WSI Unemployment Insurance

Workers compensation and unemployment insurance are significant programs serving North Dakota employers and employees. The North Dakota Chamber believes these programs must be stable, predictable, and equitable in order to best address the needs of employees and provide a good return on investment for the employers who support them.

Unemployment Insurance
The North Dakota Chamber will:

• Support the principle that an applicant for unemployment benefits must actually be seeking work to qualify for unemployment benefits or be designated as job attached by the employer.
• Support the current solvency target at North Dakota Job Service.
• Support a plan that refunds excess taxation over the solvency target to positive balance employers.

Workforce Safety & Insurance
The North Dakota Chamber will:

• Support actuarially sound reserve levels for the board to operate within.
• Support enhancement of the employer safety incentive programs.
• Support a justified increase in benefits while maintaining the incentive for employees to return to work.
• Support accountability including external audits or evaluations, in addition to current statutory audits, based on risk assessment and conducted by experts in the workers compensation industry.
• Support development of a physician and hospital fee schedule that equitably pays for medical services in a manner consistent with the commercial insurance market.