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Workers Comp & Unemployment Insurance Rates

Every attempt has been made to provide current, accurate, and consistent data in this database. There may be some differences due to sources, methodologies, or timing of data-assembly.

Kansas Shared Work Unemployment Insurance

The shared work unemployment insurance program is designed to help both employers and employees by:

• Allowing an employer to divide the workday among a group of affected employees in lieu of a layoff
• Allowing employees to receive a portion of their unemployment benefits while working reduced hours

Kansas Workers' Compensation

The Kansas workers' compensation program has undergone major changes over the past few years. In addition to a 1993 reform that resulted in a dramatic annual decrease in rates, Kansas also switched to a new rating structure in 1993, allowing workers' compensation insurance coverage to be provided by private insurance companies on a competitive basis. These changes, combined with new rates effective January 1, 2001, have lowered employers' costs by an estimated $131 million since 1995.

Kansas Workers' Compensation Insurance Rates by Industry

ACCRA, September 2005
An employee who voluntarily quits without good cause attributable to the work or to the employer may be disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits. Disqualification continues for the duration of the unemployment.

Unemployment Insurance

Taxable Base: $8,000
Rate %
Minimum: .11%
Maximum: 7.4% (construction industry begins with 6% tax rate)
New Employer rate: 4.0%
Maximum Weekly Benefit: $436

Kansas does not have a fixed rate schedule—positive balance employers’ rates are adjusted annually based on the ratio of the size of the fund balance to total payroll. For 2010, positive balance employers pay between 0.11% and 5.4%. Negative balance employers pay between 5.6% and 7.4% (that is, 5.4% plus a surcharge of 0.2% to 2.0% based on the size of the negative reserve ratio). Unemployment insurance rates are applied to the first $8,000 in wages paid annually to each employee.

In Kansas, the normal entry rate set for a new employer is contingent upon the type of business involved. Businesses in the construction industry begin with a 6% tax rate; all other business entities will have a 4% rate.

In 2010, the employer tax rate maximum weekly benefit for new claims filed is $436 for up to 26 weeks. The minimum weekly benefit amount is $109. Employees dismissed without misconduct are eligible to receive benefits after a one?week waiting period. An employee who voluntarily quits without good cause attributable to the work or to the employer or an employee who was discharged for misconduct connected with the work may be disqualified from receiving benefits. Employees discharged for misconduct are disqualified from receiving benefits from the date the discharge occurred, until they return to work and earn three times the weekly benefit amount of their claim.

Unemployment Insurance for Selected States

Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Workforce Security, Division of Actuarial Services; Expansion Management Magazine, Ratings 2003

Kansas Workers' Compensation

Workers’ Compensation Rate (Per $100 of Payroll): $3.51
Maximum Weekly Benefit: $545

The Kansas workers' compensation program has undergone major changes over the past few years. In addition to a 1993 reform that resulted in a dramatic annual decrease in rates, Kansas also switched to a new rating structure in 1993, allowing workers' compensation insurance coverage to be provided by private insurance companies on a competitive basis. These changes, combined with new rates effective January 1, 2001, have lowered employers' costs by an estimated $131 million since 1995.

Kansas Workers' Compensation Insurance Rates by Industry

ACCRA, September 2005
An employee who voluntarily quits without good cause attributable to the work or to the employer may be disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits.
Disqualification continues for the duration of the unemployment.

Comparative Workers' Compensation Costs for Manufacturing

*1.00 = National Average
Source: Actuarial & Technical Solutions, Inc., Workers' Compensation State Rankings, 2007

Workers' Compensation Premium Rate Ranking

Source: Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, Information Management Division, December 2007

Premiums for workers' compensation insurance are determined by applying the rate for occupational classes and experience ratings for individual firms. Premiums are calculated per $100 of annual employee wages. Workers' compensation premium rates in Kansas are eighth lowest in the nation.

Kansas employers may secure workers' compensation insurance for employees in one of three ways. They may obtain insurance from private insurance companies authorized to transact workers' compensation insurance in Kansas, apply to become self?insured, or become a member of a group?funded workers' compensation insurance pool. Under the new Kansas law, groups of employers who are engaged in dissimilar types of businesses may now form a self?insurance pool through trade associations.

Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA): The claimant's weekly benefit amount is computed by multiplying 4.25 percent of the highest paid quarter in the base period. The weekly benefit amount may not exceed what the Secretary of Labor establishes as the maximum weekly benefit amount by computing 60 percent of the average weekly wages paid to employees in insured work during the previous calendar year. The minimum weekly benefit payable amount to any individual is 25 percent of the maximum weekly benefit amount, which also is established by the Secretary of Labor. The maximum weekly benefit is two?thirds of the employee's average weekly wage at the time of the injury, up to a maximum of $545 per week.

2011 Update

A major agreement to rewrite Kansas Workers’ Compensation laws was accomplished in 2011. Prior to the beginning of the session, attorneys representing business and labor interests worked out a compromise to accomplish many long desired changes to Workers’ Compensation laws. Some of the major points in the legislation are:

• The definition of “accident” now includes the requirement that it be traumatic. Also, it must be identifiable by time and place, must produce symptoms of injury, and must occur during a single work shift.
• There’s a definition of “repetitive trauma” that says it comes under work comp if it occurs as the result of repetitive use, cumulative traumas or micro traumas. The repetitive nature must be demonstrated by diagnostic or clinical tests. It must also be the prevailing factor in causing the injury. It must have occurred at work.
• Date of accident is established in repetitive trauma cases. The previous version of work comp law did not address this.
• One of the most significant workers compensation changes is the requirement that work be the prevailing factor in causing the injury, medical treatment and disability. The injured worker has the burden of proving that work was the prevailing factor.
• The new legislation identifies events that are no longer compensable under Kansas workers compensation, including:
  • Aggravations, accelerations, or exacerbations of preexisting conditions
  • Personal risks
  • Idiopathic events (arising from an unknown or obscure cause)
  • Voluntary participation in horseplay with another employee
  • Voluntary participation in a fight with another employee, whether work-related or not
  • Reckless violation of workplace safety rules.
• A worker with a positive drug or alcohol test is presumed impaired and the burden shifts to the injured worker to prove their impairment did not contribute to the workplace accident.
• The law now outlines when drug tests can be admitted into evidence.
• Employers who take drug samples must collect the sample within a reasonable time after an accident or injury and part of the sample must be split and made available to the employee within 48 hours of a positive test.
• Addressing the “Casco case,” the loss of (or loss of use of) the bilateral upper extremities, bilateral lower extremities or both eyes will now be considered a general or whole body injury. Under Casco, these were considered separate injuries.
• The legislation sets thresholds that determine how much impairment qualifies for a work disability.
• Determining wage loss of an injured worker has changed. The court must determine what the injured worker was earning before the injury and compare that with what the worker was capable of earning after the injury. The actual or projected value of fringe benefits is to be included in post-injury wage-loss comparison.
• There are significant changes to caps on benefits, which have changed little since 1993. The changes to the caps are:
  • $300,000 in death benefits and $1,000 to defray the cost of a conservator if one is needed
  • Permanent total disability is limited to $155,000, plus an injured worker cannot receive more than one award of permanent total disability
  • Temporary total disability is limited to $130,000
  • Permanent partial disability is limited to $130,000
  • Functional only claims are limited to $75,000.
• Time of notice has changed. An injured worker now has 30 days after the date of injury to notify the employer they have been injured on the job under most circumstances.
• Notice must now include the time, date, place, person injured and details of the injury.
• The effective date of the act is May 15, 2011.