Utah workers' compensation insurance

Utah mandates strict workers’ compensation insurance coverage for employers. With just a few exceptions, every Utah company that employs workers must provide workers’ compensation insurance.

Most employers must provide workers’ comp insurance in Utah. However, business owners with no employees, such as sole proprietors, independent contractors, partnerships, and limited liability companies (LLCs), aren’t required to purchase this policy.

Even when it's not required, buying workers' compensation is a smart financial move. Your health insurance company might deny a claim for an injury related to your work, which could leave you responsible for costly medical bills.

Once you hire even one employee, you must provide workers’ comp insurance to that worker and all future employees. Only a few categories of workers are exempt:

• Some agricultural employees
• Casual or domestic employees
• Some real estate and insurance brokers

A business can elect to exclude some or all of its corporate officers and directors from workers’ comp insurance. However, it must first file notice with its workers’ comp insurer and file for an exemption with the State of Utah Labor Commission.

To save money on workers' comp insurance, it's important to make sure you classify your employees correctly. Employees with desk jobs or other jobs with a low risk of injury cost less to insure. This also helps you avoid misclassification fines.

In some cases, small business owners can choose to buy pay-as-you-go workers' compensation. This type of workers' comp policy has a low upfront premium, and lets you make payments based on your actual payroll instead of estimated payroll. It's useful for businesses that hire seasonal help or have fluctuating numbers of employees.

Finally, a documented safety program can help lower workers' comp costs. A safer workplace means fewer accidents, which helps keep your premium low.

When a worker is injured on the job, workers' comp covers the cost of their medical bills. It also provides indemnity benefits to help cover the employee's loss of income. In the event of permanent impairment or disability, workers' comp can provide disability compensation for the life of the worker.

Workers' compensation benefits for injured employees in Utah cover:

• Medical expenses for reasonable and necessary medical care related to the injury
• Temporary partial disability benefits
• Temporary total disability benefits
• Permanent partial disability benefits
• Permanent total disability benefits
• Death benefits for a surviving spouse or dependents

Policies usually include employer's liability insurance, which can help cover legal expenses if an employee blames their employer for an injury. The exclusive remedy provision in most workers' comp policies prohibits an employee from suing their employer once they accept workers' comp benefits.

For details, visit the Utah Labor Commission.

Utah business owners can compare quotes and purchase a policy from private insurance companies. Insureon offers this service with its online insurance marketplace.

If you’re unable to purchase workers’ comp insurance through the voluntary market referenced above because of your firm’s high-risk status, you can purchase coverage from the Workers’ Compensation Fund of Utah. This is Utah’s workers’ comp provider of last resort.

Utah employers who qualify can also self-insure their workers' compensation claims. This means they’ll pay for their own workers’ comp benefits rather than submit them to an insurance company.

To qualify for self-insurance, they must file an application with the Utah Labor Commission.

In Utah, employees must file a workers’ comp claim within one year from the date of injury or illness.

The penalties for violating Utah’s workers’ compensation statute can be severe:

• A penalty of at least $1,000
• A legal injunction against doing business in the state
• Loss of the so-called “exclusive remedy,” which protects employers from getting sued for workers’ comp benefits

If one of your employees dies as a result of a work-related injury or industrial accident, the person’s dependents are entitled to receive death benefits. These include payments to cover burial and funeral expenses.

Under the Utah Workers' Compensation Act, survivors are entitled to weekly income benefits. This amount, based on whether the deceased worker had dependents and how many, is calculated on the basis of 67% of the employee’s average gross weekly pay.

A workers’ compensation settlement is an agreement between the injured employee, employer, and insurer that terminate a workers’ compensation claim. This benefits both the employee and the employer.

The Utah Labor Commission allows settlements of workers’ comp claims. Utah law requires the commission to approve these agreements, even though all parties have indicated their desire to settle.

There are two kinds of settlement agreements in Utah:

Compromise settlements are used when the parties disagree on whether the sick or injured worker deserves to receive a workers’ comp benefit.

Commutation settlements are used when everyone agrees the worker should get a workers’ comp benefit.

If you are ready to explore workers’ compensation coverage for your Utah business, start a free online application today to compare quotes from top-rated insurance carriers.