If i am the only emlpoyee of my own small business do i have to pay WA workers compensation?

[colten]

everyone else is contractors

[chason58]

everyone else is contractors

workers compensation is for workers (employees). Contractors are not covered under WC. If a contractor gets injured at your location, it would be handled part of your liability insurance.

If you are the only employee of the company, you do not need workers comp. If you were injured, you would be covered under your personal medical insurance.

In most states, (I don't know about WA), you do not need WC insurance if you only employee immediate family members (parents/children and maybe siblings).

[sylvester37]

"everyone else is contractors"

You are required to have worker's comp insurance on ALL employees, regular AND contractors. You need to get insurance certificates from the contractors showing they have their OWN insurance in order to avoid having to include them.

"if i am the only employee of my own small business "
This depends on the structure of your business. If it is a corporation (no not LLC), then definitely, even if the only employee is the President of the corporation and is also a stockholder. WA may allow the president (and other officers) to elect to be excluded from the insurance.

[siwili]

I've never heard of work comp being required by a business owner for himself, but you will want to check the laws in your area, they are different depending on where you are. In some states it depends on the type of work, some states its more than 5 employees, etc.

As for the contractors, they may or may not be required to have work comp themselves depending on the laws in your area. But for your protection, I would suggest that you require them to have it and get proof of the insurance.

When researching the very same question in my area, I talked to an actual judge that sits on cases involving work comp. According to the law, I was not required to have work comp since I only had three employees. But I ended up getting it anyway.

What he told me was this. If you get hurt on the job, you're covered. Thats the law regardless of where you live. So even though you may not be required by law to carry work comp, its probably a good idea.

Imagine this scenario. One of your contractors that is doing work for you does not have work comp. He's not required to by law. One of his workers gets hurt on the job. By law, the worker is covered. What this means is that since the workers employer does not have work comp, its on you. Imagine if this worker will never walk again and his settlement is $4,500,000. The worker is covered and since his employer does not have work comp they will be coming after you for the money.

So, my advice is to have work comp for any employees or contractors, period. For yourself? Thats up to you. There are other ways you can protect yourself which is why its not normally required for business owners. But my guess is that the answer is no, you do not have to get work comp for yourself.

[adalwine]

Yes you do...contractors too.