AFFILIATION AND TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]
AFFILIATION AND TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES	AFFILIATION AND TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES The operations of the Company are highly integrated with those of Employers Mutual through participation in a property and casualty reinsurance pooling agreement (the "pooling agreement"), a reinsurance retrocessional quota share agreement (the "quota share agreement") and an excess of loss reinsurance agreement (the “excess of loss agreement”). All transactions occurring under the pooling agreement, quota share agreement and excess of loss agreement are based on statutory accounting principles. Certain adjustments are made to the statutory-basis amounts assumed by the property and casualty insurance subsidiaries and the reinsurance subsidiary to bring the amounts into compliance with GAAP. Property and Casualty Insurance Subsidiaries The Company’s three property and casualty insurance subsidiaries and two subsidiaries and an affiliate of Employers Mutual (Union Insurance Company of Providence, EMC Property & Casualty Company and Hamilton Mutual Insurance Company) are parties to a pooling agreement with Employers Mutual. Under the terms of the pooling agreement, each company cedes to Employers Mutual all of its insurance business, and assumes from Employers Mutual an amount equal to its participation in the pool. All premiums, losses, settlement expenses, and other underwriting and administrative expenses, excluding the voluntary reinsurance business assumed by Employers Mutual from nonaffiliated insurance companies, are prorated among the parties on the basis of participation in the pool. Employers Mutual negotiates reinsurance agreements that provide protection to the pool and each of its participants, including protection against losses arising from catastrophic events. The aggregate participation of the Company’s property and casualty insurance subsidiaries in the pool is 30 percent. The Inter-Company Committees of the boards of directors of the Company and Employers Mutual approved a new inter-company reinsurance program between the Company's insurance subsidiaries in the property and casualty insurance segment and Employers Mutual for calendar year 2016. This reinsurance program is intended to reduce the volatility of the Company's quarterly results caused by excessive catastrophe and storm losses, and will provide protection from both the frequency and severity of such losses. The reinsurance program for 2016 will consist of two semi-annual aggregate catastrophe excess of loss treaties. The first treaty will be effective from January 1, 2016 through June 30, 2016, and will have a retention of $20.0 million and a limit of $24.0 million. The cost of this treaty will be approximately $6.3 million. The second treaty will be effective from July 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016, and will have a retention of $15.0 million and a limit of $12.0 million. The cost of this treaty will be approximately $1.5 million. All catastrophe and storm losses assumed by the property and casualty insurance subsidiaries (net of applicable reinsurance recoveries from external reinsurance protections purchased by the pool participants) will be subject to the terms of these treaties, and there is no co-participation provision. Operations of the pool give rise to inter-company balances with Employers Mutual, which are generally settled during the subsequent month. The investment and income tax activities of the pool participants are not subject to the pooling agreement. The pooling agreement provides that Employers Mutual will make up any shortfall or difference resulting from an error in its systems and/or computation processes that would otherwise result in the required restatement of the pool participants’ financial statements. The purpose of the pooling agreement is to spread the risk of an exposure insured by any of the pool participants among all the companies. The pooling agreement produces a more uniform and stable underwriting result from year to year for all companies in the pool than might be experienced individually. In addition, each company benefits from the capacity of the entire pool, rather than being limited to policy exposures of a size commensurate with its own surplus, and from the wide range of policy forms, lines of insurance written, rate filings and commission plans offered by each of the companies. Reinsurance Subsidiary The Company’s reinsurance subsidiary is party to a quota share agreement and an excess of loss agreement with Employers Mutual. Under the terms of the quota share agreement, the reinsurance subsidiary assumes 100 percent of Employers Mutual’s assumed reinsurance business, subject to certain exceptions. Under the terms of the excess of loss agreement (covering both business assumed from Employers Mutual through the quota share agreement, as well as business obtained outside the quota share agreement), the reinsurance subsidiary retains the first $4.0 million of losses per event, and also retains 20.0 percent of any losses between $4.0 million and $10.0 million and 10.0 percent of any losses between $10.0 million and $50.0 million. The cost of the excess of loss reinsurance protection, which includes reimbursement for the cost of reinsurance protection purchased by Employers Mutual to protect itself from the assumption of excessive losses in the event of a major catastrophe, is 8.0 percent (9.0 percent in 2013) of the reinsurance subsidiary’s total assumed reinsurance premiums written. The Inter-Company Committees of the boards of directors of the Company and Employers Mutual approved a change in the inter-company reinsurance program between the Company's reinsurance subsidiary and Employers Mutual for calendar year 2016. The reinsurance program for 2016 will consist of two treaties. The first is a per occurrence catastrophe excess of loss treaty with a retention of $10.0 million, a limit of $10.0 million, 20 percent co-participation, and no reinstatement. The cost of this treaty will be approximately $2.0 million. The second is an annual aggregate catastrophe excess of loss treaty with a retention of $20.0 million, a limit of $100.0 million, and 20 percent co-participation. The cost of this treaty will be approximately $3.1 million. Any losses recovered under the per occurrence treaty will inure to the benefit of the aggregate treaty. Only catastrophic events with total losses greater than $500,000 will be subject to the terms of the aggregate treaty. The reinsurance subsidiary will also purchase additional reinsurance protection (Industry Loss Warranties) in peak exposure territories from external parties in which coverage is triggered when losses experienced by the insurance industry from a catastrophic event exceed a specified threshold. Any reinsurance recoveries received from external parties will reduce the amount of losses ceded to Employers Mutual under the excess of loss agreement. The net cost of the external reinsurance protection is estimated to be approximately $4.0 million. The reinsurance subsidiary does not directly reinsure any of the insurance business written by Employers Mutual or the other pool participants; however, Employers Mutual assumes reinsurance business from the Mutual Reinsurance Bureau underwriting association (MRB), which provides a small amount of reinsurance protection to the members of the EMC Insurance Companies pooling agreement. As a result, the reinsurance subsidiary’s assumed exposures include a small portion of the EMC Insurance Companies’ direct business, after ceded reinsurance protections purchased by MRB are applied. In addition, the reinsurance subsidiary does not reinsure any “involuntary” facility or pool business that Employers Mutual assumes pursuant to state law. The reinsurance subsidiary assumes all foreign currency exchange gain/loss associated with contracts incepting on January 1, 2006 and thereafter that are subject to the quota share agreement. Operations of the quota share and excess of loss agreements give rise to inter-company balances with Employers Mutual, which are generally settled during the month following the end of each quarter. The investment and income tax activities of the reinsurance subsidiary are not subject to the quota share agreement. Under the terms of the quota share agreement, the reinsurance subsidiary receives reinstatement premium income that is collected by Employers Mutual from the ceding companies when reinsurance coverage is reinstated after a loss event; however, the cap on losses assumed per event contained in the excess of loss agreement is automatically reinstated without cost. The reinsurance subsidiary recognized $1.8 million, $2.3 million and $2.5 million of reinstatement premium in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Premiums earned assumed by the reinsurance subsidiary from Employers Mutual, including reinstatement premiums, amounted to $129.6 million, $122.1 million and $129.7 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The reinsurance subsidiary ceded 8.0 percent (9.0 percent in 2013) of its total assumed reinsurance premiums written to Employers Mutual as payment for the excess of loss protection, which totaled $10.8 million, $10.3 million and $12.8 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Losses and settlement expenses assumed by the reinsurance subsidiary from Employers Mutual amounted to $77.5 million, $79.5 million and $66.1 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Losses and settlement expenses ceded to Employers Mutual under the excess of loss agreement totaled $622,000, ($720,000) and $823,000 in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. It is customary in the reinsurance business for the assuming company to compensate the ceding company for the acquisition expenses incurred in the generation of the business. Commissions incurred by the reinsurance subsidiary under the quota share agreement with Employers Mutual amounted to $27.3 million, $25.6 million and $26.1 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The net foreign currency exchange gain/(loss) assumed by the reinsurance subsidiary from Employers Mutual was $386,000 in 2015, $1.0 million in 2014 and $8,000 in 2013. The total amount of net foreign currency exchange gain/(loss) assumed by the reinsurance subsidiary, including the business written on a direct basis outside the quota share agreement, was $898,000 in 2015, $2.2 million in 2014 and $(366,000) in 2013. Services Provided by Employers Mutual The Company does not have any employees of its own. Employers Mutual performs all operations for all of its subsidiaries and affiliate. Such services include data processing, claims, financial, actuarial, legal, auditing, marketing and underwriting. Employers Mutual allocates a portion of the cost of these services to its subsidiaries that do not participate in the pooling agreement based upon a number of criteria, including usage of the services and the number of transactions. The remaining costs are charged to the pooling agreement and each pool participant shares in the total cost in accordance with its pool participation percentage. Costs allocated to the Company by Employers Mutual for services provided to the holding company and its subsidiary that does not participate in the pooling agreement amounted to $3.4 million, $3.5 million and $3.6 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Costs allocated to the Company through the operation of the pooling agreement amounted to $87.4 million, $76.0 million and $83.3 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Investment expenses are based on actual expenses incurred by the Company plus an allocation of other investment expenses incurred by Employers Mutual, which is based on a weighted-average of total invested assets and number of investment transactions. Investment expenses allocated to the Company by Employers Mutual amounted to $1.4 million, $1.3 million and $1.6 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

AFFILIATION AND TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES

The operations of the Company are highly integrated with those of Employers Mutual through participation in a property and casualty reinsurance pooling agreement (the "pooling agreement"), a reinsurance retrocessional quota share agreement (the "quota share agreement") and an excess of loss reinsurance agreement (the “excess of loss agreement”). All transactions occurring under the pooling agreement, quota share agreement and excess of loss agreement are based on statutory accounting principles. Certain adjustments are made to the statutory-basis amounts assumed by the property and casualty insurance subsidiaries and the reinsurance subsidiary to bring the amounts into compliance with GAAP.

Property and Casualty Insurance Subsidiaries

The Company’s three property and casualty insurance subsidiaries and two subsidiaries and an affiliate of Employers Mutual (Union Insurance Company of Providence, EMC Property & Casualty Company and Hamilton Mutual Insurance Company) are parties to a pooling agreement with Employers Mutual. Under the terms of the pooling agreement, each company cedes to Employers Mutual all of its insurance business, and assumes from Employers Mutual an amount equal to its participation in the pool. All premiums, losses, settlement expenses, and other underwriting and administrative expenses, excluding the voluntary reinsurance business assumed by Employers Mutual from nonaffiliated insurance companies, are prorated among the parties on the basis of participation in the pool. Employers Mutual negotiates reinsurance agreements that provide protection to the pool and each of its participants, including protection against losses arising from catastrophic events. The aggregate participation of the Company’s property and casualty insurance subsidiaries in the pool is 30 percent.

The Inter-Company Committees of the boards of directors of the Company and Employers Mutual approved a new inter-company reinsurance program between the Company's insurance subsidiaries in the property and casualty insurance segment and Employers Mutual for calendar year 2016. This reinsurance program is intended to reduce the volatility of the Company's quarterly results caused by excessive catastrophe and storm losses, and will provide protection from both the frequency and severity of such losses. The reinsurance program for 2016 will consist of two semi-annual aggregate catastrophe excess of loss treaties. The first treaty will be effective from January 1, 2016 through June 30, 2016, and will have a retention of $20.0 million and a limit of $24.0 million. The cost of this treaty will be approximately $6.3 million. The second treaty will be effective from July 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016, and will have a retention of $15.0 million and a limit of $12.0 million. The cost of this treaty will be approximately $1.5 million. All catastrophe and storm losses assumed by the property and casualty insurance subsidiaries (net of applicable reinsurance recoveries from external reinsurance protections purchased by the pool participants) will be subject to the terms of these treaties, and there is no co-participation provision.

Operations of the pool give rise to inter-company balances with Employers Mutual, which are generally settled during the subsequent month. The investment and income tax activities of the pool participants are not subject to the pooling agreement. The pooling agreement provides that Employers Mutual will make up any shortfall or difference resulting from an error in its systems and/or computation processes that would otherwise result in the required restatement of the pool participants’ financial statements.

The purpose of the pooling agreement is to spread the risk of an exposure insured by any of the pool participants among all the companies. The pooling agreement produces a more uniform and stable underwriting result from year to year for all companies in the pool than might be experienced individually. In addition, each company benefits from the capacity of the entire pool, rather than being limited to policy exposures of a size commensurate with its own surplus, and from the wide range of policy forms, lines of insurance written, rate filings and commission plans offered by each of the companies.

Reinsurance Subsidiary

The Company’s reinsurance subsidiary is party to a quota share agreement and an excess of loss agreement with Employers Mutual. Under the terms of the quota share agreement, the reinsurance subsidiary assumes 100 percent of Employers Mutual’s assumed reinsurance business, subject to certain exceptions. Under the terms of the excess of loss agreement (covering both business assumed from Employers Mutual through the quota share agreement, as well as business obtained outside the quota share agreement), the reinsurance subsidiary retains the first $4.0 million of losses per event, and also retains 20.0 percent of any losses between $4.0 million and $10.0 million and 10.0 percent of any losses between $10.0 million and $50.0 million. The cost of the excess of loss reinsurance protection, which includes reimbursement for the cost of reinsurance protection purchased by Employers Mutual to protect itself from the assumption of excessive losses in the event of a major catastrophe, is 8.0 percent (9.0 percent in 2013) of the reinsurance subsidiary’s total assumed reinsurance premiums written.

The Inter-Company Committees of the boards of directors of the Company and Employers Mutual approved a change in the inter-company reinsurance program between the Company's reinsurance subsidiary and Employers Mutual for calendar year 2016. The reinsurance program for 2016 will consist of two treaties. The first is a per occurrence catastrophe excess of loss treaty with a retention of $10.0 million, a limit of $10.0 million, 20 percent co-participation, and no reinstatement. The cost of this treaty will be approximately $2.0 million. The second is an annual aggregate catastrophe excess of loss treaty with a retention of $20.0 million, a limit of $100.0 million, and 20 percent co-participation. The cost of this treaty will be approximately $3.1 million. Any losses recovered under the per occurrence treaty will inure to the benefit of the aggregate treaty. Only catastrophic events with total losses greater than $500,000 will be subject to the terms of the aggregate treaty. The reinsurance subsidiary will also purchase additional reinsurance protection (Industry Loss Warranties) in peak exposure territories from external parties in which coverage is triggered when losses experienced by the insurance industry from a catastrophic event exceed a specified threshold. Any reinsurance recoveries received from external parties will reduce the amount of losses ceded to Employers Mutual under the excess of loss agreement. The net cost of the external reinsurance protection is estimated to be approximately $4.0 million.

The reinsurance subsidiary does not directly reinsure any of the insurance business written by Employers Mutual or the other pool participants; however, Employers Mutual assumes reinsurance business from the Mutual Reinsurance Bureau underwriting association (MRB), which provides a small amount of reinsurance protection to the members of the EMC Insurance Companies pooling agreement. As a result, the reinsurance subsidiary’s assumed exposures include a small portion of the EMC Insurance Companies’ direct business, after ceded reinsurance protections purchased by MRB are applied. In addition, the reinsurance subsidiary does not reinsure any “involuntary” facility or pool business that Employers Mutual assumes pursuant to state law. The reinsurance subsidiary assumes all foreign currency exchange gain/loss associated with contracts incepting on January 1, 2006 and thereafter that are subject to the quota share agreement. Operations of the quota share and excess of loss agreements give rise to inter-company balances with Employers Mutual, which are generally settled during the month following the end of each quarter. The investment and income tax activities of the reinsurance subsidiary are not subject to the quota share agreement.

Under the terms of the quota share agreement, the reinsurance subsidiary receives reinstatement premium income that is collected by Employers Mutual from the ceding companies when reinsurance coverage is reinstated after a loss event; however, the cap on losses assumed per event contained in the excess of loss agreement is automatically reinstated without cost. The reinsurance subsidiary recognized $1.8 million, $2.3 million and $2.5 million of reinstatement premium in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

Premiums earned assumed by the reinsurance subsidiary from Employers Mutual, including reinstatement premiums, amounted to $129.6 million, $122.1 million and $129.7 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The reinsurance subsidiary ceded 8.0 percent (9.0 percent in 2013) of its total assumed reinsurance premiums written to Employers Mutual as payment for the excess of loss protection, which totaled $10.8 million, $10.3 million and $12.8 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Losses and settlement expenses assumed by the reinsurance subsidiary from Employers Mutual amounted to $77.5 million, $79.5 million and $66.1 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Losses and settlement expenses ceded to Employers Mutual under the excess of loss agreement totaled $622,000, ($720,000) and $823,000 in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

It is customary in the reinsurance business for the assuming company to compensate the ceding company for the acquisition expenses incurred in the generation of the business. Commissions incurred by the reinsurance subsidiary under the quota share agreement with Employers Mutual amounted to $27.3 million, $25.6 million and $26.1 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

The net foreign currency exchange gain/(loss) assumed by the reinsurance subsidiary from Employers Mutual was $386,000 in 2015, $1.0 million in 2014 and $8,000 in 2013. The total amount of net foreign currency exchange gain/(loss) assumed by the reinsurance subsidiary, including the business written on a direct basis outside the quota share agreement, was $898,000 in 2015, $2.2 million in 2014 and $(366,000) in 2013.

Services Provided by Employers Mutual

The Company does not have any employees of its own. Employers Mutual performs all operations for all of its subsidiaries and affiliate. Such services include data processing, claims, financial, actuarial, legal, auditing, marketing and underwriting. Employers Mutual allocates a portion of the cost of these services to its subsidiaries that do not participate in the pooling agreement based upon a number of criteria, including usage of the services and the number of transactions. The remaining costs are charged to the pooling agreement and each pool participant shares in the total cost in accordance with its pool participation percentage. Costs allocated to the Company by Employers Mutual for services provided to the holding company and its subsidiary that does not participate in the pooling agreement amounted to $3.4 million, $3.5 million and $3.6 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Costs allocated to the Company through the operation of the pooling agreement amounted to $87.4 million, $76.0 million and $83.3 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

Investment expenses are based on actual expenses incurred by the Company plus an allocation of other investment expenses incurred by Employers Mutual, which is based on a weighted-average of total invested assets and number of investment transactions. Investment expenses allocated to the Company by Employers Mutual amounted to $1.4 million, $1.3 million and $1.6 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.