PORTLAND, ME, September 29, 2010–Maine-based workers’ compensation insurer MEMIC has announced that it will pay a dividend totaling $11 million to about 20,000 Maine employers this November. 

The company’s Board of Directors voted at its quarterly meeting last week to grant the dividend to its policyholders. With this announcement, the company will have issued dividends and capital return checks totaling more than $120 million since 1998. The 2010 dividend is an increase of $1 million from the 2009 distribution.

“This is great news for employers in Maine, but especially for policyholders of MEMIC,” said MEMIC President and CEO John T. Leonard. “Our policyholders and their employees have worked hard to continue to reduce workplace injuries. This effort, along with our effort to keep our operating expenses low, makes this dividend possible. With the economic recovery moving slowly, these checks should be a welcome sight for about 20,000 employers.”

The dividend is being paid on the financial results from the 2007 policy year. Employers who held policies with MEMIC for a full year, with a term beginning in 2007, will be eligible to receive the dividend. The company will begin sending out about 20,000 checks in mid-November. Checks will range from $10 to more than $130,000, based upon paid premium in 2007. Individual checks will represent more than 7 percent of the amount paid in 2007.

“With the rate reductions that have occurred in the last few years, this year’s dividend will be the equivalent of more than 10 percent of this year’s workers’ comp premium for many customers,” Leonard said. “That’s significant.”

Since MEMIC was established in 1993, lost-time injuries are down by more than 30 percent while rates for workers' comp insurance are down by more than 40 percent in Maine.

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About MEMIC

 Specializing in workers' compensation insurance, MEMIC insures nearly 20,000 employers and their estimated 170,000 employees. Based in the Northeast, MEMIC is the leading workers' compensation insurer in Maine through Maine Employers’ Mutual Insurance Company which is rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best. The company is the parent of MEMIC Indemnity Company, rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best, with offices in Manchester, NH; Glastonbury, CT; and Albany, NY. MEMIC Indemnity Company is licensed to write workers' compensation in 45 states plus the District of Columbia.