Frequently, injured workers in North Carolina have questions about whether their employer is required to have workers’ compensation (sometimes called workman comp or workmans comp). This article will answer some of those questions. North Carolina employers that regularly employ three or more employees are required to either purchase workers’ compensation insurance or qualify as self insured. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-93. N.C. Companies that deal with radiation are subject to the North Carolina Workers’ Comp Act if they have even one employee. N.C. Gen. Stat. 97-2(1). Other rules apply to the NC employees of certain railroads, casual employment, domestic, servants, farm laborers, the Federal Government, prisoners sellers of agricultural products, the National Guard, the Civil Air Patrol, the Agricultural Extension Service, deputy sheriffs, volunteer firemen, and volunteer rescue squads. N.C. Gen. Stat. 97-13. Subcontractors must provide workers’ compensation insurance in NC if they employ one person. N.C. Gen. Stat. 97-19. Sole proprietors and business partners may be included in workers’ compensation coverage in North Carolina if they opt in. Business executives in N.C. are generally covered unless they opt out. Some North Carolina businesses that are not required to purchase workers’ compensation insurance purchase it anyway. Most NC companies purchase insurance to cover workers’ comp in North Carolina however some large companies in North Carolina are self-insured and hire outside administrators to manage their NC workers’ compensation claims. A North Carolina employer who is required by N.C. workers’ comp law to purchase workers’ compensation insurance or be self insured but fails to do so can be punished by the North Carolina Industrial Commission with a penalty of fifty dollars ($50.00) to one hundred dollars ($100.00) per day, and be held personally responsible for any benefits owed any injured employee. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-94(b). Persons who have the authority and the ability to purchase workers’ compensation for a business but fail to do so can be held personally liable for any benefits owed injured North Carolina workers by the North Carolina Industrial Commission. Many injured North Carolina workers have questions about whether their employer is required to have workers’ comp., and what to do if the employer is supposed to have workers’ compensation insurance but is uninsured. An experienced NC workman’s comp lawyer can answer these questions. Please click on the “free consultation” link to contact an experienced NC workers’ comp. lawyer.
