Worker's Comp

[Inkara1]

My boss told me today that the cost for Worker's Compensation Insurance went up 50 percent last year for him, and it's gone up something like five or six percent this year so far, and it's going up another 12 percent in July. This for a pizza restaurant, where the only real risk other than a burned knuckle is a car accident while on a delivery. It's getting too expensive for him to have employees, and he even said he's considering switching over to a "take-and-bake" format to both lighten the load payroll-wise and be able to accept the Golden State Advantage card (which replaced food stamps here in California) to capitalize on the number of welfare recipients in the area.

So now you have another reason why California is about the unfriendliest state to small businesses.

What's the Worker's Comp situation like elsewhere?

 

[PT]

I work for Dept of Labor in Missouri who handles workers comp as well as unemployment. I haven't heard so much about WC going up as I have Unemployment Insurance. Normally the WC rate is based on the number of claims you've had as well as the normal state rate. A 50 % jump would have almost certainly been caused by some kind of big accident he ended up being responsible for.

 

[Inkara1]

Nope, no claims. The rates are going up for EVERYONE. It's because the industry got deregulated here in '91 or so, and a price war ensued resulting in rates lower than the expected claim payout. The insurance providers banked on the stock market, which tanked. So now they're raising their rates bigtime.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/4324039.htm

 

[Q]

Workers comp here is ungodly. Depending on the nature of your business (construction, in my case) it can be between 15 and 40% of your gross income. We have a workers comp exemption, but they changed the law last July so you couldn't claim exempt unless you were working on a structure with a value of less than $250, 000. ( I have prolly worked on less than 10 homes valued at less than a million in the last 8 or 9 years) As the sole proprietor of my business I'm required to carry workers comp for any employees, if I do work in a structure valued at more than 250k, but the policy would NOT cover me. That would be even more money. And since hurricane Andrew creamed Florida alot of insurance carriers have pulled their business out of Florida.

 

[samcurry]

california is a state? with all the laws specific to just it i thought it was its own country. In the water business, we not only have to go thru federal laws but explicitly cali laws to sell our products. and the best part, the federal is easier to pass. Clai is stricker than any other state in the country.

 

[Inkara1]

Well, the flag DOES say "California Republic" on it...