Commercial Insurance in Atlanta Should Include Workers’ Compensation

In one of our first posts, we shared how important it was to have commercial insurance in Atlanta. In this post, we will explain one type of coverage—workers’ compensation.What is workers’ compensation? Well, according to the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation, workers’ compensation provides wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured on the job while providing the employer with limited liability.Businesses in Georgia with three or more employees are required to offer workers’ compensation. However, if a business has less than three employees, the employer can choose to carry or not carry workers’ compensation.Now that workers’ compensation has been clarified, you may be asking yourself,I don’t have any employees, just independent contractors. Do I still need workers’ compensation? Unless an employer obtains a certificate of insurance from an independent contractor, they are considered employees for workers’ compensation purposes.You may also be thinking,Can I, the owner, be excluded? In most cases, the owner of a corporation or LLC can elect to exclude themselves from workers’ compensation coverage. However, as a business owner, the majority of your time in your vehicle may be work related, for example.  If injuries or damages are determined to be job related, your auto insurance or personal health insurance may decline coverage and require expenses to be paid by the business. Workers’ compensation provides significant coverage for a business owner at a relatively low premium.Though workers’ compensation is a separate policy than other commercial insurance policies, it is still not as expensive as paying for employees’ health bills or court fees. You can even get discounts! For instance, employers who certify their businesses as drug free work places are eligible for 7.5 percent discounts on their policies.After reading this post, we hope you have gained a better understanding of workers’ compensation. If you need to purchase workers’ compensation or want more information, please call us today! We can be reached at 404-459-5975.Be sure to stay updated by following Risk & Insurance Consultants on Twitter!