Workers compensation insurance
Coverwatch places workers compensation for employers with crews, kitchens, and floor staff. We rate it to your state's mandate and your class codes, and structure it to pay an injured worker fast, not just satisfy a contract.
- Legally required in 49 states
- No dollar limit on Part One benefits
- Specialty markets shopped for your class codes
At a glance
- What it covers
- Your own employees' medical bills and lost wages for a work injury, and your liability for them.
- What it doesn't
- Injuries to customers, members of the public, or anyone who is not your employee.
Trusted by 60+ carrier partners
What does workers compensation insurance cover?
Workers compensation insurance covers an employee's medical bills, lost wages, disability, and death benefits when they are injured or made ill on the job, regardless of fault. Part One pays statutory benefits set by your state. Part Two, employers liability, defends you against related lawsuits. It does not cover injuries to non-employees.
How we get you covered
We take workers compensation insurance to 60+ markets, build it to fit your business, and keep it compliant.
Read your risk
We map what could actually go wrong in your operation, where a claim would come from, and who would bring it.
Shop 60+ markets
We take your risk to the carriers that know your class and make them compete on price and terms.
Build the endorsements
We add the endorsement wording that decides whether the policy responds to a claim, beyond the base form.
Keep you compliant
We handle the COIs, additional-insured certs, and renewals, so you are never the one chasing paperwork.
Who needs workers compensation
Any employer with people on payroll, but the rate and the limits a contract demands swing hard by trade. What changes by industry is the injury frequency, the class codes, and how high the employers liability limit climbs.
Contractors
The highest-injury hub, where class codes are expensive and general contractors push workers comp and waivers of subrogation down to every sub on site.
General contractor
Carries its own crew and audits every sub's certificate, because an uninsured sub's injured workers can land on the GC's policy.
Roofing
One of the highest-rated class codes in the book; fall claims drive both the rate and the e-mod.
Electrician
Burn, shock, and fall exposure on the job, with employers liability limits often pushed up by GC contracts.
Plumber
Lifting, trench, and laceration injuries, with coverage demanded before crews start on a commercial site.
Restaurants
Burns, cuts, and slip-and-fall injuries in a fast-moving kitchen make workers comp one of the largest line items for any operator with staff.
Fast food
High turnover and fryer and grill burns drive frequent, lower-severity claims across many hourly workers.
Fine dining
Knife cuts and lifting injuries in a larger kitchen, with a higher payroll base raising the premium.
Restaurant group
Multiple locations pool payroll and claims into one e-mod, so a bad year at one unit raises the rate everywhere.
Lifting, stocking, and slip-and-fall injuries across the floor and back room make workers comp a core cost for any grocer with employees.
What's covered, and what isn't
In the policy
Medical benefits
Pays the full cost of treating a work injury or occupational illness, from the emergency room through surgery, physical therapy, and prescriptions. Under Part One there is no dollar limit, because your state's statute, not the policy, sets what is owed.
Wage replacement, the indemnity benefit
Replaces a portion of the income a worker loses while they cannot work, typically around two-thirds of their average weekly wage up to a state cap. This indemnity benefit is paid on a schedule set by statute, not negotiated.
Disability benefits
Pays when an injury leaves a worker permanently or partially unable to do their job. Each state defines temporary, permanent, partial, and total disability differently, and the statute fixes the benefit owed for each category and body part.
Death and survivor benefits
Pays funeral expenses and ongoing wage-based benefits to a spouse, children, or other dependents when a work injury or illness is fatal. The amount and duration follow the state's statutory schedule rather than a policy limit.
Employers liability, Part Two
Defends and pays when an injury leads to a lawsuit outside the no-fault system, such as a spouse's claim or a third party seeking contribution. This is the part of the policy that carries dollar limits, standard at $100,000 / $500,000 / $100,000.
Rehabilitation and return-to-work
Covers vocational rehabilitation and the medical care needed to return an injured worker to the job, including retraining where the statute provides for it. Getting a worker back to work also limits the indemnity the claim runs up.
Not in the policy
A customer or member of the public injured
Someone who is not your employee, a client in your shop or a passerby, is a third-party liability claim, not a workers compensation one. The no-fault bargain only reaches people on your payroll.
Covered by General Liability
An employee hurt in a company vehicle crash
The injured worker's medical and wage benefits stay on workers comp, but the auto liability piece of a crash your employee causes belongs to a different policy.
Covered by Commercial Auto
Wrongful termination and discrimination claims
An employee suing over firing, harassment, or discrimination is an employment dispute, not a bodily injury. Employers liability does not reach these.
Covered by Employment Practices Liability (EPLI)
An excess employers-liability judgment
If a Part Two lawsuit produces a verdict above your employers liability limit, the policy stops at its limit and the rest is yours to fund.
Covered by Commercial Umbrella
An owner who opts out of coverage
Sole proprietors and excluded officers who elect off the policy have no workers comp benefits if they are hurt, so their own care falls outside the policy entirely.
Covered by a personal health policy
Claims workers compensation pays
Back or lifting injury
A worker strains their back lifting stock or equipment and cannot return to full duty for weeks. Strain claims are the most common workers comp claim by volume and run up both medical and indemnity cost.
$25K–$60K
Slip, trip, or fall fracture
An employee slips on a wet floor or falls from a low height and fractures a wrist, ankle, or hip. Surgery, time off, and rehabilitation stack up quickly on a fall claim.
$45K–$90K
Repetitive-strain injury
Carpal tunnel or a rotator-cuff tear develops over months of repeated motion on a line or at a register. The slow onset makes these claims hard to deny once a doctor ties them to the job.
$30K–$70K
Serious machinery injury
A hand, arm, or eye is caught in equipment, producing surgery, permanent disability, and long-term wage replacement. Caught-in claims average near $48,000, and an amputation runs far higher.
$50K–$250K+
Ranges are typical medical and indemnity bands for these claim types, not a quote. Actual cost depends on state, body part, severity, and how quickly the worker returns to work.
How much coverage you need
Part One has no limit you choose, because the statute sets it. The only number you select is on Part Two, and two things decide it. Carry the higher.
- Your state's statutory requirement
- Part One is fixed by state law, so the real choice is whether your state mandates coverage at all and at what employee count. In 49 states it is required, often from the first employee; the form and benefit schedule are set for you, not negotiated.
- Your class codes, payroll, and e-mod
- Premium, and the employers liability limit a contract will demand, track your NCCI class codes, total payroll, and your experience modification factor. A roofing or framing code with a high e-mod both costs more and gets asked for higher Part Two limits.
- State statute
- Required from employee one
- General contractor
- WC + waiver of subrogation
- Client or vendor contract
- Proof of WC
In 49 states workers comp is legally mandated, often starting at the first employee. Texas is the lone exception, where private coverage is optional but opting out forfeits the lawsuit protection.
A GC will not let a subcontractor's crew on site without a workers comp certificate and a waiver of subrogation, so the GC's policy is not charged for the sub's injured workers.
Many commercial clients require a certificate showing active workers comp, sometimes with employers liability at $500,000 or $1,000,000, before they sign or let your staff on their premises.
- Part One, statutory benefits
- Unlimited
- Employers liability, bodily injury by accident
- $100,000 each accident
- Employers liability, bodily injury by disease
- $500,000 policy limit
- Employers liability, disease each employee
- $100,000 each employee
Part One pays whatever your state's workers compensation statute owes an injured worker. There is no per-occurrence or aggregate dollar limit, because the law, not the policy, sets the benefit. This is the part the state mandates.
The most Part Two pays for a lawsuit arising from a single accident, the first number in the standard $100,000 / $500,000 / $100,000. This is separate from Part One and applies only to suits outside the no-fault system.
The ceiling on all disease-related employers liability claims in one policy year combined, the middle number in the standard limits. Occupational disease that builds up over time falls here rather than under the accident limit.
The most Part Two pays for any one employee's disease claim, the third standard number. Higher limits, often $500,000 / $500,000 / $500,000 or $1,000,000 across the board, are available and frequently required by contract.
Endorsements that close the gaps
The base form is the start. These add-ons are where the policy gets built to fit your business.
Waiver of subrogation
WC 00 03 13Stops your carrier from recovering a paid claim from a contract partner. General contractors and many clients require it as a condition of doing business.
Voluntary compensation
Extends benefits to workers who fall outside the statutory definition, such as certain officers or volunteers, so they are paid as if they were covered employees.
Stop-gap, employers liability
Adds Part Two employers liability in the monopolistic states (North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, Wyoming) where the state fund sells only Part One, leaving a lawsuit gap to fill.
Sole proprietor or officer inclusion
Brings an owner who would otherwise be excluded back onto the policy, so the owner's own work injuries are covered rather than left to a health plan.
Questions buyers actually ask
Yes, in 49 of the 50 states. Workers compensation is legally mandated for most employers, often starting at the first employee, though a handful of states set a small employee threshold or exempt certain farm and domestic workers. Texas is the lone exception, where private coverage is optional. Four states, North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, and Wyoming, are monopolistic, meaning you must buy Part One from the state fund rather than a private carrier. Because each state writes its own statute, the exact mandate, the benefit schedule, and the employee count that triggers it vary, so coverage is rated and written state by state rather than on a single national form.
Part One pays the statutory workers compensation benefits your state owes an injured worker, the medical care, wage replacement, disability, and death benefits, on a no-fault basis with no dollar limit. The state statute, not the policy, sets what is owed. Part Two, called employers liability, covers lawsuits that fall outside the no-fault system, such as a spouse's claim or a third party seeking contribution, and it carries dollar limits, standard at $100,000 / $500,000 / $100,000. Most claims run entirely through Part One. Part Two matters when an injury becomes litigation, which is why contracts often ask for employers liability limits above the standard.
The experience modification factor, called the e-mod, EMR, or x-mod, is a multiplier applied to your workers comp premium based on your last three years of claim history. A mod of 1.00 is average for your class and size. Below 1.00 means your losses beat expectations and you pay less; above 1.00 means worse-than-expected losses and you pay more, typically in a range from about 0.75 to 1.50. NCCI calculates it by comparing your actual losses to the expected losses for a business of your class codes and payroll. Because it multiplies the whole premium, a single large claim can raise your cost for three years, and a clean record lowers it.
It depends on the state and the business structure. Most states let sole proprietors, partners, and corporate officers exclude themselves from their own workers comp policy, since the law does not require an owner to cover their own injuries. Excluding yourself lowers premium, but it also means a work injury to you is not paid by the policy and falls to your personal health plan instead. Many owners elect to include themselves, or add a sole proprietor inclusion endorsement, so they have wage and medical benefits too. The moment you hire an employee, though, coverage for that worker is mandatory in 49 states regardless of the owner's own election.
In the 49 states that require it, going without coverage exposes you to steep penalties: fines, stop-work orders that shut down operations, and in some states criminal charges for willful non-coverage. You also lose the compensation bargain, so an injured employee can sue you directly for the full cost of their injury, with none of the statutory caps that normally apply. A general contractor will not let an uninsured subcontractor on site, and clients will not sign without proof. Even in Texas, where coverage is optional, opting out forfeits your immunity from employee injury lawsuits, so the choice trades a premium for unlimited litigation exposure.
Premium is built on payroll, not headcount or revenue. Each job is assigned an NCCI class code that reflects its injury risk, and the insurer applies a rate per $100 of payroll for that code. A clerical code carries a low rate; a roofing or framing code carries a high one. Multiply the rate by your payroll in hundreds, sum it across your class codes, then apply your experience modification factor to reach the modified premium. Schedule and dividend credits, state assessments, and minimum premiums adjust the final number. Because payroll drives it, audited year-end payroll, not the estimate at binding, sets what you ultimately owe.
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