Rates
Cost Statement
Capitalization
Glossary/Terminology
Reporting Fraud

Rates
How does an injury affect my rates?
Your rates generally will not be affected by a single claim, but your injury claim can affect the rate for all the firms in your industry group. Your rate will increase if the claims costs for your industry group increase more than the payroll for your industry's increases.

Will a no-time-loss claim affect my rates?
Your rate will not automatically increase, but your injury claim can affect the rate for all the firms in your industry group. Your rates will increase if the claims experience for your industry group worsens.

If this were a time-loss claim, how would it affect my account?
The difference that would occur if a no-time-loss claim was a time-loss is strictly the amount shown on your cost statement for the costs of time-loss benefits paid to the worker. One time-loss claim will generally not cause the rate for your industry to increase.

How did the WCB arrive at these rates?
The WCB uses an actuarial rate-setting methodology. This system analyzes historical cost patterns to determine future expenses. This is balanced by future industry payroll expectations to establish the assessment rate.

Email reainquiry@wcbsask.com for answers to questions on rate-setting.

Cost Statement
What is a cost statement?
A cost statement is a summary of costs that have occurred on your employees' claims for the past month.

Is my company directly liable for the claims costs on monthly statements?
No, the cost statement is sent to your firm so you are aware of the cost activity that is occurring on your employees' claims.

Did the worker get this much money (cost statement)?
The monthly cost statement shows the costs that occurred for that month on your employees' claims. The worker only receives direct payment for those items such as wage loss, travel expenses and prescriptions. The other payments are generally for medical and rehabilitation, which are sent to the caregiver or the provider of rehabilitation.

Can I get copies of old cost statements?
We can send copies of your old statements back to January 1 of the preceding year. Email reainquiry@wcbsask.com to request old cost statements or inquire about cost statements.

Why does the cost statement show costs on this old claim?
As long as there are costs on the claim and the claim has not been capitalized they will show up on the cost statement.

Capitalization
What is capitalization?
A file is capitalized when rehabilitation is completed and the worker will continue to have a wage loss until they retire. The amount required to pay future wage-loss costs is calculated and this amount is set aside to pay the costs of the benefit payments. The medical and rehabilitation costs will continue because we cannot determine the future value on these costs. The benefit to the employer is that they will not have the ongoing costs on their account, and so may be eligible for a merit rebate.

Did the claimant receive this amount of money?
The worker did not receive a lump sum payment. What has occurred is that we have determined the amount required to pay the future wage-loss amounts on the claim. The amount is set aside in a separate account. By doing this your firm will not see the ongoing wage loss in the future and you are more likely able to access the merit program. The worker's benefits will now be paid out of this account and not be charged to the employer.

Glossary/Terminology
Premiums:
The amount the employer pays per $100.00 of payroll.

Rebates:
The Injury Fund Surplus and the Surplus Amortization programs are rebate programs with specific criteria, which provide rebates to qualified employers.

Time-Loss/No-Time-Loss:
Time-loss claims are claims that have compensation payments to claimants. No-time-loss claims generally only have medical costs attributed to the claim.

Rate-Setting Explanation:
Rate-setting is done in the fall for the following year. The WCB projects payrolls for the rate codes, reviews the historical costs within the rate code and determines the rate required to cover the projected costs for the upcoming year.

Reporting Fraud
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