11/29/2025
FROM WYOFILE:
Wyoming employers get a break on workers’ comp premiums for third straight year
Though worker advocates cheer more affordable premiums, some scoff at ‘safe workplaces’ claims and say the state is too stingy with its $2.8 billion fund when it comes to helping injured workers.
By Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile.com
Wyoming employers participating in the state’s workers’ compensation program will experience a 15% break in premiums next year, the third rate reduction in as many years.
That will result in a combined annual savings of $66 million, according to the Department of Workforce Services. Employers in good standing, and with three or more years in the program, may enjoy even bigger savings.
“By lowering workers’ compensation costs, we are helping employers invest in their workforce, strengthen their operations and continue to build safe, resilient workplaces across our state,” Gov. Mark Gordon said in a statement announcing the rate reduction.
All employers of businesses in Wyoming classified as “extra hazardous” are required to participate in the state’s workers’ compensation program, which is administered by the Department of Workforce Services. Others may voluntarily enroll, which typically entitles them to legal immunity for workplace injuries. The program is funded by premiums paid by employers to cover lost wages and medical bills for their employees who are injured on the job.
Wyoming is one of the few states that does not offer workers’ compensation benefits to undocumented workers.
$2.8 billion fund
The state can afford to offer lower premiums, Workforce Services Director Elizabeth Gagen suggested, because “Wyoming’s strong safety culture and responsible business practices are paying off, creating lasting benefits for both our workforce and our economy.”
A September report to the Legislature’s Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee indicates the workers’ compensation fund is growing at a rate that surpasses expenditures and liabilities.
“The average annual rate of return on the [workers’ compensation] investment portfolio over the past five years is approximately 6.8%,” Workforce Services Deputy Director Jason Wolfe told WyoFile via email. “Coupled with year-over-year declines in the number of injuries, as shown in the report, and sound cost containment and case management strategies, this means we’re typically spending a bit less than we’re making.”
The state’s workers’ compensation fund has risen steadily from $1.8 billion in 2015 to more than $2.8 billion at the end of fiscal year 2025, according to the state’s report. During the same period, annual claim expenditures have grown from $178 million to nearly $194 million.
Critics dispute safety claims
Worker advocates question assertions that expenditures remain moderate due to safe workplaces and a decline in work-related injuries. They say not all injuries are reported, while pointing to Wyoming’s chronic worst- or among-the-worst workplace fatality rates in the nation.
Yes, Wyoming’s workers’ compensation program works well when it comes to acute injuries with an easily defined recovery prognosis, some say. But the state tends to fight against expensive and prolonged claims related to things like back injuries, chronic pain and illnesses.
Any notion that Wyoming’s flush workers’ compensation fund is due to a strong workplace safety track record is “bullsh*t,” Wyoming AFL-CIO Executive Director Marcie Kindred said.
“I mean, we may have [fewer] claims,” Kindred told WyoFile, “but we still kill more people than any other state.” And she suggested that the state’s moderate workers’ compensation expenses might derive from Wyoming’s bootstraps mentality, which discourages injured workers from making a claim or fighting a challenge to a claim.
“I’m just picturing my guys having to, again and again, go to hearings and court cases in front of anybody in power and say, ‘I need help,'” Kindred continued. “It’s insurmountable, and it’s hard to get people to admit they need help.”
Asked to respond to such criticism, Wolfe, of workforce services, said, “The evidence actually shows our denial rate of claims to be fairly steady, with a slight decline over the last five years. The denial rate is approximately 5%-6% of annual claims.”
“Because the state is not a for-profit insurance company, it is perfectly appropriate to make sure that Wyoming businesses are paying a fair amount,” Lawyers and Advocates for Wyoming Director Mark Aronowitz told WyoFile.
“At the same time,” Aronowitz continued, “I believe that ‘sound cost containment and case management strategies’ should include a detailed analysis of all workplace fatalities and serious injuries in order to prevent similar incidents from ever occurring again.”
That type of deliberate, all-inclusive analysis is not happening in Wyoming, according to worker advocates.
“Resources wisely spent on injury prevention could help save the fund, and employers, millions of dollars over time,” Aronowitz added, “while, more importantly, reducing our perennially unacceptably high workplace fatality rate.”
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
PHOTO CUTLINES: Rig workers handle drill pipe while a flare burns in the background. (Nikki Mann/Jeff Wohl)
