Home Improvement Contractor - Licensed Contractors
Does an Independent Contractor need to carry Personal Workmen's Comp Coverage in California?
I am curious and have gotten asolutely no straight answers at Govt websites. As an independent Contractor / Self Employed person, I wonder if it is required for me to purchase my own Workmen's Comp coverage package. Not is it recommended, but is it REQUIRED? Thanks for any help anyone can shed on this subject.
Public Comments
- It's not required by law. HOWEVER. Anyone who hires you, is on the hook for your workers comp benefits while you are working for them, UNLESS you buy your own policy. So, from a practical point of view, it's going to be harder to get jobs/contracts, if you don't have it. So, required by contract with others - most likely. Required by law, no. And, if you don't want to buy it, you can't tell a client, "you can't require me to have this coverage", because they CAN require you to have it - THEIR insurer is going to charge for you as an employee, if you don't have it. I hope that makes sense. If someone is saying, "you must have this", what they mean is, "if you want us to pay you, you must have this, and we're withholding payment until you show that you were insured with WC (and probably GL too) during the time you worked for us". And they can do that. It's called, "required by contract", as opposed to, required by law.
- ~~Ny husband has been self employed for years as a contractor. It is not required, nor have we ever been able to get it! No one writes a W.C. policy for an owner. We now have our pool business incorporated and my son and husband are split stockholders, as well as on payroll. Still they are not elegible to get it from any company we can find. The answer is definitly-no (and we are in California).
- If you're looking to protect your income if you get sick or hurt, you're looking for disability. This can be difficult to find as a contractor, so find a specialist to help you compare a few companies. Worker's comp is really a liability protection policy. As an independent contractor, you don't have any employees you might be liable to.
