Workers' Compensation

Protecting against accidents

If you own a business in Massachusetts, you are required by law to have Workers’ Compensation Insurance.

Workers’ compensation is insurance that pays for medical treatment associated with an employee’s occupational injury or illness. The insurance provides partial compensation for lost wages after five days of total or partial disability. An employee becomes eligible for weekly benefits when he or she is not able to earn income for five calendar days (consecutive or not) due to a work-related injury .

If your business does not have workers’ compensation, the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents, the agency responsible for administering workers’ compensation law, will issue a STOP WORK ORDER and your company will be fined $100 per day until worker’s compensation insurance becomes effective.

The only instances when workers’ compensation insurance is not required are when:

• you are employing people to do work in your home
• you are a non-profit corporation with no paid staff
• you are a corporation where each employee is an officer/director who owns at least 25% of the company and each person has waived his/her right to workers’ compensation benefits.¹

Family members must be covered by workers’ compensation insurance, even if they are the only employees of the company.²

Ways to reduce costs

According to the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD), two ways to reduce your workers’ compensation insurance costs pre-loss are:

• establishing a comprehensive safety training and health education program
• creating a joint-labor management safety committee to identify and appropriately address health or safety issues in the workplace.³

EOLWD also suggests four ways to reduce your workers’ compensation insurance costs post-loss:

• Provide appropriate medical attention
• Complete any necessary documentation needed by your workers’ compensation insurance as well as an injury report (Employer’s First Report of Injury or Fatality – Form 101) with the Department of Industrial Accidents.
• Engage in information sharing between the employee, medical providers and any other party involved so that everyone has complete records and is knowledgeable of the current status.
• Return the employee to work, providing job or tool modifications if needed.

The definitions of disability are not the same for workers’ compensation as they are for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)⁴. If an employee has incurred a disability-related work injury, it does not necessarily mean that the employee has a disability under ADA guidelines.

For more information, please refer to the legal section of Work Without Limits.

Next Steps

Become familiar with the Commonwealth’s workers’ compensation system.

Develop preventative strategies that improve safety in the workplace and help avoid occupational injury or illness. For example, adopt EOLWD’s suggestions of a comprehensive safety training program and a joint-labor management safety committee.

Train staff on the appropriate actions to take in the event of a work-related injury.

Resources

The Commonwealth has several resources for employers about the state’s workers’ compensation system:

• Employer’s Guide to The Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation System
• Employer’s Frequently Asked Questions About Workers Compensation
• Workers Compensation FAQs for Employers
• The Best Way to Reduce Your Workers’ Compensation Insurance Costs
• Claims Reporting Process: From Injury or Work Related Illness to Adjudication

Contact the Department of Industrial Accidents
(617) 727-4900
www.mass.gov/dia

Public Information Office
1-800-323-3249 ext. 470

¹Executive Office of Labor Workforce and Development, Department of Industrial Accidents, Employer’s Guide to The Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation System, 2009

²Executive Office of Labor Workforce and Development, Employer’s Frequently Asked Questions About Workers’ Compensation, 2009

³Executive Office of Labor Workforce and Development, The Best Way To Reduce Your Workers’ Compensation Insurance Costs, 2009

⁴United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Workers’ Compensation and the ADA, 2000