Business insurance
Texas lets you choose. Georgia doesn’t, once you have three employees. We write workers’ comp for employers in both states, including crews, guards and drivers that standard carriers price out.
The short answer
No. Texas lets most private employers decide whether to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Employers who opt out are called nonsubscribers: they file a notice of no coverage with the state every year, and an injured employee can sue them without the defenses a covered employer keeps. Georgia is stricter. Three or more regular employees, full or part time, and coverage is mandatory.
Texas
Optional for most private employers
Georgia
Required at 3+ regular employees
Texas nonsubscriber filing
DWC Form-005, Feb 1 to Apr 30 each year
Markets
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Texas is unusual. Most private employers here are free to go without workers’ compensation insurance. The choice has real consequences, and they’re worth knowing before you decide.
A nonsubscriber has paperwork. You file DWC Form-005, the Employer Notice of No Coverage, with the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation between February 1 and April 30 every year, within 30 days of hiring your first employee, and within 10 days of dropping a policy. You post a notice telling employees they aren’t covered. Employers with five or more employees also report work injuries that cost more than a day of lost time.
The bigger issue is a lawsuit. When a covered employee is hurt, workers’ comp pays and the employee generally can’t sue you. When a nonsubscriber’s employee is hurt, they can take you to court, and Texas Labor Code 406.033 takes away three defenses: that the worker was partly at fault, that they accepted the risk of the job, or that a co-worker caused it. One serious injury on a roof or a loading dock can cost far more than years of premium.
Some Texas employers have no choice at all. Contractors on public building and construction projects must certify coverage for every employee on the job, and many general contractors, property managers and commercial clients write the same requirement into their contracts. If a contract is asking you for a workers’ comp certificate, send it to us with your payroll and we’ll quote to its requirements.
Georgia law requires workers’ compensation from any business that regularly employs three or more people. Part-time workers count. So do corporate officers and LLC members, even the ones who exclude themselves from coverage. Up to five officers or members can waive coverage for themselves by signing Form WC-10 and filing it with the carrier, but the waiver doesn’t lower your head count.
The penalties are steep. Georgia’s State Board of Workers’ Compensation sets civil penalties of $500 to $5,000 per occurrence for operating without required coverage, and criminal penalties on top of that. Covered employers also post the required notices at the workplace, including the panel of physicians injured employees choose from.
Our Fayetteville office writes Georgia comp for Atlanta-area employers, and our Katy office handles Texas accounts. Same carriers, same agency.
A standard policy has two main parts. The first is set by state law. The second protects you if an injury turns into a lawsuit.
Doctor visits, surgery, hospital stays, prescriptions and physical therapy for a work-related injury or illness, with no deductible for the employee.
Income benefits while the employee can’t work, paid on the state’s schedule.
Payments to a worker’s dependents and help with funeral costs after a fatal accident on the job.
Part Two of the policy. It pays your defense and settlements when an injury claim becomes a lawsuit against the business.
Extends the policy when an employee is hurt while working temporarily in a state not listed on it. Useful for crews that cross state lines.
Employers with people in both states run into the gap between the two laws. A Texas company that has been a nonsubscriber for years can hire its third Georgia employee and be out of compliance the same day. A Georgia contractor sending a crew to Houston needs to know the policy follows them.
We write both states on one policy where the carrier allows it, and we tell you which states need to be listed by name. If your work reaches beyond Texas and Georgia, see the states we serve.
Checklist
Payroll drives the premium, so most of what underwriters ask is about who does what and how much they’re paid.
Uninsured subcontractors are usually added to your payroll at the year-end audit. Collecting their certificates up front keeps that bill from surprising you.
1
Your FEIN and legal business name
2
Annual payroll split by job type (office, drivers, field crews, guards)
3
Number of full-time and part-time employees in each state
4
Officers or LLC members you want included or excluded
5
Three to five years of loss runs, if you’ve had coverage before
6
Your current experience modification rate, if you have one
7
Certificates of insurance for any subcontractors you use
Premium is a rate per $100 of payroll, and the rate depends on each employee’s job classification. An office worker costs a fraction of what a roofer or an armed guard costs. Your experience modification rate then moves the total up or down based on your claim history. Send us payroll by job type and we’ll quote real numbers.
The employee can sue the business for negligence. The employer can’t argue that the worker was partly at fault, accepted the risk or was hurt by a co-worker. It can still argue it wasn’t negligent, or that the worker was intoxicated or caused the injury on purpose. Defense costs alone often exceed what a workers’ comp policy would have cost.
Yes. Georgia counts anyone you regularly employ, full time or part time. Corporate officers and LLC members count too, even if they’ve filed Form WC-10 to exclude themselves from coverage. A business with two full-time employees and one regular part-timer needs workers’ compensation in Georgia.
It’s a number that compares your past claims with other businesses in the same classes. A mod of 1.00 is average. Below 1.00 lowers your premium and above 1.00 raises it. Many general contractors check your mod before they’ll hire you, so keeping claims down pays off twice.
Workers’ comp is audited. Your premium starts from estimated payroll, and after the term the carrier checks your actual payroll and job classes. If payroll grew or you used uninsured subcontractors, you owe more. If it shrank, you get money back. We review your estimates at renewal so the audit stays close.
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