Business insurance
Workers compensation insurance
Compulsory in New York from the first employee, with very narrow exceptions and a penalty regime that does not care whether you knew. This is the policy that closes businesses that go without it.
New York requires almost every employer to carry workers compensation. Part-time counts. Family members generally count. Day labour counts. The exceptions are narrow and specific, and the commonest one — a corporation whose only workers are its own officers — requires an actual filing rather than an assumption.
The penalties for going without are assessed per employee per period of non-compliance and accrue whether or not anybody was ever injured, with a stop-work order available on top. If somebody is injured while you are uninsured, you are personally exposed to the benefits and to a penalty, and the corporate veil does not help.
Who has to be covered
Employees, obviously. But also, in most cases, part-time staff, family members you employ, and casual workers. Whether a person is an employee at all is decided by the Workers Compensation Board on the substance of the arrangement rather than by what the paperwork calls them — issuing somebody a 1099 does not make them a contractor.
That last point costs Queens businesses more than any other single misunderstanding in this area. If you direct the work, set the hours, supply the tools and the person works only for you, the Board is very likely to find an employment relationship regardless of what was agreed. And if you use uninsured subcontractors, their employees can end up on your policy at audit, which is exactly why collecting your subs' certificates matters.
How the premium is built
Payroll divided by a hundred, multiplied by a rate for each class code. The rates vary enormously: clerical work sits at the bottom of the range, around thirty cents per hundred dollars of payroll, while roofing and structural trades sit at the very top. That spread is the entire reason classification matters more than shopping.
Above a size threshold, an experience modification factor is applied — a number derived from your own claims history relative to others in your class, which multiplies the whole premium. A mod below 1.0 is a discount you earned; above 1.0 is a surcharge. It is worth understanding because it rewards reporting and managing claims properly rather than hiding them.
Then the audit, which for workers compensation is not optional and is thorough. Payroll records, 1099s and subcontractor certificates are all examined. Uninsured subcontractors are charged to your policy as though they were your employees.
Officer and owner exclusions
A sole proprietor with no employees generally does not need cover for themselves. A partnership with no employees, similarly. A corporation with exactly one or two officers who own all the stock and have no other employees can be excluded, but that requires a specific filing rather than simply not buying a policy.
Two practical points. First, general contractors and many customers will require a certificate regardless, so an excluded owner often still needs a policy to work — which is why exclusion sometimes saves nothing. Second, excluding yourself means an injury to you is not covered by anything, and your health plan may exclude work injuries too. That is a real decision, not paperwork, and we will lay it out rather than default you into it.
Disability and paid family leave, which travel with it
New York separately requires statutory short-term disability benefits cover for employees, and paid family leave, which is normally added to the disability policy. These are not workers compensation — they cover conditions that are not work-related — and they are frequently forgotten by businesses that have correctly bought workers comp.
The statutory disability benefit itself is famously inadequate: fifty per cent of wages up to $170 a week, a cap unchanged since 1989. It is still compulsory, and the cover is inexpensive. We quote all three together because a business that has two of them is not compliant.
The premium is the carrier’s, not ours. The premium is the carrier's, not ours. A property and casualty insurer files its rates with the New York Department of Financial Services, and the producer's commission is already inside the filed rate. A producer who gives up commission to bring your premium down is making a rebate, which New York Insurance Law 2324(a) prohibits. So the same policy, from the same carrier, on the same date, costs the same through this agency as through any other. Anybody telling you they will beat that number is describing a different policy, a different carrier, or nothing at all.
Included as standard
How we handle this line
Class codes checked, not assumed
The spread between codes is enormous and a wrong one costs you every year. This is worth more than remarketing.
Subcontractor certificates chased
Uninsured subs are charged to your policy at audit as though they were staff. Collecting certificates is the cheapest control you have.
Officer exclusions filed properly
Where they apply and where they are actually in your interest — including when they are not, because customers will still want a certificate.
Disability and paid family leave quoted
Separately required in New York and routinely forgotten by businesses that correctly bought workers comp.
Experience modification explained
What yours is, what drives it, and how reporting claims properly protects it rather than damaging it.
Audit preparation
What records the auditor will want, told to you at the start of the policy year rather than at the end of it.
When to ring us
Signs this is worth a conversation
- You have any employee at all, including part-time or family, and no policy.
- You pay people on 1099s and treat them as contractors.
- You use subcontractors and do not collect their certificates.
- You have workers compensation but no disability or paid family leave cover.
- Your payroll has changed substantially since the policy was written.
- Your experience modification has gone above 1.0 and nobody has explained why.
Workers comp — what it typically costs
- Annual premium per $100 of payroll, depending entirely on class code — clerical sits at the bottom of that range and roofing at the top.$0.30 – $18
This is a typical premium range for this area. It is not a quote, and it is not our price. We do not set premiums: a carrier files its rates with the Department of Financial Services and our commission is already inside the filed rate, so the same policy from the same carrier costs the same through any producer in New York. What genuinely moves your own number is which carrier writes it, the limits and deductibles you choose, and the facts on your record — which is what we would go through with you before anything is quoted.
Questions we are actually asked
Workers comp — frequently asked
Do I need workers compensation for one part-time employee in New York?
Almost certainly yes. New York requires cover from the first employee, and part-time work counts. The exceptions are narrow and specific. Penalties for non-compliance are assessed per period whether or not anybody was injured, and a stop-work order is available to the Board on top of them.
Can I exclude myself as the owner?
Sometimes. A sole proprietor or partnership with no employees generally needs no cover for themselves, and a one- or two-officer corporation owning all the stock with no other employees can be excluded by filing. But customers and general contractors usually require a certificate anyway, and excluding yourself means a work injury to you is covered by nothing at all.
Are 1099 contractors covered?
Not by being called contractors. The Workers Compensation Board decides employment status on the substance of the relationship, and issuing a 1099 carries little weight if you direct the work, set the hours and supply the tools. Uninsured subcontractors are also charged to your policy at audit.
How much does workers compensation cost?
It is quoted per $100 of payroll and the range is enormous — roughly $0.30 for clerical work up to $18 or more for roofing and structural trades — then adjusted by your experience modification. Because the rate is driven almost entirely by class code, getting the classification right is worth far more than moving between carriers.
Related cover
Usually considered alongside this
Business insurance
The businessowners policy that covers most small Queens businesses properly, and the four risks it is famous for leaving out.
$800 – $2,800
Contractors insurance
Liability, tools, the vehicle and the certificate the general contractor wants by Friday — plus New York Labour Law 240, which changes the arithmetic entirely.
$1,800 – $9,500
Group benefits
Small-group health, dental and the New York statutory disability and paid family leave cover that is not optional.
$650 – $1,400
General liability
The policy every landlord and every general contractor asks you for, priced off your receipts and your trade rather than your luck.
$600 – $2,400Bring the declarations page and we will read it with you
Ask us what it would cost
Send or bring the summary pages of what you already have — those two sheets are where most of the useful conversation is. We will tell you what we would place it with and what that would cost, what we are paid for doing it, and whether you should move at all. Quite often the answer is that your current policy is priced fairly and you should keep it, and that is an answer we give in writing like any other.