Required by law in both Oregon and Washington the moment you have employees, though the two states handle it very differently. We'll help you get it right either way.
Get a quote for Workers' CompensationRequired by state law in both Oregon and Washington the moment you have even one employee, with only narrow exceptions. If you're a general contractor working with subs or 1099 contractors, this also matters even when you have no direct employees, because an uninsured sub's injury can still land on you.
In Oregon: Workers' Compensation is placed with private insurance carriers, the same way most other business coverage works. We shop it across carriers like any other line.
In Washington: Workers' Compensation is a monopolistic state fund. Coverage is purchased directly through the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I), not through private carriers. No insurance company, including us, can sell you a private WC policy in Washington. What we can do is help you get correctly registered and classified with L&I, and make sure it's not a gap in your overall coverage picture.
If you operate in both states, this means two completely different processes, not one policy that follows you across the border.
One of these two things has to be true for every subcontractor or 1099 worker on your jobsite: either you provide Workers' Comp coverage for them, or they carry their own and give you a certificate of insurance proving it before work starts. Skipping this step is exactly how general contractors end up personally exposed in a subcontractor's injury claim, even when the sub was supposedly "independent."
An uninsured sub fell off a roof mid-job. The general contractor got named in the suit anyway, because nobody verified the sub's coverage before the work started.
Read the full story →In almost all cases, yes, in both Oregon and Washington, with very few narrow exemptions. Worth a quick call to confirm your specific situation rather than assume you're exempt.
Washington is a monopolistic state fund state, meaning Workers' Comp there is purchased directly from the state through L&I, not from private insurance companies. This isn't specific to us: no agency or carrier can sell private WC coverage in Washington. We can still help you navigate registration and classification with L&I.
Either you cover them or they carry their own and provide you a certificate of insurance before they start work. Don't take their word for it; get the certificate and verify it's active. This is one of the most common gaps we see, and it's an easy one to close.
Both states can levy significant penalties, and you lose the liability protection the policy provides, meaning an injured employee could sue you directly and personally for damages that would otherwise be capped and covered.
Primarily by your payroll and your industry's official class code, which reflects the typical risk level of the work being done. Accurate class codes and payroll estimates matter, since getting them wrong can mean a large true-up bill at audit time.
