On March 30, the Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau (WCRB) established a new unit statistical code for reporting certain payroll for the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic event. Carriers may implement code 0012 as a class code in their operating system, which is a new class code for Paid Furloughed Workers During A Governmental Emergency Order Impacting Employment. New class code 0012 has a rate of $0.00, because the WCRB believes there is no justification for charging premium based on payroll that creates no worker’s compensation exposure. The code is designed to cover workers who are not working during the emergency order. “If you are a business that is paying people to stay home, but they are not working, you do not have to pay worker’s compensation for those people, but this 0012 code needs to be added to your policy,” explained Nick Arnoldy, owner of Marshfield Insurance. “You should also create a separate record and let your agent know that you have people on the payroll that aren’t actually working and we can make an estimate up right away.” Businesses that are also applying for an SBA loan and plan to use that money towards payroll should know that this code might affect the validity of this workers compensation opportunity. “If you are applying for the SBA loan and are using some of that money towards payroll, this might impact the use of this code,” said Arnoldy. To learn more, contact Marshfield Insurance at 715-387-4443.