From Seattle Weekly:
According to L&I, a glitch in its computer coding resulted in the agency refunding $10 million to $15 million more per year to employers and groups that participate in the so-called Retrospective Rating program for workers’ comp insurance. That is, they were getting a bigger refund on their premiums than their actual injured-worker claims would have justified.
It’s impossible to say, without knowing many more details, how much the BIAW might have benefited from this overpayment. But the builders’ lobby is the biggest participant in the “retro” program and uses the refund money to fund its political machine. The fact that government “incompetence” has, for years now, been helping the BIAW underwrite its war on government is either fitting or ironic, it’s hard to know which.
When I think back to all the distorted attack ads and the hysterical, right wing baloney the BIAW has pumped out over the years, it makes me want to puke. Turns out they had a good thing going, and they didn’t have the good sense to shut up and enjoy it.
Maybe now the Legislature will actually do something about the noxious “retro” program. Like end it.
This is straight out of Office Space… “it’s just rounding off the last decimal of each transaction, no one will notice”.
Perhaps instead of refunding the money, BIAW will just burn down their building. And then Tom McCabe will be like Milton in the Bahamas, telling the waiter “no salt, NO SALT! I specifically ordered my margarita with no salt…”
The amount of money I and other reasonable people have had to spend over the years to keep these creeps at bay just pisses me off! I want the BIAW to pay it back and I want the Loophole that allows them to spend worker safety money on their nefarious schemes closed!
I thought we were paying that idiot Brian Sontag, State Auditor, to catch mistakes like this. He prefers to get his face in the picture in the paper finding $8,000 irregularities at Sound Transit rather than multi-million dollar mistakes in Olympia.
Oh great, the great Washington state L&I fraud fund wants to take even more money! I have never had the instance where this state has taken less than 150% of what my actual claims were (and sometimes I have had none). It is almost impossible to get your ratings to go down, but a broken fingernail will up you 3 classes. This sector is way overfunded, and is a great example of government waste. Why doesn’t the state go after all the funds that are annually overpaid, and pay the employers/employees back for all the fraud (lawyers, false claims, etc) that they have covered for. This system is broken, and to have the gall to only find errors in their favor is doing the employers of this state a dis-service.
On the retro angle of using money to further political gain; I have no problem with limiting this, of course, this must also pertain to union funds blankly going for the same purposes. Getting rid of the retro groups (disclaimer; I belong to one, and it is an asset as to employee safety education)would be a foolish move. Christine’s financial mis-management has hurt our state enough, taking funds away from job creators will not help our state in the long run.
Have a nice day,
Farmer Fred
FF – Beck\Hudson already done.
How about the dues I pay to the WEA and NEA every year? They use my money as well as the money of thousands of other teachers to reelect their crooked liberal democrat friends.
There are many many teachers in Washington State who do not want their money used in this manner.
paul – Beck\Hudson already done.