Can't afford Worker Comp.?

Question

After paying liability insurance, got worker comp quote, I almost....

I have no way to shop cheap? need your help. I am in California.

Answer 1

My friend is an electrician and has one employee just got Worker Compensation in California.  He opened a business account at either Wells Fargo or Washington Mutual and thru them he got worker compensation with no down payment.  He is charged for each hour worked and I think that it was under 2% of the employee's pay.  Whatever the amount is I know that he was very happy since it was the cheapest that he found.

Answer 2

It's the law...if you have paid employees, you must have Workman's Comp. No way around it-and a good hefty fine if you don't have it. The insurance companies report directly to the state agency if insurance coverage is canceled or not paid..and the state will match employee information against the insurance company list-so if you have employees and deduct taxes (state income tax, federal taxes, etc.) it won't take them long to catch up with you.

Here in NH we cannot 'shop around'...we are stuck with getting insurance from a 'pool' of insurance companies (if you are a new business). But we were getting screwed by the company we used for years...so when we registered as a new LLC corporation, and switched all our business insurance over-we were able to go with the new workman's comp carrier that our new insurance agency used. Don't try to go without it...it could cost you everything!

Answer 3

Workers Compensation premiums are based on your loss history, type of work your employees do and your payroll.  If you get a policy that seems cheap, it is because you may have signed up for a high deductible policy and you pay the deductible.  You will need to have work comp insurance in California, if you do not and an employee gets injured, not only will you have to pay all the medical and compensation costs, you can be subject to penalties that are quite steep.  Besides, after that you will pay much higher comp rates because you are a risk.  So it is not worth not having work comp insurance in CA, you could try the Calif State Fund, however they take forever to even set up a policy.  Good luck to you.