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Does my employer have to carry workers’ compensation insurance?

Workers’ compensation is insurance your employer carries. The law requires your employer to pay the costs of this insurance and forbids passing it on to you.

Some employers may decide to not carry the insurance, which is illegal in some situations. The Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation explains almost every employer has a legal obligation to carry the insurance.

The basic requirement

If your employer has at least three employees, then it must have worker’s compensation insurance. The status of the employees does not matter. For example, if your employer has two full-time employees and one seasonal worker, for the purposes of workers’ compensation, it has three employees and must carry the insurance.

In addition, in an LLC, officers or members can exempt themselves from coverage, but if they do count as employees for the purpose of the insurance requirement. So if the company has two officers and you are the only employee, workers’ compensation law counts that as having three employees and the company must have coverage.

Exceptions

Any employer who does not have three employees does not have to have coverage. Employers of domestic servants, such as housekeepers, also are exempt from the requirement regardless of how many employees they have. Farm laborers do not have to have coverage either.

Other employers may get coverage under different programs, so they do not have to secure workers’ compensation insurance. These include government agencies and railroads.

If you discover your employer does not have coverage when legally required to have it, you can report that to protect yourself should you ever have an on-the-job injury.

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