Workers compensation, and the threshold that catches contractors first
Two numbers decide whether you are required to carry it, and they are different for construction than for everyone else. Getting that wrong is not a coverage gap, it is a stop-work order.
What this touches
- Medical treatment for a work injury, with no deductible to the employee
- Lost wages while an injured employee recovers
- Employers liability, which answers the suit that workers compensation does not bar
- Coverage for your subcontractors' uninsured workers, which lands on you at audit
The thresholds, and the construction exception
In Florida, a construction business generally needs coverage with one or more employees. A non-construction business generally needs it at four or more, counting part-time. Agriculture has its own thresholds. Corporate officers may file for exemption within limits, and in construction those exemptions are capped in number. The state enforces this actively on job sites, and a stop-work order halts everything, not just the uninsured crew.
What moves the premium
- Class code, which is decided by what your people actually do rather than by your job title for them.
- Payroll, because this policy is rated on it and audited on it.
- Your experience modification factor, which is your own claim history expressed as a multiplier.
- Subcontractor use, and whether you collect certificates from every one of them.
Collect certificates or pay for their crews
At audit, any subcontractor who cannot produce their own coverage is treated as your employee and their payroll is added to yours. Contractors who chase certificates through the year get an audit that matches the estimate. Contractors who do not, get a bill.
The audit is not optional and not a formality
The premium you pay through the year is a deposit against real payroll. Estimate honestly at the start: an audit bill arriving after the job is finished and the money is spent is the most common cash-flow injury in this line.
Questions people actually ask
I am an officer and I filed an exemption. Am I done?
You are exempt from being covered. You are not exempt from covering anyone else who works for you, and general contractors will still require a certificate before you set foot on site.
Can I get a ghost policy?
A minimum-payroll policy covering no employees exists and is sometimes what a general contractor's certificate requirement calls for. It is legitimate when it matches reality and fraud when it does not.
Work it out before anybody sells you anything
Four calculators that run in your browser, a page for every situation Florida puts people in, and the claims data for your own county. All of it free, and none of it behind a form. The form is for the other half of the job: when you have read enough and want a person on the phone.
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