Workers' Comp Experience Mod Guide

Your experience mod is one number that can change what you pay for workers’ comp. This guide explains it in plain words, one small step at a time.

It’s written for Florida business owners: contractors, property owners, restaurants, shops and wholesalers. The examples are made up, so you can see how the math works without anyone’s real numbers.

What is an experience mod?

Think of it as a report card for your workers’ comp claims.

Someone looks at businesses like yours: the same kind of work, about the same size. They figure out how much in injury claims a business like that usually has. Then they look at what your business actually had.

The result is a number called your experience modification, or mod. You may also hear it called an EMR.

1.00 means your claims counted about the same as a business like yours usually has, so your mod doesn’t change your price.
Below 1.00 (like 0.85) means your claims counted less than usual, so your mod takes some off your price. That’s a credit.
Above 1.00 (like 1.20) means your claims counted more than usual, so your mod adds to your price. That’s a debit.

Notice the word “counted.” The mod doesn’t just add up your claim dollars. Some parts of a claim count more than others. You’ll see why below.

Who figures out your mod?

Not your agent, and not your insurance company. In Florida, mods come from NCCI, the National Council on Compensation Insurance. Florida uses NCCI’s experience rating plan.

Your insurance company sends NCCI your payroll and your claims. NCCI does the math and sends out the mod.

If you only have workers in Florida, you get a Florida mod. If you have workers in other states that use the same plan, NCCI can make one mod that covers them all.

Who gets a mod?

Not every business. A business needs to be big enough first. NCCI looks at your workers’ comp premium in one of two ways:

Your premium over the most recent two years, or
Your average premium over all the years it looks at.

If either one reaches Florida’s minimum amount, you get a mod, and it isn’t optional. The minimum amount is set in the plan’s rules and can change, so ask us where your business stands.

If your business is too small, or too new to have any history, you don’t get a mod. That works the same as a 1.00.

Which years count?

Your mod usually looks at three years of past policies. It skips the most recent year, the one that just ended.

Why skip it? Those claims are still too new. Your insurance company doesn’t report a policy’s claims to NCCI until about 18 months after that policy starts. And NCCI usually makes your mod 60 to 90 days before it takes effect.

Example. A business with policies that renew every January 1 gets a mod for January 1, 2026. That mod generally uses the policies that started on January 1 of 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2025 policy isn’t used yet.

Each year, the oldest year drops off and a newer year comes on. So one claim can show up on three mods in a row. A bad year can follow you for three years. So can a good one.

Sometimes the period is shorter or longer than three years, for example after a short-term policy or a change in renewal dates. Your worksheet shows exactly which policies were used.

How your mod changes your price

Workers’ comp starts with your payroll. Each kind of job has a class code, and each class code has a rate for every $100 of payroll.

Payroll ÷ 100 × rate gives you a starting price for each class code.
Add those up.
Multiply by your mod.

Illustrative example (made-up numbers): if your starting price is $60,000, a 0.85 mod makes it about $51,000 and a 1.20 mod makes it about $72,000.

Your mod is only one piece. Rates, class codes, credits and your insurance company’s rating plan also change what you pay.

Why lots of small claims can hurt more than one big one

This is the part that surprises most owners.

Picture two lemonade stands. One has a dog knock over the whole table once. That’s bad luck. The other spills a little bit every week. That’s a pattern, and patterns are what the mod watches for.

NCCI’s plan gives more weight to how often injuries happen than to how big one injury is. Here’s how:

Every claim is cut at a line called the split point.
The part below the line is the primary part. It counts in full.
The part above the line is the excess part. Only a slice of it counts.

For smaller businesses that slice is small. It gets bigger as a business gets bigger, because a big business’s own history tells more about it.

Florida’s split point is updated each year with NCCI’s Florida rate filing, so the line moves over time. Your worksheet shows the one used for your mod.

Two more things keep the mod steady:

A cushion. The math adds the same pretend amount to both sides, a bit like a sandbag that keeps a boat steady. NCCI calls it the ballast. It keeps one bad year from sending your mod way up, and one lucky year from sending it way down.
A cap. A single very large claim only counts up to a set limit.

Illustrative example: same dollars, different mods

ILLUSTRATIVE ONLY. These companies and numbers are made up. Real values come from your own NCCI worksheet.

Both companies do the same kind of work and are the same size. Over three years, each is expected to have about $100,000 in claims, and about $40,000 of that is the part expected to count in full (the expected primary part). For easy math, this example uses a $20,000 split point (a round, made-up number, not Florida’s actual split point), a 0.10 weight for the excess part, and a $50,000 cushion.

	Company A: lots of small claims	Company B: one big claim
Claims in 3 years	10 lost-time claims of $5,000 each	1 lost-time claim of $50,000
Total claim dollars	$50,000	$50,000
What counts in full	All $50,000 (each claim is under the line)	$20,000, plus 10% of the other $30,000
Mod	1.03	0.85
On a $60,000 starting price	about $61,800	about $51,000

Same dollars, very different mods. Company A’s claims add up to less than expected. But the part that counts in full ($50,000) is more than the $40,000 expected, so its mod is above 1.00.

What if Company A’s 10 claims were all medical-only? Where the 30% rule applies (see the next section), each would count at 30%, and Company A’s mod would drop to about 0.79, or about $47,400.

What if one of Company A’s claims wasn’t really theirs? Taking out one $5,000 claim would move its mod from 1.03 to about 0.99. That’s why checking your worksheet matters.

With no claims at all, either company would land at about 0.69. That’s the lowest this example can go, because the cushion never goes away.

How the math works, for those who want it: the mod is (actual primary + weight × actual excess + cushion part) ÷ (expected primary + weight × expected excess + the same cushion part). The cushion part is the expected excess × (1 minus the weight) plus the ballast. In this example that’s $104,000 on both sides.

Small claims that stay small: medical-only claims

A medical-only claim is one where the worker gets medical care but no wage benefits are paid. Think of a cut that needs stitches, and the worker is back on the job right away.

Under NCCI’s plan, a medical-only claim generally counts at only 30% of its cost in your mod. NCCI calls this the Experience Rating Adjustment, or ERA, and says most states that use its plan have approved it. Your worksheet shows the reduced amounts in its totals, so we can help you check that it was applied.

That’s one reason to report every injury, even small ones. Florida law says you must report an injury to your insurance company within 7 days of learning about it. Paying a claim yourself instead can put you out of step with the law and leave your worker without benefits the law gives them. Where the ERA applies, medical-only claims already count at a reduced value, so there’s little reason to pay them yourself.

Why some general contractors and owners ask for your mod

Some general contractors, property owners and bid packages ask for your mod. They may consider it, along with other safety information, when choosing subcontractors.

So your mod can matter for more than your premium. It can come up when you bid for work.

Keep in mind: a mod measures claims compared with businesses like yours. A review published by Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation notes that a debit mod doesn’t by itself mean a business is unsafe, and a credit mod doesn’t by itself mean it’s safer. Other things, like wage levels, can play a part.

Things that can help your mod

None of these is a promise. Your mod depends on your own payroll and claims. But each one is something you control.

1. Have a real safety program

Fewer injuries means fewer claims, and the mod gives the most weight to how often claims happen. Florida law directs the Office of Insurance Regulation to approve workers’ comp rating plans that give specific consideration to employers with a qualifying safety program, a drug-free workplace program, or both. To qualify, a safety program must at least include:

A written safety policy and safety rules
Safety inspections
Preventive maintenance
Safety training
First aid
Accident investigation
Recordkeeping

A drug-free workplace program has to follow Florida’s drug-free workplace law. These credits are separate from your mod. The amount and the paperwork depend on your insurance company’s approved rating plan, so ask what it needs from you.

2. Bring people back to work

In Florida, wage benefits generally don’t begin until a worker has missed more than 7 days. If the disability lasts more than 21 days, those first 7 days get paid back.

If an injured worker can come back early to suitable light-duty work at their regular pay, the claim often stays medical-only, and that 30% rule can apply. If light duty pays less, partial wage benefits may be owed, and the claim may no longer get the 30% rule.

Write down your light-duty jobs before anyone gets hurt. Light duty can also touch other employment laws, so talk with an employment attorney about your plan.

3. Report injuries fast

Florida requires you to report an injury to your insurance company within 7 days of learning about it. Same day is better. Quick care and a quick start on the claim help keep small injuries small.

4. Tell your insurance company when someone else caused the injury

Sometimes another person or company causes a work injury, like a driver who runs a red light and hits your work truck. Florida law lets your insurance company go after that party to get back what it paid. That’s called subrogation.

Florida law also says money your insurance company gets back this way is credited against your loss experience. The claim can then count for less on your mod. Florida law gives employers, workers and insurance companies a duty to cooperate in these cases, so share what you know: police reports, names, photos and witnesses.

5. Check your claims before they’re reported

An open claim counts at what’s been paid plus what’s been set aside for future costs. The amount set aside is called a reserve.

Your insurance company reports each policy’s claims to NCCI about 18 months after the policy starts, then again 12 months later, and again after that. The values on those reports are what go into your mod.

A few months before each report, ask us to help you review your loss runs:

Is every claim really yours?
Is each claim marked open or closed correctly?
Does a reserve still look right for where the claim stands today?
Has a claim that should be medical-only been reported that way?

Your insurance company decides its reserves. You can ask questions and share facts that might change them.

6. Get your class codes and payroll right

Your expected claims come from your class codes and payroll. If a worker is in the wrong class code, or payroll is wrong, the “usual” part of the math is wrong too. Check your class codes before renewal and before each payroll audit.

If your business changes owners

Buying a business, selling one, merging or changing your legal entity can change your mod.

You must tell your insurance company in writing within 90 days of the change. NCCI’s form for this is the ERM-14, Request for Ownership Information. A letter on your business letterhead, signed by an officer of the business, can also work.
Generally, a business’s past experience moves to the new owner. A new name or a new company doesn’t wipe the slate clean.
If the same owner or owners hold more than 50% of two or more businesses, NCCI usually combines their experience into one mod.
NCCI may issue, take back or change your current mod and up to two earlier mods because of an ownership change. Your rating date can change too.

Planning a sale, purchase or new entity? Talk with us before it happens.

How to read a mod worksheet

NCCI shows its math on a page called the experience rating worksheet. It looks busy, but it has three main parts.

1. The top

Rating effective date: the date the mod starts. A mod usually lasts one year.
Status:
- Final uses Florida’s approved rating values.
- Preliminary means NCCI is still waiting on approved values, so it used last year’s. It will be revised.
- Contingent means NCCI is still waiting on payroll or claim data from an insurance company. It will be revised when the data comes in.

When a year’s new Florida rating values aren’t approved yet, NCCI may issue a preliminary mod using the prior approved values and revise it once the new values are approved. As of October 31, 2026, Florida’s rates for policies starting on or after January 1, 2027 were awaiting a decision from the Office of Insurance Regulation.

2. The payroll lines (the “usual” side)

Class code and payroll for each policy year
ELR (expected loss rate): expected claims for each $100 of payroll
Expected losses: payroll ÷ 100 × ELR
D-ratio: the share of expected losses that’s the primary part
Expected primary losses: expected losses × D-ratio

3. The claim lines (the “real” side)

Claim number for each claim over $2,000. Smaller claims may be grouped together, shown with “NO.” and how many.
Injury type: a 6 means medical-only.
O or F: open or final (closed).
Actual incurred losses: paid plus reserves. The claim lines show full amounts. Where the ERA applies, the 30% medical-only cut shows up in the totals.
Actual primary losses: the part of each claim up to the split point.

At the bottom you’ll find the split point, the weight, the ballast, the actual and expected totals and, last, your mod.

Your worksheet checklist

Are all the policy years there? Missing years can mean missing payroll.
Does the payroll match your audits?
Are the class codes right?
Is every claim yours, and is its open or closed status current?
Are medical-only claims marked as injury type 6?

We’re happy to go through your worksheet with you, line by line.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good mod?

1.00 is average. Below 1.00 is a credit, and above 1.00 is a debit. What counts as “good enough” can depend on who’s asking. Some general contractors and project owners also look at a bidder’s mod when choosing subcontractors.

Who calculates my mod?

NCCI, using the payroll and claim information your insurance company reports. Florida uses NCCI’s experience rating plan.

Why did my mod go up in a year with no injuries?

Your mod usually looks at three years of past policies and skips the year that just ended. An older claim may just now be counted, a claim’s reserve may have gone up, or a good year may have dropped off. Florida’s rating values also change each year.

Should I pay small injuries myself to keep them off my mod?

No. Florida requires you to report every work injury to your insurance company within 7 days of learning about it. And where NCCI’s ERA rule applies, medical-only claims count at only 30% in your mod.

Does my mod follow me if I switch insurance companies?

Yes, generally. Your mod comes from your own payroll and claim history, not from which company insures you. Ownership changes have their own rules.

Can I start a new company to get a fresh mod?

Generally, no. When a business changes owners or forms a new entity that takes over the same work, its past experience usually moves with it. You must report ownership changes to your insurance company within 90 days.

Does every business get a mod?

No. A business has to meet Florida’s minimum premium size first. Businesses that don’t qualify don’t get a mod, which works the same as a 1.00.

Is a low mod a guarantee of a low price?

No. The mod is one piece. Rates, class codes, credits and other factors also affect what you pay.

What if I think my mod is wrong?

Talk with us. We’ll go over the worksheet with you, compare it to your loss runs and payroll audits, and help you ask your insurance company to send NCCI corrections if something doesn’t match.

Sources

This is general educational information, not legal or accounting advice. McGriff-Williams Insurance does not provide legal or accounting services. Coverage depends on the terms of each policy. Examples are fictional and simplified. Actual experience rating follows NCCI’s experience rating plan and the rating values approved for Florida, which change each year. Statute references are to the 2026 Florida Statutes. No particular savings are promised. Your actual mod and premium depend on NCCI’s rating of your own payroll and loss history, your insurance company’s rates and rating plan, and your coverage.

Questions? A licensed member of our team can talk it through with you. McGriff-Williams Insurance is an independent insurance agency in Gainesville, in business since 1983 and licensed in Florida. We’re at 3501 W University Ave, Gainesville, FL 32607. Call (352) 371-7977, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where confidence grows.

Last updated October 31, 2026

Your Workers’ Comp Experience Mod, Explained Simply