Workers Compensation Insurance

When you have people working on your property, make sure they have workers compensation insurance, workers comp for short, or workmans comp. You should also make sure that you have a copy of the documentation of their workers compensation insurance.

Do I need to find out if my workers have workers compensation insurance even if they are 'licensed, bonded, and insured'?

Oh yes. If one of the workers you use regularly sued you, saying they signed the paperwork and advertise that they are licensed, bonded, and insured will not help your case. Being licensed, bonded, and insured does not mean they have any real insurance. If they don't have workers compensation insurance, the judge might rule that the injured party qualifies as your employee and that you should have had worker's compensation insurance.

If the judge ruled that you should have had worker's compensation insurance, then you might have to pay the $100,000 for a broken arm or a broken back.

When is workers compensation insurance not necessary?

If you hire the same people every week and if someone falls off your roof and gets hurt, you could be sued and the judge could rule that the worker qualifies as your employee. In which case, you needed to have workers comp.

However, if you only use the worker once, that worker will not qualify as your employee and the court will not rule that you needed worker's compensation.

Should I get workers compensation insurance anyway even if I don't have any employees?

If you are a real estate investor and you have work done on any of your properties on a regular basis, you may want to talk to your insurance agent to see if you should have workers compensation insurance. You don't need to have employees to have workers compensation insurance. It probably costs less than $1,000 a year to have your own workers comp. If you have your own worker's compensation insurance, your workmans comp will kick in if one of your contractors is deemed your employee in a court case that you lost.