WORKERS COMPENSATION COVERAGE

With a guaranteed-cost Workers Compensation Policy, your insurance premium is based on your payroll estimate when your policy begins, and it is trued up with actual payroll when your policy expires. With this type of policy, the only variables that may change your premium (either up or down) are the e-mod and payroll. You have the security of knowing that your premium is not subject to adjustment due to paid claims that occur during your policy term.

Benefits of a Guaranteed Cost Policy include having first-dollar coverage with no deductible. You may prefer this option because it is simple to administer (due to its fixed premium) and there is minimal risk (because the premium doesn’t change even if you incur losses). Compared to other options, your premiums may be higher and they won’t decrease for having fewer claims.

A large deductible Workers Compensation Policy is a way for you to lower your premium by having your company assume the risk (and pay for) smaller workers compensation claims. When you choose our large deductible option, your company purchases a Workers Compensation Policy with a deductible of at least $75,000 (often $250,000 or more). The insurer provides all administrative and claims services and your company reimburses the insurer for any losses that are paid out that are less than the per-claim-occurrence deductible.

The benefit of a large deductible Workers Compensation Policy is that your premium is typically less than a guaranteed cost policy because your company receives a deductible credit for paying out smaller claims.

More than forty states currently allow a large deductible plan.

An Excess Workers Compensation option is available for trucking companies that have been granted self-insured status by a state. It protects your company for workers compensation claims you’re obligated to pay which are greater than your self-insured limit.

This provides Employers’ Liability Coverage in one of the four states (ND, OH, WA and WY) where a Workers Compensation policy must be purchased by the employer directly from a state fund. In these states (sometimes called monopolistic states), your business can’t purchase the policy from an insurance company, and the coverage you buy through the state only contains Workers Compensation and not the Employers’ Liability Coverage a standard Workers Compensation Policy would include. This creates a gap in your business’s protection in these states which means you wouldn’t have protection if an employee sued you or made a claim of employment-related discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination or retaliation. If you have employees in any of these states, we add this Stop-Gap Employers’ Liability Endorsement to complete your business protection.

In the past, this coverage was provided as an endorsement to the Workers Compensation policy.  However, Other States insurance is now part of the basic policy.  With this coverage, Workers Compensation and Employer Liability insurance are available for incidental exposures in states not listed in Item 3A of the Information Page.  The states for which Other States coverage is desired must be listed in Item 3C of the Information Page. The only states that cannot be listed are monopolistic fund states and states already designated for Workers Compensation and Employers Liability coverage in Item 3A.

We can provide waiver of subrogation endorsements. The cost to add a waiver is based on our filed charge with the NCCI and state bureaus. To issue this endorsement, we need:

• a copy of the contract for each waiver requested,
• the motor carrier’s total gross estimated annual revenue for the current policy term,
• and the revenue generated from each contract.

If affiliates and subsidiaries are requested to be included in the waiver, then a list of the affiliates and subsidiaries is required.

Owner-operators and contract drivers who qualify as independent contractors are not typically covered by state workers compensation laws. That’s when our Occupational Accident (OCC/ACC) Coverage steps in. It covers an independent contractor for a claim sustained while driving a truck under lease and dispatch of a motor carrier. It provides coverage for accidental death, dismemberment, paralysis, disability and accident-related medical expenses to owner-operators and contract drivers for injuries sustained while under dispatch. You also have the option to add Non-Occupational Accident Coverage for accidental death, dismemberment and accident-related medical expenses while you’re under lease or dispatch. (Policies are not available in all states and are available only to U.S. citizens.)

Please Note: OUR OCCUPATIONAL ACCIDENT POLICY IS NOT A POLICY OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION INSURANCE. This policy is not in place of, and does not affect, any requirements for coverage under any workers compensation, unemployment compensation, disability benefits law, or any similar state or federal law.

Single Unit Owner-Operator Workers Compensation Policies

For trucking companies with both our Workers Compensation and Commercial Truck Coverage, we offer Single Unit Owner-Operator Policies to cover owner-operators under your motor carrier lease. This policy is not portable, so if the owner-operator breaks the lease, the policy will be canceled. This policy also doesn’t require an audit (it simply uses the sole proprietor’s payroll) and excludes all states except those listed as an exclusion on the policy’s declaration page.

This policy is currently available in the following states: Nebraska, Illinois, North Carolina, Arizona, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

If you own a trucking fleet, your fleet is under lease to a Great West insured motor carrier and you employ drivers that are required to be covered under Workers’ Compensation, we have a Workers Comp policy just for you. This policy is not portable, so if you break your lease, this policy will be canceled.

This policy is currently available for fleet owner-operators in the following states: Nebraska, Illinois, North Carolina, Arizona, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The policy excludes all states except those listed as an exclusion on the policy’s declaration page.