Starting a small business is an exciting time. There are a lot of firsts and a considerable amount of new information and responsibilities to sort through. The excitement can often feel more like overwhelm when you begin taking on the legal obligations of running a business. These are things most people don’t think about until they have to, but if your company is at the point of hiring employees, responsibilities like workers’ compensation is not something you want to put off or let fall through the cracks. Workers’ comp is an insurance plan that protects both you and your employees in the event of an employee getting harmed or becoming ill due to performing the duties of the job.
For example, say you had no idea there was faulty wiring in your office and one of your employees gets electrocuted, or workers become sick due to asbestos, or an employee falls and breaks an arm. These could all happen while performing a simple desk job, so it’s important to be protected under an appropriate workers’ comp plan. At Seltzer Group Partners, we help businesses of all sizes find the plan that’s right for them and their needs. Our policies aren’t cookie cutter. We’re able to tailor your policy to you and your specifications, including plan features like:
- Claims Prevention
- Management
- Communication
- Claims Administration
- Audits
- Stay-at-Work Programs
- Hiring Process Consulting
We’re here to help your business and your employees stay protected in a way that serves all parties. If you’re new to workers’ compensation, here are a few things you should be aware of. Your agent can go over these in more detail with you.
- Workers’ compensation laws are mandated state-to-state, and even businesses with as little as one employee can be required to have a policy.
- Cases of workers’ comp fraud aren’t as frequent as you may think. This is a fear of many business owners, especially if they have the mindset that the policy is just another unnecessary business expense. It’s estimated that less than 2% of cases are proven fraudulent, however, so this shouldn’t be a big concern.
- Even if an injury is partially the employee’s fault, you can still be held liable. If the employee is performing required duties of the job but isn’t using as much caution as recommended, this can still qualify for workers’ compensation, as in the case of a construction worker whose eye is injured while he or she isn’t wearing protective eye wear.
- An employee can qualify for coverage even if they were offsite when an incident occurred. If an electrician makes a house call and gets injured, they’ll likely still be granted coverage, even though they weren’t at your office. The key is that they were performing necessary duties of the job when it happened.
- Having and sticking to workplace safety regulations can lower your plan premium. Similar to auto insurance, the less claims you have, the less your premium is likely to be, so create a culture of safety around your workplace to avoid injury and illness.
