New Brunswick to raise Workers Comp rates by 70 per cent next year

Thanks to Bob Wishart for tipping us off to this story.

WorkSafeNB, the province’s workers’ comp agency, recently announced that the average rate paid by employers would increase in January from the current $1.70 per $100 of payroll to a staggering $2.92.

That is a 70 per cent increase. Seventy per cent.

And it’s the third year in a row rates have gone up.

NB contractors must pay into workers’ comp if they have three or more employees. And that can include part-timers, too.

Who is to blame for rates almost doubling? The province says it’s not more claims on the system that are causing the hikes, just that claims are lasting longer.

Here is a good story on the issue, courtesy of Global Television.