Comp Quotes | Summer 2020

Pay Online feature now viewable for agents

In mid-April, Business Online was upgraded to add Pay Online, allowing agents to view the “Make Payment” and “Payment History” pages, like policyholders do. Viewing in Pay Online allows agents to see amounts due, deposits, and other charges, as well as the history of online payments.

Please note that only payments made online are viewable in the application, so other forms of payment, such as payments posted by check, are not viewable. The balance due shown in Pay Online does reflect the policyholder’s current balance due, with all forms of payment posted to date on the policyholder’s account.

Although, agents can view and click on the “Make a Payment” button in the Pay Online application, the actual payment process cannot be completed by the agent at this time. Pay Online for agent viewing can be found on the side menu in Business Online. To use it, click on “Pay Online/Make Payment” and enter a policy number. 

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Worker safety fund assists more than 3,400 policyholders

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, SAIF created a $25 million worker safety fund in March. More than 3,400 Oregon employers received assistance for expenses tied to making workplaces safer from the virus.

SAIF fully or partially funded 94.5% of applications received. The fund helped pay for expenses related to preventing the spread of coronavirus or mitigating other virus-related costs.

Most applications included expenses for PPE (including face masks and gloves), and roughly a quarter included cleaning and disinfecting services. The smallest request was for masks and hand sanitizer at a small business; the largest was for PPE, cleaning, training, and supplies for a large health care system.

Requests were funded in every county in the state, for public, nonprofit, and private organizations of all sizes. About 40% of the requests were from small businesses. In terms of industries, 18% of requests came from health care, 14% from construction, 10% from manufacturing, and 8% from retail.

We are still in the process of collecting receipts and disbursing the funds, but we want to give you an update of the process and thank you for your help getting the word out to our mutual customers. Your assistance with applications and documentation has been invaluable.

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You can access electronic copies of policy and financial documents

Go paperless—save trees for toilet paper!

Instead of receiving documents in the mail, you can receive them online in a secured Inbox. For details about how this works, please refer to the FAQs.

To sign up: Log into SAIF’s secured system and, if your agency is not already enrolled, you’ll see an option on the right side.

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Missing forms mailed to assigned risk customers

Due to the pandemic, we have automatically been renewing assigned risk policies since April 1. Unfortunately, the nondisabling claims reimbursement application form and the OCCPAP application were not mailed to assigned risk customers. We are mailing out the application forms in early July to those impacted. The nondisabling reimbursement program will be applied retroactively to policy inception provided the form is returned to SAIF by September 1. The OCCPAP application needs to be returned to NCCI within 160 days of the policy inception date.

If you have questions, please contact the assigned risk department or your assigned risk customer service representative.

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Say “hello” to Julie Tremblay

Julie Tremblay is SAIF’s new agency marketing specialist.

If her name sounds familiar to you, it’s because Julie has worked in the industry for many years as an underwriter with another carrier (AmTrust). Julie will be our key agency liaison with SAIF-appointed agents for a large part of western and southwestern Oregon. She’ll help agents resolve problems, answer questions, and negotiate and review agent contracts. She’ll also develop and provide training on SAIF products and services, assist with sales development and brand imaging, and provide workers’ comp market analysis.

“SAIF has a reputation for excellence,” Julie said when asked why she chose SAIF. “They work hard to be the best solution for all types of businesses and partner with the customer to ensure a safe and healthy workplace.

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Timing for processing renewal policies in the region

The goal for our current process is to issue renewal policies in the region within 72 hours of receipt of all requirements for binding—including deposits, prepay payments, and all information needed for policy issuance. In situations where issuing a policy will need to be expedited in order to obtain updated policy forms for certificates, such as a waiver of subrogation, please communicate this need early in the renewal process with your regional underwriter, as well as when submitting the requirements needed for binding. This helps our underwriting team deliver policy documents in the expected timeframe.

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Discounts announced for OGSERP members

SAIF partners with over 20 trade and business associations that endorse SAIF as their workers’ comp carrier of choice. Employers who have a better-than-average loss history and meet the group program-specific eligibility criteria may qualify to participate in one of these group programs and receive the benefits of group participation.

One of the potential benefits is a supplemental group discount (Oregon Group Supplemental Experience Rating Program or OGSERP) if they meet the necessary underwriting criteria, and if the group has earned a discount.

SAIF has received NCCI validation and DCBS approval for July 1, 2020, OGSERP filings with the following discounts:

Discount percentage	Group name
2	Associated Oregon Loggers
12	Gossard & Associates Inc.
7	Home Builders Association
10	Northwest Auto Trades Association
2	Oregon AGLINK
8	Oregon Business Industry CompSAFE
19	Oregon Fuels Association
21	Oregon Medical Group Management Association
4	Oregon Public Employers Group
2	Oregon Wheat Growers League
4	Oregon Employers Coalition*

* Subgroups of Oregon Employers Coalition:

• Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce
• Independent Electrical Contractors of Oregon
• National Electrical Contractors Association
• Northwest Tire Dealers Association
• Oregon Concrete and Aggregate Producers Association
• Technology Association of Oregon

Get more information about all of SAIF’s group programs.

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News in brief

2021 Workers’ Comp Seminar: save the date 
It’s never too early to start planning: SAIF’s 2021 Workers’ Comp Seminar will be April 20 in Salem.

AGC retro checks to be mailed early August 
The 2018-19 AGC/SAIF workers' compensation group retrospective rating program was evaluated on July 1, 2020. Retro checks will be mailed to policyholders the week of August 10.

Agencies with AGC clients who participated in 2018-19 will receive an email on August 7 with advance copies of the statements that will be mailed with the checks to policyholders. Additionally, the 2020-21 AGC product information will be available on August 7.

To view the product information, please log into your SAIF Business Online account, then choose “Competitive Resources,” then “AGC/SAIF Product.”

View the AGC Group retrospective timeline.

Reminder to update agency logos on file with SAIF 
If your agency has a logo on file with SAIF for document cobranding purposes, please remember to send updates if your artwork changes. The logos need to meet the following specifications:

• JPEG image file type
• Grayscale or black and white, not color
• 300 DPI
• Exactly 425 pixels wide x 190 pixels tall (1.417" wide x 0.633" tall)

Send logos by email to Marilyn Cyphers. You can also contact Marilyn with any questions you may have.