Policyholders with Pinnacol Assurance will receive checks ranging from a few hundred dollars for small businesses to $100,000 for big employers.

Workers' compensation plans usually provide payments for medical treatment, temporary and permanent incapacity and, in a few cases, retraining and rehabilitation.

Pinnacol's refunds reflect better safety, higher investment returns and more efficient operations, Gary Pon, chief executive, told the Post.

Of Pinnacol's 58,000 policyholders, 55,000 will receive a check; the others won't qualify based on poor claims history.

"Anything we can get back is wonderful," Veronica Mascorro, office manager at Your Way Disposal, Inc., a waste disposal firm with 15 employees in Henderson, Colo., told the Post.

Employees were told at a barbecue that they would receive bonuses out of the $4,000 dividend to reward them for a good safety record.

Sunny Side, Inc./Temp Side in Denver expects to collect a $2,000 refund after experiencing a decline in claims.

"We will invest it back into the business," Bob Grabowski, vice president of finance and administration for the employment firm, told the paper.