A NJ based social service nonprofit was operating under the assumption that its workers’ compensation premiums were accurate because the policies had been in place for years and no concerns had ever been raised. Like many organizations, leadership had bigger priorities to focus on than revisiting old insurance audits.

When our team conducted an independent review, we uncovered multiple issues that had quietly increased the organization’s workers’ compensation costs. The first involved inaccuracies in the Experience Modification Ratings that had been applied during two separate policy years. After pursuing the necessary corrections, we identified another opportunity for savings through a detailed examination of employee classifications. Several employees had been assigned to higher rated classifications than their actual job duties warranted.

Together, these issues created a substantial financial burden that had gone unnoticed. Once the corrections were implemented, the nonprofit recovered more than $45,000 across three policy periods. The refunds were issued by two separate insurance carriers, providing an unexpected financial benefit without requiring any changes to existing brokers, carriers, or coverage.

For nonprofits, every dollar recovered is a dollar that can be redirected toward programs, services, and mission driven initiatives. This case serves as a reminder that even long-standing policies can contain costly errors, making an independent review one of the simplest ways to uncover hidden savings that would otherwise remain hidden.