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Workers' Compensation (Employees)
Work-related illness and accidents occur in businesses of all sizes. Injured employees need fast, quality medical care to help them recover quickly.
Toll Free Claim Reporting
Dedicated Team of Claim Professionals
Access to a broad network of medical experts
Commitment to early intervention
Focus on reducing your Workers Compensation costs
Every employer must have workers' compensation insurance.
There are two kinds of benefits available under workers'
compensation. The first replaces some or all of your pre-injury wage. The
second deals with your medical and vocational rehabilitation.
People with disabilities, whether caused by a work accident or
otherwise have certain protections under both federal and state laws. Maybe
your employer is not familiar with modern vocational rehabilitation methods.
Call your employer and the adjuster assigned to manage your workers'
compensation claim today and tell them that you want to return to work as soon
as possible. Professional vocational rehabilitation workers can help assess
the job requirements, the accommodations that might be needed temporarily or
for the long term, and see what can be done to help. Not everyone will be able
to return to their former job with their employer, but many can. Others can
return to their former employer in a different job. A few will have to find
employment elsewhere, of course. Before you resign yourself to a job loss, ask
for help. Last, should you lose your job because of your disability, which is
possible under certain circumstances, and if your employer had 20 or more
employees most of the time last year, a federal law called COBRA usually
provides for continuation of medical benefits for a limited period of time.
Ask your employer for information about eligibility and costs.
Ask Leonard Insurance if you have any additional questions or concerns.
Leonard Insurance:
Workers' Compensation Insurance (Employers)
Every employer must have workers' compensation insurance, except
unincorporated sole proprietorships or partnerships having no employees. It is
currently uncertain whether firms that organize as limited liability companies
need to cover their officers.
I AM INCORPORATED, BUT HAVE NO EMPLOYEES. I RECEIVE NO SALARY
AT ALL FROM THE BUSINESS AND I AM NEVER ACTUALLY ON ANYONE'S PREMISES BUT MY
OWN. DO I NEED WORKERS' COMPENSATION INSURANCE?
Yes. Since you are an employee of the corporation, coverage must
be purchased for you and any other corporate officers. Even though you are not
paid for your work and cannot receive weekly income benefits from workers'
compensation, your medical costs would be covered if you were hurt on the job.
You do not have to be at any particular location to be eligible for workers'
compensation benefits. Your injuries or illness must simply, according to
Chapter 152 of the Massachusetts General Laws, "arise out of and in the course
of employment." You should also realize that any health insurance you have may
in fact refuse to pay for benefits that would have been covered by workers'
compensation had you had it.
I AM SELF-EMPLOYED AND WAS TOLD BY AN INSURANCE AGENT THAT I
CANNOT GET COVERAGE FOR MYSELF BUT MANY PEOPLE WON'T HIRE ME UNLESS I HAVE
COVERAGE. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?
If you are unincorporated, you have basically three choices. The
first is you can talk to your customer and explain that you are unincorporated
and have no employees. They may waive the requirement if you can prove to
their insurer that you are an independent contractor and not your customer’s
employee. Workers’ compensation insurers will often accept evidence of a
general liability policy as acceptable proof. The second is, you may buy
workers' compensation on an "if any" basis. This means that you will have a
policy, pay a minimum premium, and have the coverage that you can verify.
However, if you do this, be very careful that any subcontractors you hire have
workers' compensation or you may be charged a premium by the insurance
company, as if they were your employees.
Last, you could incorporate and then buy a policy. Certainly this will cost
you money and you will need to be careful on how you coordinate between your
health coverage and your worker's compensation coverage for medical costs that
may arise during employment. There is an advantage to incorporating and buying
workers' compensation coverage. Medical plans sometimes will not pay for work
related injuries whether or not there is worker's compensation. But, far more
importantly, most medical plans will not pay for vocational rehabilitation or
income replacement. This is a decision that you need to think about very
carefully.
MY ACCOUNT WAS AUDITED AND I DISAGREE WITH MY INSURER OVER THE
CORRECT PREMIUM. HOW CAN I DISPUTE THEIR RESULTS?
If you believe that you are being charged an incorrect amount, you
can submit a written request to the WCRB asking that it review your case as to
the correct application of the rating system. If you disagree with the WCRB's
finding, you have 30 (thirty) days to appeal in writing. The WCRB is
located at 101 Arch Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02210. The telephone number
is (617) 439-9030 and the fax number is (617) 439-6055.
An insurer can cancel a policy mid-term for only three reasons:
non-payment of premium, fraud or material misrepresentation and a substantial
increase in the hazard being insured.
Your agent can apply to the Massachusetts Assigned Risk Pool for
coverage if two carriers turn you down. The WCRB, who manages the pool, will
then assign you to one of a number of servicing carriers which will handle
your business just as if it were covering your losses itself and you will be
charged at the same rate. However, certain premium discounts might not be
available to you. It's important to remember, though, that if your
cancellation was the result of non-payment of premium, the Pool will not issue
a policy until you have made all payments that are due to your former carrier.
I HAVE AN ASSIGNED RISK POLICY AND I AM ENGAGED IN A
CLASSIFICATION DISPUTE WITH MY CARRIER. CAN THEY CANCEL ME IF I REFUSE TO PAY
THEM WHAT THEY BELIEVE I OWE?
Employers in the Pool that are threatened with a cancellation that
they believe is unjustified have the right to appeal these within ten days of
receiving the notice. The appeal should be directed to the Office of Insurance
at the Department of Industrial
Accidents, 600 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02111. That office
has the authority to prevent cancellation until the dispute is resolved.
WHOM CAN I CALL IF I WANT TO VERIFY THAT THE RATE MY INSURER
IS CHARGING FOR MY CLASSIFICATION IS CORRECT FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR?
You can call the WCRB at area code (617) 439-9030.
MY WORKERS' COMPENSATION PREMIUMS CONTINUE TO RISE. IS THERE
ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE TO CONTROL THE COST?
If you are paying more than $500.00 in annual premiums, then your
costs, at least to some extent, will be a function of your losses. If you can
get your losses down, your premiums will come down. It is very important for
you to take an active interest in matters such as safety, the medical
management of claims and early return to work for any injured workers. If you
are in the assigned risk pool, and are paying over $5,000.00 a year in
premium, the odds are that Leonard Insurance may be able to find voluntary
coverage for you. If we are successful, you may then be eligible to
receive a stock or non-stock premium discount. Ultimately, employers pay the
costs of losses to carriers plus the costs of the carriers operating. The more
employers do to control or prevent losses, the less expensive workers'
compensation will be.
Ask Leonard Insurance if you have any additional questions or concerns.
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