Blog
Disappointed with Your 2020 Group Retro Refund?
You’re not alone. Now that BWC is releasing the first Group Retro checks (and a few assessments) for the 2020 policy year, many Ohio employers are underwhelmed by the results. In the earlier days of Group Retro, it wasn’t unheard of to see refunds over 50%. Spooner certainly had its heyday in the program, with some of our industry groups reaching close to the maximum return of 63%. In the last ten years, we’ve seen several factors begin to chip away at these big returns: increased loss development factors, fewer premium dollars in pools due to Premium Size Factor Reductions, and more recently – the move to a new reserve calculating system called ACES. The first two changes caused average returns to dip into the 40% ranges, but huge reserves from ACES delivered a sucker punch that left only five of the best performing groups with returns over 40%. Five of the hardest-hit pools will receive an assessment, which means paying back anywhere between 15-25% of their 2020 premiums to BWC. All other groups in the middle of the best and worst averaged returns of less than 24%. For some, that’s less than half of their historical performance average.
We’ve been tracking the impact of ACES on Group Retro for a while now, and several TPAs (including Spooner) have voiced their concerns to BWC regarding the dwindling returns. While the complaints were taken under advisement, BWC chose to make such minor changes to the reserve calculations that the 2020 Group Retro outlook remained bleak. There’s been very little talk of this outside of the Spooner newsletters and blog, but it’s unpleasant whether your business saw it coming or not.
Spooner may not be able to fix what’s wrong with Group Retro right now, but we can offer solutions. For businesses that don’t qualify for Group Rating, Group Retro isn’t necessarily your only alternative. We’d be happy to provide a claims review & savings analysis of the other programs available to your business, and help you try to find the right fit. Just fill out our contact form and one of our consultants will be in touch with you right away!
Group Retro Lawsuit - We Won the Final Round!
Posted By Brandy King
April 03, 2026
Category: Ohio BWC, Group Retro, 2018 Group Retro, 2019 Group Retro, Group Retro Refunds Withheld
Ohio Supreme Court Decision Reinforces Workers’ Compensation Rules — Even During COVID Although the verdict came on April Fool's Day, the decision issued by Ohio's highest court was no joke: administrative agencies must follow their own rules — even during extraordinary circumstances. Spooner Incorporated is proud to have been the only Third-Party Administrator (TPA) in Ohio that supported our clients in this fight, advocating for fair and proper administration of the Group Retrospective (Retro) rating program. What Happened? The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) must still administer its group retrospective rating program for the 2018 policy year, even though those employers received dividends in 2020 equal to 100% of their 2018 premiums. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, BWC issued a one-time dividend to policyholders as financial relief from the impact COVID had on Ohio businesses. Following that, the agency declined to perform group retrospective calculations for the 2018 and 2019 policy years (or make associated payouts), arguing that the dividend effectively replaced any potential refunds. The team at Spooner disagreed, along with our valued client Kent Elastomer and trusted partners at Roetzel & Andress - and a six-year legal battle ensued. Read more about the background here. Why This Matters to Employers This ruling reinforces a critical legal
Rehashing the Complexities of Marijuana in the Workplace
Posted By Brandy King
February 02, 2026
Category: Medical Marijuana, Drugs In The Workplace, Marijuana Rescheduled, Marijuana Breathalyzer, Cannabix, Thc Breath Test
Toward the end of 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to expedite the rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. This is monumental in that it acknowledges that marijuana does, in fact, have valid clinical/medical uses and has low-to-moderate potential for abuse. Only four states in the U.S. still regard cannabis as being fully illegal, while another six allow only the cannabinoid CBD, which is known not to produce psychoactive effects. All other states have some version of legal or decriminalized marijuana, be it medical, recreational, or a combination of both. The first thing that’s important to note and is widely misunderstood is that this rescheduling does not legalize marijuana federally. As of January 28, 2026, Marijuana is still a Schedule I drug, since the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has not yet finalized this rule. Once they do cement this change, there could be some wide-sweeping changes to drug testing. The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) currently only allows testing for Scheduled I and II substances for federal and regulated drug-testing programs followed by DOT-regulated employees and other safety-sensitive positions. Truck drivers, pilots, transit operators, railroad employees, and pipeline workers are all currently subject to mandatory drug and alcohol testing, including marijuana. There has been talk of a
Unemployment Services with Spooner
Posted By Brandy King
February 02, 2026
Category: Ohio, Unemployment, Hr Outsourcing, Unemployment Claims, Fraud
If you haven’t considered trusting Spooner’s family of companies with managing your unemployment claims, maybe you’re not sure what it entails and how much time and hassle it could save. You may have also tried outsourcing this to another vendor in the past and found that their approach really didn’t save you much of anything. The team at Spooner Risk Control (which encompasses both Spooner Inc and SuretyHR) boasts over 15 years of experience managing unemployment claims, including an attorney that will represent your company at hearing. Many clients that are new to using our unemployment services have shared that past vendors still required them to log into their portal, submit all the responses and paperwork, then the vendor would send to the state. Our approach is to simply ask for the documentation, submit, and take care of everything. As an unemployment services client, you’d be asked to sign a third-party representation form that will allow any unemployment-related forms and letters to come directly to us so you’re not always the go-between. Here’s a run-down of the services you can expect as an Unemployment Services client: Monitor and report all new unemployment claims and notifications Submission of claims and responses after requesting information from the employer and submission of any rebuttals File and submit appeals on any base period unemployment notifications or allowed claims File appeals to the
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28605 Ranney Parkway
Westlake, Ohio 44145
Phone: 440-249-5260 ext. 153
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