Has workers' compensation recently increased significantly in CA, NJ and NY?

Question

My employer told me last month that our company can no longer sustain the increased costs of workers' compensation insurance for remote employees in specific states across the country where we have remote employees working from home because the costs have increased significantly. I want to know if there is any truth to this? Also, does anyone have an idea of how much more the costs could be for states like CA, NJ, or NY compared to other states? Because it might be too expensive for my company, many of us were told we might lose our jobs because it's illegal to employ someone without having workers' comp insurance for them.

Answer 1

There hasn't been a huge rate increase just in the last year.  However, it could be that your employer recently expanded into new states, and the recent AUDIT of last year's exposures is higher than estimated.  He'd have to pay last year's, AND this year's premium, right now.  

It's highly likely that HIS costs have increased.  That doesn't mean that the RATE increased.

Any rates will be on a class code basis - so without any idea of which classes you talk about, it's impossible to guess a rate.  HOWEVER, NY and CA also have state mandated DISABILITY coverage which must be purchased for all employees, so it's a pain to have employees in those states, if you're not domiciled there.