A Readers Question on What Not To Do

I received my Workers' Comp payroll audit results. The auditor says that I owe $67,587 more than I originally paid for my policy. We are a small company and that is going to kill our budget. Any ideas on what to do?

We have commented on this question very often. Please check out prior blogs on this subject. The main thing I wanted to mention today was what not to do, which can possibly cost you even more premium dollars.

Do not:

• Call up your agent or auditor and protest the bill without any backing to the protest. That may damage the relationships you have established.
• Ignore the audit results or the bill - you may lose your chance to protest the bill, if necessary, and your carrier may cancel your current Workers Comp coverage
• Panic, as you have time to look into the bill. Sometimes the bill will give you ten days, but in most states, you have up to 30 days.
• Write a protest letter without looking at the numbers.
• Write the insurance commissioner - worse thing to do initially
• Try correcting the bill on your own - you may cost yourself more $.
• Think you can only protest the one bill - you may be able to go back many years to protest old bills, depending on the state
• Think hiring a premium expert is too expensive
• Protest the bill without reading your initial policy
• Protest the bill without knowing your classification codes and what they mean
• Just give in and write a check if you feel something is wrong. The word WHY is a very strong word to use. Most of the contact we receive from employers is when they have a "gut feeling" something is wrong.

Up Next - We will review what to do when you receive a Workers Comp Audit Bill