Accident and Workers' Compensation Insurance Liabilities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Accident and Workers' Compensation Insurance Liabilities [Abstract]

Accident and Workers' Compensation Insurance Liabilities

Auto Liability and Workers’ Compensation Insurance Accruals

We act as a self-insurer for auto liability, defined as including property damage, personal injury, or cargo based on defined insurance retention of $0.1 million under our Millis policy or $2.0 million under our Heartland policy, for any individual claim based on the insured party, accident date, and circumstances of the loss event. Within the Heartland policy, there is an additional $1.0 million aggregate self-insurance corridor for claims between $2.0 million and $3.0 million. For the Heartland policy claims, liabilities in excess of these amounts are covered by insurance up to $100.0 million. For the Millis policy claims, we retain liability for claims between $3.0 million and $10.0 million, while liabilities in excess of these amounts are covered by insurance up to $100.0 million. We retain any liability in excess of $100.0 million. We act as a self-insurer for property damage to our tractors and trailers.

We act as a self-insurer for workers’ compensation liability of $0.5 million or $1.0 million for any individual claim based on the insured party, accident date, and circumstances of the loss event. Liabilities in excess of this amount are covered by insurance. The State of Iowa initially required us to deposit $0.7 million into a trust fund as part of the self-insurance program.  Earnings on this account become part of the required deposit and as of December 31, 2019 and 2018 total deposits in this account were $1.5 million. This deposit is in municipal bonds classified as held-to-maturity and is recorded in other non-current assets on the consolidated balance sheets. 

In addition, we have provided insurance carriers with letters of credit totaling approximately $12.8 million in connection with our liability and workers’ compensation insurance arrangements and self-insurance requirements of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.  There were no outstanding balances due on any letters of credit at December 31, 2019 or 2018.

Accident and workers’ compensation accruals include the estimated settlements, settlement expenses and an estimate for claims incurred but not yet reported for property damage, personal injury and public liability losses from vehicle accidents and cargo losses as well as workers’ compensation claims for amounts not covered by insurance.  Accident and workers’ compensation accruals are based upon individual case estimates, including reserve development, and estimates of incurred-but-not-reported losses based upon our own historical experience and industry claim trends.  Since the reported liability is an estimate, the ultimate liability may be more or less than reported.  In addition to internally developed reserves and estimates, we utilize an actuarial specialist to provide an independent annual assessment of the internally developed accident and workers' compensation accruals. If adjustments to previously established accruals are required, such amounts are included in operating expenses in the current period.  These accruals are recorded on an undiscounted basis. Estimated claim payments to be made within one year of the balance sheet date have been classified as insurance accruals within current liabilities as of December 31, 2019 and 2018.