proprietor who operates a bona fide business as determined by the WCB through a business test, performs work or services for homeowners and does not employ workers whose combined payroll is above the minimum level required to purchase personal coverage.

For additional information, refer to:

Individually Assessed Employer (formerly Self-Insured Employers)

Individually Assessed Employers (formerly known as "self-insured employers") are primarily large corporations, with many being crown or governmental operations. Individually assessed employers pay 100 per cent of their actual costs of claims, as well as administration fees to the WCB for managing claims.

Manitoba's individually assessed employers include: Manitoba Hydro, City of Winnipeg, Province of Manitoba and its agencies, Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries, Canadian National Railway, Manitoba Public Insurance, VIA Rail, Air Canada, Canada Post, Canadian Pacific Railway, the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba and the Federal Government.

Federal Government employees do not fall under the Workers Compensation Act but rather, they have their own legislation, the Government Employees Compensation Act (GECA), which is administered by the WCB. The federal government is also individually assessed and is charged for the cost of claims and administration charges just like other individually assessed employers.

For additional information, refer to Policy 35.20.50 - Requests for Self-Insured Status

Mandatory Industries

Employers in mandatory industries are those employers that are required to register and provide coverage to their workers as per legislation.

Mandatory industries reflect more than 70% of Manitoba's workforce. All employers involved in industries that are not listed in Schedule A of Regulation 196/2005 are required to register with the WCB.  The workers’ of these employers have WCB coverage even if the employer has not registered or their assessment is not paid.

For additional information, refer to:

Maximum Assessable Earnings

The maximum earnings in a given year an employer is required to report for each individual worker employed by that employer. The employer is not required to pay premiums on the amount of earnings in excess of the maximum for individual workers.

For additional information, refer to Maxiumum Assessable Payroll.

Minimum ANNUAL EARNINGS Level

An annually indexed minimum amount used to determine the minimum level of coverage a business owner can purchase in Personal Coverage. The minimum annual earnings level is also a threshold to determine if the service provider can be considered an employer in Contractor Based Industries.  In other industries the minimum does not apply.  

For additional information, refer to:

Minimum Premium

The minimum yearly assessment premium for all accounts is $100. 

Multiple Classifications

If an employer’s business includes a number of different departments undertaking different industrial activities, the employer may be given multi-class status if certain criteria as determined by policy are met. If this occurs, the employer is assigned two or more industry codes and the relative industry rates.

For additional information, refer to:

Optional Industries

Government regulation 196/2005, Schedule A, details the list of industries that are not required to carry coverage for their workers by the Workers Compensation Act. These optional industries may apply for coverage for their workers (coverage must be extended to all their workers in these cases) and upon acceptance of their application, are entitled to the same level of benefits and services as workers in mandatory industries.

For additional information, refer to Policy 35.10.120 - Terms and Conditions of Optional Coverage.

Partners

The Act permits business partners to obtain optional coverage within annually set minimum and maximum coverage levels. 

For additional information, refer to:

Personal Coverage

Personal Coverage is optional insurance for sole proprietors, partners and corporate directors who are not covered by the Workers Compensation Act.

If these individuals wish to be eligible for WCB benefits in the event of a work related injury or illness, coverage can be purchased from the WCB at whichever level best reflects their income level between the annually set minimum and maximum amounts available.

Wage loss benefits in the event of illness or injury are based on the lesser of verified actual loss of earnings and the level of coverage purchased, not strictly on the level of coverage they purchased.

For additional information, refer to:

Restated Rate

Each year, the WCB establishes the Average Rate based on the WCB's revenue requirements. If the rate changes, either up or down, each individual account has their current rate restated based on this change prior to the calculation of their new rate. For example, if the Average Rate is reduced by 5%, all account rates will be restated as 5% less than their current year's rate for purposes of calculating the upcoming year's rate.

For additional information, refer to:

Risk Categories

All employers are assigned to an industry based on their business activities. Each industry is assigned to a risk category based on claim costs experience trends over a period of several years that reflect the level of risk associated with that industry. The average rate for each category is a fixed percentage of the overall Average Rate.

The rate range within each of the industry risk categories will vary depending on the employer's size (determined by payroll thresholds).

Based on a review of upward or downward trends in experience, an industry may be moved from one category to another. Very large employers can be placed in a different risk category than their industry based on their own experience. In general, each employer’s assessment rate must fall within the set rate range.

For additional information about classification, refer to:

Safety Association

Independent associations representing certain industries provide safety programs in Manitoba. Currently, the WCB collects revenue from employers in related industry codes to fund the safety association. The safety associations currently supported by employers includes:

Made SAFE - Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters MB

Manitoba Heavy Construction

Construction Safety Association of Manitoba

RPM Trucking Industry Safety Program

Motor Vehicle Safety Association of Manitoba

For additional information, refer to:

Sole Proprietor

The Act permits Sole Proprietors to obtain optional coverage within annually set minimum and maximum coverage levels. 

For additional information, refer to:

Target Rate

The target rate is the key factor in determining if an account will receive a rate increase or decrease in a given year. The target rate represents what an employer would pay based on their actual costs in the previous rate setting year if the WCB did not limit yearly rate changes.

For additional information, refer to:

Workers

Workers are defined in the Workers Compensation Act in several distinct ways for WCB purposes. In general, worker refers to an individual who performs work or service for another individual, where the worker has little or no control over how or when the work gets done. 

For additional information, refer to Policy 35.10.50 - Status of Workers, Independent Contractors and Employers

Workers – Declared

There are situations in which the Provincial government can declare an individual to be a worker because there is a need for them to be considered as workers. Many of these situations are listed in Regulation. As an example, students from Manitoba universities who are on work-experience (off site from the campus) as part of their course are declared to be workers of the Province of Manitoba. This allows employers to have such students on their premises without the risk of being sued for a workplace injury.

For additional information, refer to Policy 35.10.60 - Coverage under a Work Experience Program.

Workers – Deemed

Under section 60(2.1) of the Workers Compensation Act, the WCB has the authority to decide if someone is a worker and who is to be considered that worker’s employer. There are instances when an individual may state that he/she is self-employed and therefore exempt from WCB coverage. However, if the individual meets the definition of “worker” under the Act, the WCB can deem the individual to be a “worker”. In these cases, their employer is required to include that worker’s payroll in the assessable payroll reported to the WCB.   

An individual who is self-employed (or employs workers below the minimum level required) but chooses not to buy Personal Coverage from the WCB may also be deemed a worker. 

For additional information, refer to:

Role
Employers
Workers
Content Type
Corporate Info