Ohio workers’ compensation insurance helps your employees if they get a work-related injury or illness. Workers’ compensation insurance gives them benefits that can help:
- Pay for their medical bills
- Recover lost wages
- Cover funeral costs if they lose their life from a work-related injury or illness
Be aware that Ohio is a monopolistic state. This means you have to get coverage from a state-run program, not a private insurance company.
Is Workers’ Compensation Required in Ohio?
Any business in Ohio that employs more than one person must carry workers’ compensation insurance. The state considers corporate officers as an employee unless they’re a volunteer at a nonprofit organization. There are also other exceptions to Ohio’s employee definition. This includes domestic workers who earn less than $160 per quarter, like cooks or gardeners. Most volunteers also don’t need coverage.
Is Workers’ Compensation Required for Part-time Employees in Ohio?
You’ll need to provide workers’ comp for your part-time employees in Ohio. Sole proprietors and members of a partnership will also need to have coverage employees. However, they can opt out of getting coverage for themselves.
Ohio Workers’ Comp Insurance
Ohio is different than most states for workers’ compensation insurance because it uses a monopolistic fund. This means you can only buy workers’ compensation insurance through a government-operated fund.
However, you can get other Ohio business insurance policies from us, like:
How Does Workers’ Compensation Insurance Work in Ohio?
Workers’ compensation insurance in Ohio helps protect businesses and their employees from work-related injuries and illnesses. If your employees get hurt or sick from their job, this insurance gives them benefits to help:
- Pay medical bills
- Cover lost wages
- Provide temporary and permanent disability benefits
Workers’ comp insurance can also provide death benefits, which can help pay for an employee’s funeral costs if they lose their life after a work-related injury or illness.
Workers in Ohio can also receive change of occupation (COA) awards if they sustain certain injuries or illnesses and are medically advised to change jobs, like:1
- Silicosis
- Coal miners’ pneumoconiosis
- Asbestosis
Firefighters and police officers can also receive COA awards if they’re medically advised to change jobs after getting diagnosed with a cardiovascular or pulmonary disease.
Getting Workers’ Compensation Coverage in Ohio
Ohio is a monopolistic state, so you’ll need to get workers’ compensation coverage through the Ohio workers’ compensation state fund. You won’t be able to get it through a private insurance company, like The Hartford.
Some information you’ll need to have before you get coverage includes:
- How many employees you have
- The type of work your employees do
- The location of your business
Learn more by visiting the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) State Fund’s website.
Ohio Workers’ Compensation Law
Ohio workers’ compensation law states that businesses with one or more employees must have coverage.2 Ohio employers are either state-funded or self-insuring when it comes to workers’ compensation coverage.
The law makes coverage an elective for certain employers, like:3
- Sole proprietors
- Partnerships
- Limited liability companies (LLCs) acting as sole proprietors
- LLCs acting as partnerships
- Family farm corporate officers
- Individual incorporated as a corporation
- Ordained or associate ministers of a religious organization
The law also allows independent contractors to choose to get coverage for themselves as sole proprietors or partners. If an independent contractor or subcontractor controls the selection of materials, traveling routes and quality of performance of another worker, they’re considered an employer and have to get workers’ compensation insurance for the worker.4
If your business has to have workers’ compensation insurance but doesn’t carry coverage for employees, you can face fines and penalties.5 In addition, your employees can also sue you for all damages and expenses related to the work injury or illness, as well as file a claim with the BWC. If the claim gets approved, you’ll have to reimburse the BWC for the claim costs.6
Filing a Workers’ Compensation Claim in Ohio
To file a workers’ compensation claim in Ohio, employees have to go through the BWC. The state classifies claims in two categories:
- Medical-only, which means the injured worker missed less than seven days of work. They can get treatment or benefits for the injury and still report to work.
- Lost-time claims means the injured worker missed more than eight days of work.
The workers’ comp claim process takes 30 days. The approval process determines whether the claim gets approved or denied and can take up to four weeks. After the BWC makes a decision, an employer or employee can file an appeal within 14 days.7 If an appeal gets filed, the Industrial Commission of Ohio hears the dispute.8
Be aware that the state won’t pay medical or pharmacy bills until a claim gets approved and all appeal periods have expired.
Other Types of Business Insurance for Ohio Businesses
On top of workers’ compensation, your Ohio business can also benefit from these other types of business insurance coverage:
- General liability insurance
- Business income insurance
- Commercial auto insurance in Ohio
- Home-based business insurance
- Cyber insurance, also known as data breach insurance
- Business Owner’s Policy (BOP)
Last Updated: October 26, 2023
1 Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, “Change of Occupation (COA) Benefits”
2 Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, “Workers’ Compensation Coverage”
3,4 Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, “Elective Coverage”
5,6 Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, “Lapsed Coverage”
7 YouTube, “BWCOhio: What to Expect in the Next 30 Days”
8 Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, “Appealing a Claim Decision”
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