Workers Compensation and Changes of Company Ownership

I received a question last week concerning ownership liabilities when a company is acquired by another company or individual. There are actually very long and somewhat complicated rules on Experience Modification Factors (E-Mods or X-Mod in California) when there is a change in company ownership. I will leave that for another time. The question was more centered around premiums and the audit bill.

Without giving legal advice, a company's change of ownership will not affect the premium audit and billing process. The new owner will owe the premiums as if the company had not changed. If an individual is going to purchase a company, the liability of an upcoming premium audit and billing should be factored into the current and future liabilities.

We had a client call us into this very situation a few years ago in California. They were under the impression that the previous owner would be responsible for the billing. The premium auditor assessed a $25,000 premium audit bill against the new owner. Unfortunately, the new owner had to pay the bill. We were able to reduce the bill due to a classification error by the auditor. However, the new owner did have to pay an unexpected bill.