The Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Company (MEMIC) announced that state employers will receive the largest dividend in the company’s 25-year history. MEMIC is Maine’s leading workers’ compensation insurer and employers will receive dividends in November.

17,000 employers in all 16 counties of Maine are expected to receive $22 million in dividends.

“With this record dividend, MEMIC will have returned more than a quarter billion dollars to Maine employers since 1998,” said MEMIC President and CEO Michael Bourque. “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.”

Bourque said the money will help employers with expansion, safety enhancements, debt reduction, new hires, wages, benefits and other aspects of running their business.

MEMIC is a mutual insurance company so eligible policyholders share in their success. With this latest round of returns, they have returned more than $263 million to policyholders over the past 20 years. The dividend is not always guaranteed but is contingent on safety results, effective injury management, efficient management of the company and investment and bond market performance. The $22 million represents almost 15 percent of premiums paid for policies issued in 2015, which was the qualifying year for the dividend declaration.

Read more from MEMIC.