On Wednesday, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis announced that $27.6 million in workforce premiums are being refunded over the next few months to nearly 13,000 policyholders of the Florida Workers’ Compensation Joint Underwriting Association (FWCJUA).
The Florida Legislature created the FWCJUA in 1993 as a self-funding plan to provide workers’ compensation and employer’s liability insurance to employers who are required by law to maintain such insurance but are unable to purchase insurance through the voluntary market.
“Today’s announcement that over $27 million is going back to thousands of policy holders is a great example of how our businesses can benefit when government operates efficiently and is accountable to its customers. This is how the system is supposed to work. With COVID-19 and the corresponding government shutdowns impacting many Florida businesses bottom lines, we’re working at every level of state government to identify areas where we can help our employers re-open and get back to work,” Patronis said on Wednesday.
The Association had recently authorized a policyholder refund of $6.4 million for the 2013 policy year. Moreover, FWCJUA also approved another $21.2 million refund to certain policyholders that were covered under policies during the years 2001 to 2007 and 2012. In many circumstances, these refunds were provided in addition to other distributions that were made available in years past. The recent distributions were made possible due to FWCJUA’s accumulated surplus and positive financial position.
The operation of the FWCJUA is subject to the supervision of a nine-member Board of Governors, eight of whom are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Financial Services Commission. The ninth board member is the Insurance Consumer Advocate, appointed by Patronis.
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