Workers Comp Ins

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electricmanscott

electricmanscott

Senior Member
Location
Boston, MA
This is mainly directed at the one man operations out there like myself but I'm always open to all who wish to opine.

How many of you carry workers comp insurance and the laws federal or state regulations gennerally?

I have a policy for myself though not legally required to do so. What it actually does is removes the liability of whomever I work for. If I did not have this policy I could, if injured on a jobsite, submit a claim against the general contractors comp policy even though I am not an employee. The gc's insurance co's can use the money paid to their subs to calculate the payroll for that gc and set their rates accordingly. This costs the gc money and we know how they are about that. :wink:
 
I discussed this with my insurance agent when I went to purchase my liability. She talked a little bit about how easy it might be to decide you need a vacation and take advantage of your insurance.

I don't know much about the subject, so I'd also be interested in hearing thoughts from some of the more experienced ones in here.
 
I also carry wc insurance for myself, for the same reason as oakey i find it to be very expensive. I dont know how you guys with larger shops afford it. This is one of the things that scares me when i think about expanding.
 
I carry wc but not on myself, I pay around $850.00 for the first $5000.00 of pay role and then $10.40 per hundred after that.If I would have included myself on the wc policy it would have cost $3500.00 + so since I have my own personal ins. policy I could not see the extra $$$
 
That's interesting . I work in CA. I was always told that for me to have workers comp I need to be an employee. As a sole proprieter I was told that WC was unavailable.
I have never had a contractor refuse to work with me because of claiming exempt. (only done so for the last year) I always had WC but it never covered myself. specifiacally excluded owners.

Does anyone know anything different in CA.
 
States are different. Does your state allow an "exemption" for the owner like mine does? Owners are not required to carry work comp on themselves, only on employees. If you have a good medical insurance plan that would be good for yourself. Employees are an absolute must for work comp though. A while ago I hurt myself before I got med ins but no work comp. Wrote a check for about 10,000.00 to patch me up. That really hurt.
 
We were told a proprietor could not carry workers comp on himself. Reason being he could actually hurt himself then sue the insurance company and retire.
If you ask me I think insurance is the biggest extortion racket in the nation. Used to be when it was optional insurance was cheap. Now that it is required it skyrocketed. Our comp rating is excellent. We have had one claim in 15 years. It is a 7.9% rating which means we pay $79 per $1000 of gross payroll for workers comp. I am not going to say what we spend a year but it is enough to buy a decent house.
Insurance companies own the nation, they always blame things on Katrina, Florida hurricanes and California wildfires to raise the rates on the rest of the nation when it is only a small percentage which was damaged. Then truth be known the refuse to pay because of some clause in the policy.
 
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