What happens to existing WSIB claims when a business is sold?

Buyers check whether premiums are paid and stop there. The more consequential question is what the claims history does to the rate going forward, because that is a recurring cost rather than a one-off arrears figure.

Claims experience is part of what you are buying

Workplace insurance premiums are experience-rated: an employer with a history of costly claims pays more than a comparable employer without one. Where the business carries its experience across a transfer, the buyer inherits the rate consequences of incidents it had no part in. On a labour-intensive business that difference is material to the operating model, not a rounding item.

Open claims have an ongoing administrative cost too

A claim that is still active brings return-to-work obligations, accommodation duties and reporting that land on whoever is the employer now. A buyer should know how many claims are open, what stage each is at, and what accommodation is already in place before deciding how to staff the business.

What to ask for in diligence

The employer’s current rate and rate group, several years of claims history, the status of every open claim, and a clearance certificate dated close to closing. Much of this comes from the Board rather than from the seller, which makes it verification rather than disclosure.

Structure can affect the answer

Share and asset purchases are not identical here, and the treatment of experience on a transfer is a question of the Board’s own rules rather than of what the purchase agreement says. Raise it early, because it can change which structure makes commercial sense.