If you own a business and you have more than four employees in Florida, you’re required to carry workers compensation insurance. Workers compensation insurance protects you and your employees if they should get injured or become ill on the job. Since you want to pay as little as possible with the least amount of hassle, you’ll want to look into these top workers compensation insurance providers in Florida.
- Top 6 Providers of Workers Compensation Insurance in Florida
- Workers Compensation Insurance Law in Florida
- Factors Affecting Your Workers Compensation Rates
- How Much does Workers Compensation Insurance Cost in Florida?
- How to Find Cheap Workers Compensation Insurance in Florida?
- What does Florida Workers Compensation Insurance Cover?
- What Happens If You Don’t Have Workers Compensation Insurance in Florida?
- How is Workers Compensation Insurance Different from General Liability Insurance?
Top 6 Providers of Workers Compensation Insurance in Florida in 2022
We studied 12 different companies providing workers compensation in Florida and here are our recommendation of the top 6 for your consideration.
- CoverWallet: Best for comparing several quotes online fast
- The Hartford: Best Overall
- Pie Insurance: Best for reasonable rates
- Florida Workers Compensation Joint Underwriting Association: Best for hard-to-insure businesses
- Biberk: Best for getting quotes and buying policies online
- FCCI Insurance Group: Best for agricultural businesses
CoverWallet: Best for comparing several quotes online fast
CoverWallet isn’t an insurance company. They are a digital broker. They work with several leading insurance companies and are able to pull quotes from these companies at once to make it super easy and fast for you to compare several quotes online to select the cheapest one for your company.
If your goal is to find the cheapest workers comp insurance policy for your company easily and fast, you may want to start with CoverWallet. Below is an quote example from them for an accounting firm with 2 full-time employees and an annual payroll of $175,000.
After filling out the application online which took us less than 10 minutes, CoverWallet was able to pull 2 quotes: one from AmTrust and the other from Guard, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaways. AmTrust offers a lower rate than Guard for the same coverages for this accounting firm. However, that doesn’t mean AmTrust will offer your company the cheapest rate.
To illustrate that, we submitted another application for a landscaping contractor with 4 full time employees and an annual payroll of $350,000. Below are the quotes from CoverWallet:
For this landscaping contractor, CoverWallet was able to provide 3 quotes, one more from Chubb. Interestingly, Guard offers the cheapest rate for this landscaping contractor, about 20% cheaper than AmTrust.
Be sure to get quotes for your own company. Different companies will offer you different quotes and rates. Compare several quotes to select the cheapest one for your company.
The Hartford: Best Overall
The Hartford is a great choice for businesses in Florida. They specialize in small business insurance and have over 5,000 reviews with an average score of 4.8 out of five. You can get a quote from The Hartford if you have all the necessary information such as FEIN number or social security number, plus amount of payroll and type of business. They have a medical network to refer your employees to when they become injured, and they also have pay-as-you-go insurance.
Pie Insurance: Best for reasonable rates
It’s called Pie because getting a quote is easy as pie, although for some reason they wanted us to call and speak to them when we entered information about our hypothetical business. They have mostly positive reviews, with an average rating of 4.7. Most praise how easy it was and how fast the whole process was. You can get a quote, pay online and be insured in less than ten minutes.
Pie claims that their rates are at least 20% cheaper than those of other insurance companies
Florida Workers Compensation Joint Underwriting Association: Best for hard-to-insure businesses
If your business is hard to insure, such as construction or roofing, or if you’ve been declined for coverage elsewhere, you should get a quote from FWCJUA. They’re underwritten by Travelers and are self-funded. They provide insurance for employers that are otherwise hard to insure.
Biberk: Best for getting quotes and buying policies online
Biberk is super easy to get a quote from and it’s easy to find your business in the drop down menu. Since they’re backed by Berkshire Hathaway, you won’t need to worry that they can’t afford to pay their bills. They offer other types of small business insurance as well.
They can get you certificates of insurance as you need them.
FCCI Insurance Group: Best for agricultural businesses
If you have an agricultural business in Florida, FCCI is an excellent choice. They can insure all different types of such businesses, from orange groves to cattle farms. They’re based in Florida, so they really understand your Florida-based concerns. They offer some other types of small business insurance as well, so you may be able to get all your insurance through them. There is no online quoting, though.
Workers Compensation Insurance Law in Florida
If you have more than four employees, you’re required to have workers compensation insurance in Florida, even if they are all part-timers. If you’re in construction, you’re required to have it if you have more than one employee. Sole proprietors are not required to have insurance for themselves, but you can buy something called election of coverage.
Agricultural businesses must have workers compensation if there are more than six employees, or 12 or more seasonal employees.
Employers pay $1.43 per $100 of payroll in Florida. Initial insurance rates are mandated by the state. Workers compensation rates have been a topic of debate for the past few years now, and in 2017 the Florida Insurance Commissioner ordered a reduction in rates, arguing that workplace safety had improved, so that’s a bit of good news.
>>MORE: What are Workers Compensation Insurance Requirements by States?
Factors Affecting Your Workers Compensation Rates
Some jobs are riskier than others. The chances of a worker falling off a roof and injuring themselves are much greater than an accountant somehow injuring themselves. Things affecting your rates include:
- State laws
- Annual payroll
- Claim history
- Type of business
It’s calculated by a formula: Employee classification rate X employer payroll per $100 X Experience Mod Rate (EMR) = your premium. You can find a calculate to determine your EMR rate at Optimum Safety Management.
>>MORE: How Much does Workers’ Compensation Insurance Cost?
How Much does Workers Compensation Insurance Cost in Florida?
You need workers compensation insurance in Florida if you have four or more employees, part-time or full-time. Florida goes by the NCCI codes. The rate in Florida is $1.30 per $100 in payroll.
You are also required to have workers compensation insurance in Florida if you work in construction, even if you are self-employed.
Your rates will also vary by the class codes of your employees. Some examples are:
- Anti-toxin manufacturing: $0.51
- Dental laboratory: $.069
- Jewelry store worker: $0.50
- Stevedore: Containerized freight and drivers: $23.39
- Roofing: $13.30
- Insurance claims adjuster: $0.52
For a complete list of class codes in Florida, click here.
This means that if your company operates a jewelry store, you have to pay $0.5 for every $100 payroll of all employees working in the store. The more employees working in store and the more their payroll is, the more you have to pay in workers compensation insurance.
On the other hand, if you run a roofing business in Florida, for every $100 payroll that you pay the roofer(s), you have to pay $13.3 in workers compensation insurance. That’s pretty expensive. Make sure you shop around with a few companies or with a digital broker like CoverWallet and compare several quotes to get the cheapest one.
>>MORE: How Much does Workers Compensation Insurance Cost?
How to Find Cheap Workers Compensation Insurance in Florida?
Workers compensation insurance can be expensive, especially if your business is in construction or retail operation. Below are some useful tips to find cheap workers compensation insurance in Florida.
- Always compare several quotes: Make sure you shop around with a few insurance companies or a digital broker to compare several quotes to get the cheapest one for your business
- State programs: Check if there is any state savings program that your business can be qualified for
- Group insurance: if your company is a member of a larger association, you may be able to get a group rate on your company’s workers compensation insurance.
- Identify potential hazards and fix them. Once you fix them, make sure you notify your insurance agent (if you have one) or report it to your company. Continue improving the safety standard in your company’s workplace and ask for annual reviews when you need to renew your company’s workers comp insurance.
- Invest in safety education. According to Safety and Health, for every dollar you spend on injury prevention, you’ll earn a ROI of between $2 and $6 dollars. If you’re wondering how to start a safety program, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is a good place to start.
- Consider drug testing. It should come as no surprise that workers who show up under the influence of drugs or alcohol are more likely to injure themselves or others. Consider to conduct regular drug testing programs for your employees and provide relevant training and incentive programs for your employees.
- Check classification levels. Every employee type is assigned a classification level, and each level is assigned a rate that reflects the level of risk this type of job has. Obviously, a secretary is exposed to much less risk than a construction worker, even if they work at the same company. Make sure everyone is classified accurately and regularly update this as you are hiring new employees.
What does Florida Workers Compensation Insurance Cover?
Workers compensation covers your employees for the following:
- Wage replacement benefits
- Disability benefits
- Rehabilitation benefits (if they can no longer do the job they were hired to do, retraining is available
- Death benefits
- Medical bills
Employees can still make a claim for a larger settlement benefit, but workers compensation insurance protects the employer as well. There is a two-year statute of limitations employees must file lawsuits under, but there are some exceptions.
What Happens If You Don’t Have Workers Compensation Insurance in Florida?
You might be issued a stop order so your business will have to close down until you comply with the laws. You’ll also have to pay penalties, which can be twice the amount you would’ve paid for workers compensation insurance for the previous two years.
If you don’t comply with the stop order when one is given to you, you could face jail time.
>>MORE: How to Find Cheap Workers Compensation Insurance?
Who is exempt from workers compensation insurance in Florida?
In Florida, businesses with four employees or more must have workers’ compensation insurance. Some exceptions include:
- Businesses in the construction industry must provide workers comp coverage if they have one or more employees (this is an industry, not a state, requirement). Construction companies in the country with one or more employees are required to have workers comp insurance.
- Agriculture businesses don’t have to provide coverage unless they have six or more regular employees and / or 12 seasonal ones
- Independent contractors are not required to get workers comp coverage for themselves.
Learn more at Florida workers comp insurance exemptions: what you need to know
Self-insured workers comp insurance in Florida
Employers who want to self-insure their workers compensation liabilities have to submit a self-insured application to from the Florida Self-Insurers Guaranty Association, Inc. (FSIGA). FSIGA will evaluate the application and issue a decision and inform of their final decision to the Department of Financial Services.
Companies should expect 90 days from the application date to the desired self-insured effective date.
Learn more about self-insured workers comp insurance in Florida.
How is Workers Compensation Insurance Different from General Liability Insurance?
Some people get confused as to what the difference is because they know general liability insurance covers bodily injury. However, general liability insurance only covers injuries to third parties, not your employees. Generally, your customers and your clients are covered for injuries under general liability and your employees need to be covered by workers compensation insurance.
>>MORE: What does General Liability Insurance Cover?
>>MORE: Cheapest General Liability Insurance for Small Businesses
Last Thoughts
Going without workers compensation insurance is far more costly than just getting the insurance, so don’t put it off. Shop around and compare rates. You’ll be happy and protected when you get it done.
>>MORE: Top 5 Providers of Professional Liability Insurance in Florida
>>MORE: Top 6 Companies for General Liability Insurance in Florida
