Business First Family Business, Accounting, Finance, Investing, Marketing And Management
If you are an HR professional, you are required to be familiar with all of the workers compensation requirements employers must meet. However, it can be difficult to remember every single little detail about workers compensation laws. This is especially true for Human Resources managers who work for a small business. You have a ton of responsibilities and tasks to manage. Keep reading below to learn the most fundamental workers compensation employer requirements to protect your company from unnecessary legal trouble.
State Differences
First, the most important thing to know about workers compensation requirements is that they differ by state. Each state has its own workers compensation laws. They also have their own insurance providers, like Fiesta Insurance and similar. While there are many fundamental similarities between each state’s laws for workers compensation, there are also considerable differences. Be careful. If you do not learn up on your state’s specific workers comp laws, you could be putting your company at unnecessary risk. Make sure you keep this in mind.
Businesses That Require Insurance
Which businesses require workers compensation insurance? Again, this is going to differ on a state-by-state basis. However, states will typically require employers to provide coverage dependent upon the number of employees they have or the type of business structure they operate under. Certain workers may also be excluded from requiring that workers compensation insurance be provided or the insurance company can dispute payment of benefits. These workers typically include farmhands or other farm workers, domestic employees and seasonal employees. Sole proprietorships are the one business that is not required to obtain workers compensation insurance in most states. Remember to check out your particular state workers compensation requirements to be sure.
Injury And Illness Recordkeeping
If you are worrying about workman’s comp, you should also be worried about injury and illness record keeping for OSHA, or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. After all, this is not something that is taught at all business colleges. All work-related injuries are required to be recorded and reported. So, if you are putting a plan in place for workers compensation, you should also make sure you have a plan in place for work-related injury reporting. Otherwise, you may face some serious trouble when injured employees attempt to claim workers compensation. Make sure you meet this sometimes forgotten workers compensation requirement.
Cost Requirements
Workers compensation cost requirements are what most business owners worry about. In HR, you should worry about them too. Cost of coverage will vary for each business. These costs are based on things like business type and number of employees. This is a considerable expense for small business. However, there are pay-as-you-go workers compensation insurance plans that help to make it more affordable for small business. You may want to pitch these types of workers compensation plans to the owner of the business you work for.
No Workers Compensation Required
There is just one state where no workers compensation insurance is required. That is Texas. Texas is the only state in America that does not require workman’s comp. Other states, like Florida or South Carolina, require businesses to have workers compensation coverage when they employ at least 4 people. Other than that, there are no other states in the country with lax workers compensation laws. Remember to find out more about your state’s workman’s comp laws to determine the best course of action for your employer and their learning management systems.
If you are a Human Resources professional for a small business, you are probably the one tasked with finding out all about the workers compensation requirements for the company. Thankfully, it will not take long to learn. These above points are the fundamental requirements of workers compensation insurance laws across the country. However, each state has its own specific workman’s comp laws with their own unique intricacies. Be sure to learn up about specific state requirements for workers comp plans to protect your company from lawsuits and worse.
Photo from http://attorneymalouf.com/practice-areas/workers-compensation
