ASI Workers Compensation Insurance
Protect your Employees,
as well as your Business.
Not long ago, there were multiple Workers Compensation Insurance Carriers with an appetite for Firearms Manufacturers and Retailers. Because of changes in treaty agreements between insurance carriers and re-insurance carriers, the number dwindled to less than a few. In most cases, the State Insurance Pools have been the Work Comp Insurance home for the Firearm’s Industry.
We have been working diligently to find insurance carriers who not only have the desire to accept the Firearm’s Industry, but the ability to as well. We now have new Work Comp Insurance markets available across the country. It is our goal to represent all markets with an appetite for this industry and keep them honest for our clients. We can also represent importers, exporters, and distributors in all 50 states.
WHAT IS WORKERS COMPENSATION INSURANCE?
Employers are legally obligated to take reasonable care to assure that their workplaces are safe. Nevertheless, accidents happen. When they do, workers compensation insurance provides coverage.
Workers compensation insurance serves two purposes: It assures that injured workers get medical care and compensation for a portion of the income they lose while they are unable to return to work and it usually protects employers from lawsuits by workers injured while working.
Workers receive benefits regardless of who was at fault in the accident. If a worker is killed while working, workers comp (as it is often abbreviated) provides death benefits for the worker’s dependents.
EACH STATE IS DIFFERENT
Workers compensation systems are established by statutes in each state. State laws and court decisions control the program in that state and no two states have exactly the same laws and regulations.
States determine such features as the amount of benefits to which an employee is entitled, what impairments and injuries are covered, how impairments are to be evaluated and how medical care is to be delivered. In addition, states dictate whether workers compensation insurance is provided by state-run agencies and by private insurance companies or by the state alone. States also establish how claims are to be handled, how disputes are resolved and they may devise strategies, such as limits on chiropractic care, to control costs.
To learn about the requirements where you live, visit your state’s workers compensation department Web site.
If your business expands to another state, you may have to deal with very different rules in the new state. The discussion here covers the general features of workers compensation programs.
WHAT INJURIES ARE COVERED?
Injuries employees sustain on the workplace premises or anywhere else while the employee is acting in the “course and scope” of employment are covered if their employer has workers comp insurance. For example, the leading cause of workers comp death claims is traffic accidents that occur when the employee is in a vehicle for work purposes, whether the trip is made in the company’s car or the employee’s own vehicle. Accidents driving to and from work are not covered.
In addition to injuries from accidents, workers comp covers injuries employees may sustain from other events that may occur while they are working, including workplace violence, terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
Workers comp insurance also covers certain illnesses and occupational diseases (defined in the state statutes) contracted as a result of employment. For example, employees who work with toxic chemicals can be made ill by exposure to the chemicals.
DO I HAVE TO BUY WORKERS COMPENSATION INSURANCE?
In most states sole proprietors and partnerships aren’t required to purchase workers compensation unless and until they have employees who aren’t owners. Most states will allow sole proprietors and partners to cover themselves for workers comp if they choose to. Some states don’t require employees to be covered if they are paid solely on commission.
Employees are generally defined as people performing services at the direction of the employer, for hire, including minors and workers who are not citizens.
Many states exempt employers with only a few employees from mandatory coverage laws. The threshold number of employees that triggers mandatory insurance is either three, four or five, depending on the state. Texas is the only state in which workers comp insurance is truly optional.
In some states, business owners’ immediate family members—parents, spouse and children—who work for the firm may not have to be counted as employees for purposes of determining whether you must have workers comp insurance. These exceptions usually do not apply to other family members, such as sisters, brothers or in-laws.
Under some laws, independent contractors are not considered to be your employees. However, for the purpose of workers comp insurance, most states will treat an uninsured contractor or subcontractor or employees of an uninsured subcontractor as your employee—meaning you may be liable if he or she is injured while working for you. To avoid any unintended liability, larger companies often require any contractors or subcontractors doing work for them to provide proof they have workers comp insurance.
Regardless of whether insurance is required and regardless of how few employees you have, if an employee protected by the state statute is injured or killed in the course of working for you, you may be legally liable. One claim for a serious employee injury could bankrupt many small businesses. Insurance, through the payment of premiums for workers comp coverage, provides a predictable cost for handling this risk.
CAN AN EMPLOYEE WHO HAS AN ACCIDENT SUE ME?
Prior to the states’ adoption of the workers compensation system in the first half of the Twentieth Century, injured workers sued their employers after workplace accidents. This was a long, cumbersome and costly process from which the worker might gain nothing if the court failed to find the employer totally responsible for the injury. With so few employers liable for workplace accidents, support for injured workers and the families of deceased workers was a societal problem.
The workers compensation system was adopted to provide injured workers and their dependents timely compensation became regardless of who was at fault for a workplace accident. As part of the compromise that made the employer liable for work-related injury and disease costs regardless of fault, the employee surrendered the right to sue the employer for injuries. For the most part, the system works as intended. Injured workers accept workers comp payments and do not sue. This is why workers comp is referred to as the employee’s “exclusive remedy.”
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