More than 17,000 Maine employers will receive a record $22 million in dividends this November from The MEMIC Group, the Portland-based workers’ compensation insurer said Tuesday.

The MEMIC board of directors authorized the policyholder dividend at its Sept. 28 meeting, the company said in a news release.

“With this record dividend, MEMIC will have returned more than a quarter billion dollars to Maine employers since 1998,” MEMIC President and CEO Michael Bourque said in a statement. “This is our favorite time of the year as it celebrates a lot of hard work by employers and employees who work safely and get those who are injured back to work.”

As MEMIC is a mutual insurance company, eligible Maine policyholders can share in its financial success if workers’ compensation costs remain low. As of next month, MEMIC will have returned more than $263 million to policyholders over the past 20 years, the company said.

The dividend is not guaranteed. It is contingent upon safety results, effective injury management and efficient management of the company, as well as investment and bond market performance, MEMIC said. The $22 million represents nearly 15 percent of premiums paid for policies issued in 2015, the qualifying year for the dividend declaration. Checks as large as $290,000 will be delivered in November depending on the amount of premium an employer paid in 2015, it said.

 

Michael Bourque