If you employ someone to work in your home such as a nanny or a housekeeper, they are your employee and you are required to treat them as such. As an employer, you are legally required to ensure that their workplace is safe. Unfortunately, accidents happen sometimes, and you will need to be prepared. Having a worker’s compensation policy in place will ensure that your employee will be compensated for any medical care that is needed, including rehabilitation and/or lost wages due to an injury or medical procedure that happened while they were on the job. In addition, your worker’s compensation insurance will help protect you from lawsuits that could happen as a result of an accident at the workplace. Here are some additional reasons that show the importance of worker’s compensation insurance.
#1: It’s the law.
Most states will require that employers have worker’s compensation in place for their in-home employees. If you don’t, you could be risking fines or penalties from the government, which could be costly. Even worse, you can be opening your family to considerable financial risk as an injury to your employee on the job is generally not part of your homeowner's insurance. This is all avoidable if you talk to one of our professionals to ensure that you are adhering to all of the laws within your state and that you have properly set up legal payroll for your employee.
#2: It helps protect both you and your employee.
One of your most valuable assets is your in-home employee. If they are hurt while working for you, worker’s compensation will step in and take care of medical bills and pay lost wages while they recover. That means the pressure is off of you and they will be able to return back to work as soon as possible. If you don’t have this insurance in place, you are at risk for having to pay for your employee’s medical bills and/or face legal implications from paying them under the table and not paying proper taxes and insurances. Perhaps most importantly, as the employer you are protected against civil action, as the employee who accepts Workers' Compensation payments explicitly waives their right to private civil action.
Worker’s compensation coverage will vary from state to state, so if you’re not sure what your specific state requires, contact us today. We will help explain the process of getting your household employee set up with proper tax withholdings and insurance coverage and can even utilize our insurance partner to help get workers' compensation insurance set up, so you don’t have to worry about it. The convenience and peace of mind you get from working with our team at HomeWork Solutions is unmatched, so contact us today with any questions you have on getting started.
