When it comes to your business and your employees there are a lot of things to consider. Are my employees and I working in a safe environment? Is there proper light, ventilation, sanitation faculties, and so much more? What if my employee gets hurt on the job? What do I do? Where do I go and who do I talk to? This and much more must be considered, but in this article, we will focus on worker’s compensation rules and guidelines.

The first thing you need to consider before an incident ever happens is what do I need to do to protect myself, my company, and my employees? The answer to that would be having worker’s compensation insurance on your employees. In fact, in NC and SC, you have to carry workers comp. insurance is required on all companies with at least 3 employees. If you work in an industry that works with radiation or bio-hazardous waste with even one employee, you must carry insurance on that employee.

If you do not have employees, and instead have independent contractors, you are not exempt from having to cover them under worker’s compensation laws if they work within a house or out in the field for business purposes. Subcontractors should be considered as well, but generally, they are covered by the company you are subcontracted through, but it is always best to ask when considering the terms of your contracts.

This is something that employers have to be mindful of because this is not something that you can opt out of if you qualify to carry the coverage. You can, however, cover insurance if you choose to despite having more than 3 employees. Making sure that you have all your bases covered in this matter is always the best way to proceed.

If you work in a charitable organization and have volunteers, the question often comes up about covering them. The answer to this is no, but once again you can opt to purchase coverage on these individuals. Another question is, as an owner am I required to carry worker’s comp insurance on myself? If you want this coverage it has to go on about separately because you are not automatically covered under worker’s comp because of your ownership.

There are lots of places where you can find more in-depth answers to your questions. Here is a list of on-line resources for you concerning workers compensation and other business related questions:

http://www.ic.nc.gov/index.html

http://www.wcc.sc.gov/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.ncrb.org/ncrb/WorkersCompensation/tabid/75/Default.aspx

http://www.dol.gov/owcp/dfec/regs/compliance/wc.htm

Of course, you can always contact us here at the Hoffman Agency to learn more about workers comp and other business insurances. No question is too big or too small for us to help you with. We have many different resources and solutions for you and your business when it comes to many different types of insurance. We want to help you and your business to be safe and compliant with all laws, along with that we strive to give you the best customer service available. Thank you so much for taking a minute and learning with us.