Workers’ compensation insurance is not only a crucial factor when running a business, many times it’s required by law, according to the California’s Workers’ Disability Compensation Act.
Not all employers are required by law to carry workers comp insurance, but it is always in the best interest of a company to do so. Employers without coverage typically have to pay damages out of their own pockets in cases where an employee has been injured on the job.
A workman’s compensation insurance policy provides medical benefits, indemnity benefits, and death benefits. Medical benefits cover treatment for work-related injury or health problems such as doctor’s appointments, physical therapy, and prescriptions for work-related conditions. Indemnity benefits help reimburse the employee for their lost wages because of work related injuries or illness, and death benefits help support dependents if an employee dies from a work-related injury or illness.
California workers’ compensation insurance also helps protect employers by helping to pay your legal costs if an employee or their family sues your business due to their injury, sickness, disability or death.
For specific details on which businesses and industries are required by law to carry workers’ compensation insurance, see the work comp section of the California.gov website.