Tennessee (TN) Business Insurance

Choose The Hartford for All Your Tennessee Business Insurance Needs

The Volunteer State is home to 589,546 small businesses as of 2018, making up 99.5% of companies in Tennessee. Tennessee small businesses employed 1.1 million people in 2015.¹ The Hartford understands that each company is unique and business insurance should address the specific needs of each TN business. Learn how to protect your business with small business insurance, workers’ compensation insurance and more from The Hartford.

Types of Tennessee Business Insurance Offered

Tennessee Business Insurance Policy

Tennessee businesses can easily combine business property insurance and business liability insurance by purchasing a business owner’s policy (BOP). A business owner’s policy helps cover your business from claims resulting from things like theft, fire or another covered disaster. For example, say someone broke into your business and stole essential equipment. Your Tennessee business insurance policy would help cover the costs associated with the loss. BOP insurance also covers claims involving bodily injury, property damage and personal and advertising injury that can result from day-to-day business operations. For example, say a customer slips and falls while on your business premises. As a result, the customer files a claim against you. Your Tennessee business insurance policy would help cover the costs associated with the claim.

Businesses in Tennessee can tailor a BOP to help meet specific business needs by adding coverages like data breach insurance, commercial auto insurance, business income insurance and other specialized optional coverages to their business owner’s policy.

Consider a BOP insurance if:

Your TN business has property that can be damaged or stolen including digital assets, cash, inventory, furniture, customer data or equipment.
Your business has a storefront or workplace that is either in your home, rented, or owned office.
Your business could potentially be sued. For example, if your business is vulnerable to lawsuits from customers who could be injured at your business or claim your advertising is misleading.

There are additional coverages that you can add to your business owner’s policy to help tailor insurance coverage to your TN business' specific needs. Below are business coverages that are frequently added to a BOP.

Tennessee Commercial Auto Insurance

Commercial auto insurance helps your Tennessee business cover the financial costs resulting from a car accident if you or your employees are found at fault. Commercial auto insurance coverage helps pay for the damaged property and medical expenses, even if the accident is fatal. Commercial auto insurance can protect your business if:

An employee hits someone crossing the street, and they require medical treatment that results in substantial bills.
An employee driving for your business accidentally collides with another vehicle and totals it.
You accidentally swerve off the road when changing the radio station while driving for work. You take out a residential mailbox and must pay to repair it.

You should consider commercial auto insurance if your business owns, leases, or rents vehicles; your business has employees who operate company vehicles, or if your Tennessee business has employees who drive their own vehicles to conduct business.

Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Insurance

The Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Act² requires certain employers to provide workers’ compensation. Workers’ compensation insurance (sometimes referred to as workman's comp insurance) provides benefits to employees for work-related injuries or sicknesses including medical care, monies for lost work time, and more. Workman’s comp insurance can provide benefits to a deceased employee’s family. It may even cover related legal fees if the family decides to sue the company. Workers’ compensation insurance can protect your business in events such as these:

A kitchen employee burns himself making meals for the restaurant and requires an emergency room visit. Following the incident the employee requires weeks of recovery time.
An employee lifts boxes around the office and injures her lower back. As a result, she requires medication and physical therapy following a doctor’s office visit.
An employee visits a client down the street and is involved in a car accident when returning to the office, requiring a hospital visit via ambulance.

Tennessee General Liability Insurance

General liability insurance (GL) helps protect your Tennessee business from bodily injury claims, property damage claims and personal and advertising injury claims that could put your business at risk. Commercial General Liability Insurance (CGL), also known as business liability insurance, provides coverage for customer injuries, lawsuits and damage to others’ property. CGL can also help pay for medical expenses or legal costs if an incident leads to a lawsuit. Commercial liability insurance from The Hartford provides some of the broadest business insurance coverage available today. CGL can help cover the costs of:

Bodily injury or property damage. These include claims that your business caused damage or harm to someone’s property.
Reputational harm. These involve claims of libel, wrongful eviction, violating privacy rights, slander, and more.
Damage to rented property. CGL helps cover the property you rent if it is damaged by lightning, fire, or an explosion.
Medical payments. CGL helps cover medical costs if someone is injured at your business.
Advertising errors. This involves claims of copyright infringement in your advertisements.

Tennessee Minimum Business Insurance Requirements

The Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Act requires certain employers to provide workers’ compensation insurance benefits. It is illegal for an employer to require an employee to pay any portion of the business’ workers’ compensation premiums. Employers required to carry workers’ compensation insurance include:

All employers in the construction business or trades (construction service providers) that have one or more employees unless they are specifically exempted.
Every other employer in the state of Tennessee that has five or more employees.
Employers in the coal mining industry must secure coverage if they have at least one employee.³

Additional Tennessee Business Insurance Links

Get a quote on Small Business Insurance for your business today.

¹ https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/advocacy/2018-Small-Business-Profiles-TN.pdf

² https://www.tn.gov/workforce/injuries-at-work/available-resources/redirecr-available-resources/a-beginner-s-guide-to-tn-workers--comp.html

³ https://www.tn.gov/workforce/injuries-at-work/employers/employers/who-must-carry-insurance.html