By Gongwer Staff
Posted: June 20, 2014 2:10 PM

Employers Appeal to Governor in Ads Highlighting Human Face of BWC Overcharges

COLUMBUS, OH -- Pay Us Back Ohio BWC, the non-profit group representing the 260,000 employers in the massive $860 million class action lawsuit against the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation, continued its public appeal to Governor Kasich to intervene and order the BWC to pay to Ohio businesses the hundreds of millions of dollars they were overcharged with a broadcast and cable ad campaign to run until the end of the month.

The ad which began running in Columbus features Ron Forman, a Columbus area businessman who saw his BWC premiums rise from $10,000 per year to over $100,000 per year forcing him to file personal and business bankruptcy. In the ad, Forman shares the emotional story of gathering his family in the kitchen to tell them how things were going to change in their lives because of the BWC .

“Ron’s story has been repeated tens of thousands of times across our state because of the BWC’s rigged system of setting premiums.” Said Pay Us Back Ohio BWC president and lead plaintiff Earl Stein.

“It's time for the BWC to listen to us and see how its system has not only derailed and destroyed businesses, but also families.” added Stein.

The ad buy follows on the heels of a statewide tour to bring public attention to the BWC’s massive system of overcharging businesses and the need for the Governor to step in to assist the over 260,000 businesses harmed by the overcharges. The group's tour kicked off just weeks after Ohio's Eighth Appellate District Court (Cuyahoga County) released a scathing, unanimous 105-page decision upholding the 2013 trial court decision finding the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation had illegally overcharged over 260,000 Ohio employers $860 million (San Allen, Inc., et al. vs Stephen Buehrer, Administrator, Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation). In its opinion, the Appellate Court determined that the Bureau engaged in an illegal and improper "cabal" of bureaucrats and lobbyists "who rigged workers' compensation insurance premium rates" for over fifteen years.

The tour has traveled to Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo and Cleveland highlighting the local impact the BWC’s actions have had on communities across Ohio.

LINK: :30 spot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpnfVD2jX80