What is the Manitoba WCB’s Disposition of Business Enterprise Certificate?

The Disposition of Business Enterprise Certificate is a document from the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba (WCB). The WCB describes it as confirmation that the selling business has satisfied all requirements with the WCB for the buyer. On the WCB’s page about closing or selling a business, it is the seller who must request it. That WCB page does not say that a buyer has to obtain it, so this page sticks to what the WCB does say.

What the seller must give the WCB

The WCB says that a seller must give it the last date the business paid workers in Manitoba and the payroll up until that date. The seller must also include the purchaser’s contact information: name, phone number and address. In addition, the seller needs to request the certificate from the WCB. For a buyer, this means the purchaser’s details are part of what the WCB asks the seller for.

How a change of ownership can affect coverage and rates

The WCB states that business changes can affect coverage, claims cost experience, industry classification, rate and WCB premiums. Its policy 31.05.20 sets criteria for when an employer’s assessment rates and claim costs experience follow the business on a change in ownership, and are then used to determine assessment rates for the new employer. The WCB says it is important to tell apart a business that ceases to operate from one where all or part of the business continues in substantially the same form under new ownership, because it sets assessment rates based in part on claim costs experience.

Questions to put to the seller and the WCB

These are things to check, not requirements. Ask whether the seller has told the WCB about the sale and whether it has requested the certificate. Ask the WCB how policy 31.05.20 would apply if the business will carry on in substantially the same form under your ownership. This page covers Manitoba only. For Alberta, see workers’ compensation clearance when buying a business in Alberta.