Your Workers' Comp EMR Is Over 1.0 and a Bid Is Due

Updated September 15, 2026

The bid is due Friday. Your mod is 1.06. You just found out the GC’s cutoff is 1.0. You can’t count on the rating itself changing before Friday, so the question isn’t how to fix it this week. It’s what’s actually worth doing in the time you have.

What a rating actually takes to change

Your EMR is recalculated at your policy’s rating effective date, once a year, from data the bureau already has. Nothing you do this week is likely to change the number that’s sitting in the GC’s system before the bid closes. That’s the hard limit on this situation, and it’s worth saying plainly so you don’t spend the week chasing something you can’t count on moving in time.

What can move in a week isn’t the rating. It’s what you’re able to put in front of the GC alongside it.

Verify the worksheet first, before you do anything else

Before you decide the number is simply bad news, confirm it’s accurate. Get your current experience rating worksheet (the bureau’s document showing the calculation) and your loss runs (the carrier’s list of your claims and their current values), and compare them line by line. A stale reserve on an open claim, a claim that should have closed, or payroll sitting under the wrong class code can all inflate a mod that would otherwise clear the line. This probably won’t change this week’s number either. In NCCI states, a reporting error your carrier corrects produces a revised mod, but don’t count on one reaching a bid due this week. The check still tells you something worth knowing before you talk to the GC: whether you’re arguing a bad year, or a bad record on the worksheet that isn’t actually accurate.

Ask for the corrections, even on a tight timeline

If the worksheet check turns up something wrong, ask your agent or carrier to start the correction now, not after the bid closes. Don’t count on it reaching this bid. In NCCI states, a reporting error, like wrong payroll or a claim that isn’t yours, is corrected by your carrier and produces a revised mod. A reserve that comes down after the valuation date reaches the next rating. Ask your agent when a revised mod is expected. If you’re bidding regularly, once the corrected number is out, every package after that carries it.

Get a letter from your agent

A letter from your agent or broker, on their letterhead, explaining what happened and what’s being corrected, is something a GC can actually put in a file. It doesn’t change the number on the form, but it gives a reviewer who has discretion something concrete to weigh instead of a bare number with no context. Ask specifically for what caused the mod to rise, whether anything on the worksheet is being disputed or corrected, and, if it’s accurate, a note that your safety program has since changed.

Ask the GC whether they consider context

Some GCs have a hard cutoff with no exceptions. Others will look at a strong explanation if the rest of your package is solid. You won’t know which kind you’re dealing with unless you ask, and asking costs you nothing. A short, direct call or email to whoever manages prequalification, before the bid closes, explaining that your mod reflects a specific situation and asking whether they consider context, is a better use of a week than assuming the answer is no.

What only helps next year

Improving your safety program starting today is worth doing, but it doesn’t touch this week’s number or even next year’s. The three-year rating window means today’s changes affect ratings that haven’t been calculated yet, and the claim or claims driving your current mod stay in the window until they age out on their own schedule. Don’t spend this week’s limited time on anything framed as an immediate fix to the rating itself. There isn’t one.

What not to promise

Don’t tell a GC you’ll be under 1.0 by a specific date unless you know exactly what’s driving the number and exactly when a revised mod, or the next rating, that reflects a correction will be issued. A promise you can’t keep costs you more credibility than an honest “here’s what happened and here’s what we’re doing about it.”

If the GC has no discretion at all

Some prequalification systems reject a package automatically once the mod fails the check, before any person reads the rest of it. If that’s what you’re up against, the letter and the conversation still aren’t wasted. They position you for the next bid from the same GC, and they start the paper trail your agent will need at your next renewal regardless of how this week’s bid goes. Not every effort this week has to pay off on this specific bid to be worth making.

It’s also fair to ask, directly and early, whether the GC’s process allows any exception at all. A short answer of no saves you from spending the rest of the week building a case for a door that was never going to open, and lets you focus what time you have on the worksheet check instead.

Starting the real fix

Once the bid is in, whichever way it goes, the worksheet check you didn’t have time to do properly this week is worth doing properly. The free EMR Cost & Bid Check calculator shows what your mod is costing you against common thresholds. A full verification compares your worksheet against your actual loss runs and payroll, line by line, and tells you exactly what to send your agent or carrier if something’s wrong, in time for the bids after this one. It’s a flat fee, no contingency, and the savings are yours. Get on the waitlist to be first in line.