Posted by Roger Harkins on Thu, Feb 19, 2009
As an employer, maintaining a safe workplace should be a top priority. That being said it is essential, even mandatory in some states, for your business to carry workers’ compensation insurance. You may be asking yourself if purchasing workers’ compensation insurance in Texas is really necessary if the employee already carries medical insurance. The short answer is yes.
The knowledgeable agents at Tri Star Insurance Professionals Inc. in Dallas, Plano and Allen can tell you exactly why worker’s compensation insurance is a must when it comes to protecting your business from lawsuits. The purpose of workers’ comp insurance is that employees give up the right to sue you in the event of a workplace accident in exchange for receiving state-mandated benefits. A comprehensive policy usually includes medical benefits for work related injury or disease in addition to disability income and death and rehabilitation benefits for workers.
Even though in the state of Texas procuring worker’s comp insurance for your business is voluntary, taking out a policy may be well worth the expense. Tri Star professionals can help you locate low-cost workers’ compensation insurance because of their status as an independent insurance agency. The difference between an independent agency such as Tri Star and a captive agency such as Allstate is that agents from a captive agency can only represent the company they work for in terms of price. Captive agents can only provide you with the rates offered by their company with absolutely no exceptions. Independent agencies such as Tri-Star have the ability to represent many different companies such as Travelers, Kemper, Hartford, Safeco and Germania in order to find you the most competitive price on insurance products.
There are many guidelines employers can go by when deciding to get workers’ comp insurance. According to the Worker’s Compensation Act, businesses with five or more employees should really have worker’s compensation coverage. The word employee is defined as any full-time, part-time temporary or seasonal worker. Exempt employers include farm laborers, domestic servants, direct sellers, commercial motor-carrier owner-operators and certain real estate agents. Even if you are not legally required to purchase insurance, you can always elect to sign up to avoid exposure to civil lawsuits brought about by employee injuries.
That being said, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that workers have access to first aid, fair workers compensation and return work rehabilitation at all times. To learn more rules and regulations the Texas Department of Insurance provides a wealth of information regarding worker’s compensation insurance plus lots about workplace safety assistance and more.
Tri-Star offers an extensive array of products including auto, home, renters, flood, condo, health insurance, life insurance and all areas of business insurance including workers compensation. The team at Tri-Star Insurance can thoroughly assist companies looking to obtain workers compensation insurance for their business. To speak directly to an agent pick up the phone and call 214-387-0600 or go online and visit http://www.tristarins.com/default.asp. Make sure to protect yourself and your workers from financial hardship in the event of a workplace injury today!