Washington State Fund: How to Read Your L&I Experience Factor

L&I says the experience period is the oldest three of the four fiscal years before the premium rates take effect. Its explanation uses a historical example: rates effective January 1, 2019 used experience from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2017. See L&I’s experience-period explanation.

That example illustrates the lag between the experience record and the rate year. For your own review, ask which experience-period dates apply to the rate year you are examining. Write the effective year and experience period in separate columns so you can distinguish the rate year from the historical experience it uses.

The Washington business insurance guide provides broader state context. The workers’ compensation guide covers the insurance questions that sit alongside this rating review.

L&I describes experience rating as a weighted prediction. It uses expected losses to determine how much weight a business’s past actual claim experience receives. Its explanation notes that an employer with many employees in low-hazard occupations can still have low expected losses. Read L&I’s description of weighting.

PolicyBenchmark’s optional preparation worksheet below organizes questions to ask about your account and available records:

If information you already have contains an unfamiliar entry, note its wording and location. Ask L&I what information is available to help you understand it.

If your business also has an NCCI worksheet, identify that document separately. NCCI says its Riskworkstation experience rating worksheets provide the underlying loss and payroll information used to calculate a mod, with a state summary for multistate risks. Its published access rules allow the carrier of record or a party with a valid letter of authority to access an insured’s worksheet through Riskworkstation.

Those details describe NCCI’s product and access process. For a Washington State Fund L&I factor, begin with L&I’s explanation of its experience period and weighting. If you have information from both issuers, label each item by issuer and effective period before comparing it. Ask each issuer how to interpret its own information.

Summarize each unresolved item as “information I have, information I need.” For example: “I have a factor for this rating year; what experience-period dates and supporting records are available?” Keep your questions with the material you already hold.

For a wider review of the coverages relevant to your operations, use the business insurance quiz alongside your policy and business records.

Have a question about your own situation? Send it to PolicyBenchmark.