No matter what type of business you run, there’s a chance employees could get hurt or sick. They might slip on a wet floor, fall off a ladder, cut themselves with a blade, or get in a car accident while running a business errand. Because your employees can become hurt or sick in numerous ways, your business must have workers’ compensation insurance.
What is workers’ compensation insurance?
Workers’ compensation is a state-mandated insurance that provides medical benefits and wage replacement for employees who have a job-related illness or injury. When an employee accepts workers’ comp benefits, they typically waive their right to sue you. Workers’ compensation insurance is also known as workers’ comp or workmans’ comp.
工伤补偿保险covers employees regardless of who is at fault. The illness or injury could be caused by you, the employee, a co-worker, a customer, or someone else.
然而，有一些限制。如果疾病或伤害是有目的地自我造成的，而不是犯罪或违反公司政策，则员工无法获得福利。如果您怀疑，您将需要采取必要的步骤workers’ compensation fraud.
An employee doesn’t have to have an accident at work to receive benefits; it just needs to be work-related. The illness or injury can happen over a long period of time, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic back problems, lung disease, hearing loss, and stress-related injuries.
And, the injury doesn’t have to happen at the workplace; it just has to be work-related. An employee can be hurt while running a business errand or traveling for business.
If an employee has a job-related illness or injury, you should not retaliate or threaten the employee to prevent them from filing a claim. If you do threaten or retaliate against the employee, they can report you to your state or insurance agency.
Workers’ compensation benefits
Workmans’ compensation pays out benefits to help employees when they receive a work-related illness or injury. Workers’ comp benefits your employees might be eligible for include:
- Payment for diagnosis
- Payment for treatment
- Payment for rehabilitation
- Job retraining
- Pay while unable to work (normally about ⅔ of typical wages, with caps)
State requirements
Each state has its own workers’ compensation laws and programs.
工伤补偿保险is a legal requirement in most states. However, some states allow employers to elect coverage until they reach a certain number of employees. Once a business reaches the set number of employees, the business is required to have workers’ comp insurance.
Some businesses might also be allowed to elect coverage if employees do exempt work. Exempt work varies by state, so check your state laws.
Texas allows all employers to elect workers’ compensation insurance, no matter the type of work or number of employees.
大多数州允许雇主为工人的补偿覆盖作商店。然而，雇主必须从北达科他州，俄亥俄州，华盛顿和怀俄明邦的国家购买保险。
Check with yourstate’s workers’ compensation officefor more information.
Workers’ compensation costs
您的工人赔偿保费基于您的工资单，工作类型的员工，以及您过去的索赔。利率范围从每100美元的员工工资为0.75美元至2.74美元。
Depending on your policy, you will either have annual payments or monthly payments. If you pay an annual lump sum, you will have one large payment. If you pay as you go each month, you will have smaller payments, which might help your cash flow.
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This article is updated from its original publication date of 5/24/2012.