Florida Workers Compensation Insurance Frequent Questions

1. What is workers compensation insurance?
2. What does workers compensation cover?
3. How does workers compensation work?
4. What affects my rates?
5. Where can I find the forms I need?
6. What is the price of Workers Compensation insurance?
7. Is insurance for Workers Compensation required in Florida?
8. We are a drywall business with less than 3 employees do we have to have workers comp?
9. If you fail to make payments and your policy is canceled, it will be hard to get workers comp again?
10. Which industries often carry Workers Compensation insurance?
11. I work for a lawn service company. Does my employer have to carry workmans comp for me?
12. Can I include a contractor I hire with a 1099 on my workers comp insurance policy?
13. My dad has a business where some fiberglass work and carpentry work is done we have 2 guys that come and work with us and they get a 1099. Do we have to have workers comp? We do have liability insurance Thanks, being harrassed from the owner of the whole property who allows others on their property with just liabilty.
14. Will be starting business in Florida. Researching W/C find that each county in Florida requires that contractor register and that they be named as “certificate holder”. Does this mean a separate policy for each county or is there one policy with multiple counties named or all counties named?
15. How much worker comp is required in the state of Florida for a restaurant?
16. I work for myself how do I get a quote?
17. Can you provide insurance anywhere in the state?
18. Do you work in any other states?

What is Florida Workers Compensation Insurance?

This insurance pays benefits to your employees if they are injured while on the job. Specifically, it covers their medical bills, a portion of lost wages, vocational rehabilitation and death benefits. Almost every state requires by law that employers carry some form of workers compensation insurance. State law sets the coverage amount, so benefits do not vary from company to company within the same state. Limit exposure from your employees with Florida Workers Compensation Insurance.

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What does workers compensation cover?

Workers compensation covers all the employees of the small business. Make special provisions if employees work out-of-state. It can cover the business owner if the business is a corporation and the owner is actively involved in the business. It does not cover independent contractors.

Benefits paid to employees generally include:

• Unlimited Reimbursement of Medical Expense
• Portion of Lost Wages
• Some Vocational Rehabilitation
• Survivors Death Benefits

Employers liability coverage generally includes:

• Responses to lawsuits brought by injured employees or their dependents for grossly negligent acts by the employer
• Protection against employee claims for pain and suffering and loss of relationship (except in North Dakota, Nevada, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming and Ohio)

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How does workers compensation work?

When a worker suffers an injury, even a minor one, you report it to the workers compensation insurance carrier immediately. The employee seeks necessary medical attention, and the insurance company pays the bills. If the employee misses work because of the injury, the insurance company pays the employee limited benefits for the lost time.

If a permanent injury prevents the employee from returning, the insurer pays to re-train them for another line of work. If the employee dies, the insurer pays a death benefit to the employee’s family.

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What affects my Florida Workers Compensation Insurance rates?

Florida Workers Compensation Insurance premiums are based directly on the amount of your payroll. The higher your payroll, the more you will pay in premiums.

Job classifications also matter. The cost of workers compensation insurance varies widely depending on the work function of an employee. In general, the premium for a roofer is much higher than the premium for a clerical worker. Employers must report payroll accurately by classification of work performed. Your insurance company can advise you which classes apply to your employees.

Workers Compensation Forms

• Information Sheet for Quote
• Blank Resume Form
• State Exemption Application
• State Election of Coverage Application

What is the price of Worker’s Compensation insurance?

There’s no single price, because insurers rate each business on its own details. The biggest factors are the ones our quote form asks about:

• Your payroll and how it splits across job duties, since each duty has its own rate
• Your number of full- and part-time employees and which owners are included
• Your annual sales
• Whether you work outside Florida
• Whether you use subcontractors and whether they’re insured, since uninsured subcontractors can be added to your premium
• Your management experience
• Your claims history

Send us those details through the quote form and we’ll compare options from the insurance companies we represent.

I work for a lawn service company. Does my employer have to carry workmans comp for me?

The requirement to purchase Florida Workers Compensation Insurance coverage depends on several factors. Please follow this link to see the information page on the Florida Department of Financial Services website.

Is insurance for Worker’s Compensation required in Florida?

In Florida, construction businesses must carry workers’ compensation as soon as they have one employee. Other businesses must carry it once they have four or more. Owners who are corporate officers or LLC members count as employees. Eligible officers and members can apply to the state for an exemption. Sole proprietors and partners outside construction aren’t counted, but they can choose to be covered with the Notice of Election of Coverage (Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation).

Keep in mind that even if you are not required to have Workers Compensation, your business is still responsible for any accident or employment disease or illness that an employee may incur.

We are a drywall business with less than 3 employees do we have to have workers comp?

Assuming your business is in Florida, yes. A drywall business must have Workers Compensation coverage from the first employee. Drywall is considered a construction classification.

If you fail to make payments and your policy is canceled, it will be hard to get workers comp again?

Unfortunately, yes. If you have current coverage, do everything you can to keep it in place. It can be very difficult to buy a policy after a lapse in coverage, especially for construction class policies. You may be able to change insurance companies without a lapse. Once there is a lapse, though, many insurance companies automatically decline you.

I work in commercial construction. Can I include a contractor I hire with a 1099 on my workers comp insurance policy? A 1099 employee will have coverage under my policy without getting workers comp and liability insurance on their own. I want to expand my business but can’t afford to have workers as full time employees.

It may be very difficult to find coverage. The laws that govern Workers Compensation policies are written to be very broad. They generally favor the injured individual, who goes up the ladder looking for coverage. For example, an employee of a subcontractor gets hurt and goes to his boss, who does not have the coverage in place. Then the subcontractor’s employee goes to the general contractor’s policy looking for coverage.

Most private insurance companies don’t want to write businesses with more than 10% subcontractors. They also want those subcontractors to be insured. The reason is simply claims. A 1099 employee is not really an employee at all, but an independent contractor. Only independent contractors should receive a 1099, and you cannot supervise them. That is one of the tenets of being an independent contractor. Claims experience has shown that uninsured independent contractors create complicated and expensive claims, so insurance companies avoid them as much as possible.

If you would like to discuss the specifics of your situation, feel free to contact our office.

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My dad has a business where some fiberglass work and carpentry work is done we have 2 guys that come and work with us and they get a 1099. Do we have to have workers comp? We do have liability insurance Thanks, being harassed from the owner of the whole property who allows others on their property with just liability.

I’m not sure I fully understand your question, but I will try to answer it. I am assuming that by property owner you mean the owner of a location where you are doing some work for a client. I am also assuming that by “have to have workers comp” you mean the statutory requirement to purchase the coverage.

The statutory requirements only say when a business must buy workers compensation. They do NOT say when a business becomes liable for its employees (or subcontractors). A business is ALWAYS liable for its employees (or subcontractors), regardless of the requirement to buy the coverage.

For example, a retail store has one owner and two sales reps. The law does not require it to carry workers compensation, because a non-construction business must carry the coverage with four or more owners and employees. The owner would still be liable if a stock shelf fell and hurt one of the sales reps. This is why some property owners require anyone doing work on their property to carry the coverage, even if the law does not require it.

In any construction business, the statutory requirement to purchase coverage starts with the first employee. Carpentry counts as construction. Many small businesses believe they can get around this requirement by paying the people who work with them as 1099 contractors. Unfortunately, that is not the measure the Florida Department of Labor uses to define an independent contractor.

So these individuals are sometimes still considered statutory employees. This means they are employees as far as the state is concerned, but they are paid as independent contractors. The workers compensation statutes treat statutory employees as regular employees. This is another reason some property owners require businesses to have the coverage. They don’t want to be responsible for statutory employees.

In conclusion, the property owner may ask you to carry the coverage even though you may not be legally required to purchase it. An accident could still become the property owner’s responsibility if there is no coverage in place.

Will be starting business in Florida. Researching W/C find that each county in Florida requires that contractor register and that they be named as “certificate holder”. Does this mean a separate policy for each county or is there one policy with multiple counties named or all counties named?

The Certificate Holder is the person or entity named on the Certificate of Liability Insurance. Being named does not give that person or entity any rights or coverage. A Certificate of Liability Insurance is basically an informal summary of the coverages on your policy.

Most municipalities, not only counties, require proof of both liability and workers compensation insurance. You need that proof to obtain permits or a license. A workers compensation policy is written on a business as a whole. You can get Certificates of Liability Insurance as many times as you need, for any number of Certificate Holders, throughout the policy period.

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How much worker comp is required in the state of Florida for a restaurant?

Workers Compensation in Florida is written as Statutory Limits, with no real limit listed on the policy. A separate part of the policy, called Employers Liability, is written with minimum limits. Those limits are $100,000 each accident, $500,000 disease policy limit and $100,000 disease each employee. Employers Liability is for rare occurrences. In those cases the Workers Compensation Statutes may not apply directly, and liability coverage is needed.

In Florida, non-construction businesses must carry workers compensation coverage once they have four or more employees. Corporate officers and LLC member-owners count as employees. So do statutory employees, who are individuals not paid as employees but who qualify as employees under the workers compensation statutes.

I work for myself how do I get a quote?

The information needed for a quote depends on the type of work you do. You can insure yourself as an individual, but insurers still look at you as a business. Please visit our “Free Quote Page“. Choose the type of business you have and complete the online form so that we can start working on a quote for you.

Which industries often carry Workers Compensation insurance?

Industries that commonly carry Workers Compensation insurance include, but are not limited to, these:

Can you provide insurance anywhere in the state?

We have helped customers all across the state of Florida. Below are some of the cities we have done business in.

Do you work in any other states?

Yes. We can also help you with workers’ compensation insurance in Texas. For more information, visit our Texas Workers Compensation page.