News and Updates
Month: April 2026
Group Retro Lawsuit - We Won the Final Round!
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
