Is Workers’ Comp needed?

Is Workers’ Comp needed? Before we dive into, is workers’ compensation insurance needed, let’s define what it is. Workers’ Compensations is a form of insurance that covers injuries that are a result of a workplace accident – that most employers are required to have. The insurance covers medical and partial wage replacement benefits.

Okay, back to is workers’ comp needed?

The short answer is -it depends. The following information is true when it comes to workers’ compensation coverage in the State of Florida.

Who needs Workers’ Compensation Insurance? Sometimes called, workmen’s compensation insurance.

Workers’ Comp insurance in Florida is based on the number of employees you have. For example, if you work in construction and have one or more employees, including the owner(s) who are nonexempt, you need workers’ compensation.
What about a restaurant? If you work in the restaurant industry, or any industry that isn’t considered construction or agriculture related you must have workers’ compensation, if you have four or more employees; this too includes any nonexempt business owners.

Breaking down the math

Let’s pretend you own a pizza restaurant with one of your siblings. In addition to you and your sibling, you have two additional people on staff at a restaurant. The owner and co- owner can be exempt from coverage(but they haven’t exempted themselves for this example), and because you have two other employees, 2+2 = 4, you are required to have workers’ compensation in the state of Florida.

If the owners ( you and your sibling based on this example exempted yourself ) the total number of employees for workers’ compensation purposes would be 2, and you would not be required to have workers’ comp.

The agricultural industry math is different.

The math for workers’ compensation is different if you work in agriculture. If you have 6 regular employees or 12 part time workers, who work more than 30 days but no more than 45 days in a year, you are required to have workers compensation insurance.

Note: that the above only mentioned employees. The rules for sub-contractors are different. Sub- contractors are responsible of their own workers’ compensation insurance but, and this is a big BUT- if a sub-contractor is injured and they don’t have workers’ comp insurance the contractor is responsible.

In summary, if you have a business in Florida, you likely need workers’ compensation: if you have four or more employees and you’re not in the construction industry. If you work in construction, you need to have workers’ comp starting at one employee. If you work in ag, you need workers’ compensation insurance starting at 6 full time or 12 part time employees.

If you’re reading this and coming to the realization that you need workers’ compensation, we’re more than happy to give you a workers’ comp quote. If you’re interested in reviewing your current workers’ comp rates with us, we’re happy to give you a workers’ compensation quote too.

Get a workers’ comp quote.

The information above is to be used as an informative guide. Please understand it is not legal advice and is subject to change. You should always refer to official Florida law to keep up with any changes.

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