Workman’s Compensation Insurance - Is It Necessary?

Most people who are considering remodeling, renovating or building a home will need to hire outside workers to help them complete their work. Every state but Texas requires employers to provide their workers with workman’s comp coverage. It is to the benefit of you, as the employer, to provide this type of coverage for your workers.

Workman’s compensation insurance is state regulated, and covers employee lost wages, medical expenses, rehabilitation services and death from a work-related injury or sickness. In any type of workplace, all employees are eligible for workman’s comp coverage regardless of fault. Which means that if an employee is injured, they do not have to prove that the employer was negligent in the act to receive coverage. However, some employees are at fault for their illness and employee negligence can be used as a defense claim for the employer if the worker, for example, ignored safety rules on the job site.

Depending upon who you hire, you may be exempt from providing workman’s comp insurance. Some states have minimum employee numbers and wages that don’t require workman’s comp coverage. Be sure to check your states workman’s comp laws because you may not have to provide coverage if you are at the minimum standards they have set. Also, if you are working through a company you own, some companies that are big enough are qualified for self-insurance and are not required to provide workman’ comp coverage. To receive coverage, most states allow private insurers for the purchase of workman’s comp coverage.

Both employers and employees can benefit from workman’s comp coverage. According to workman’s compensation laws, employees are provided with four specific benefits: medical expenses, total and partial indemnity payments for permanent or temporary injuries, physical or vocational rehabilitation, and death benefits. Previously mentioned indemnity payments cover from about 66.6% to 80% of lost wages. Employers also benefit from the purchase of workman’s comp. Employees who are injured or ill are not able to sue their employer for negligence or personal injury. Workman’s comp benefits are also fixed by the law and those systems provide all employers a way to facilitate the return of their employees.

As well as the benefits, both employees and employers have workman’s comp rights. In most states employees have the right to choose their own physician and attorney to represent them in workman’s comp claims. Employees also have the right to appeal delayed or disputed claims with their state’s workman’s comp commission if necessary. In most states, employers have the right to assign their employee a physician that is designated by their company to diagnose their injury or illness and also to keep them at that physician for the period of treatment. Employers are also allowed to observe employee recovery to ensure that proper return to work.