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Painting Business Owners: Must You Provide Workers' Compensation for Subcontractors?

Name: Painting Business Owners: Must You Provide Workers' Compensation for Subcontractors?
Uploaded: 2025-01-03T14:15:01+00:00
Duration: 4 s
Channel: Daniel Honan
Description: In this brief Q&A, the speakers discuss whether painting business owners must provide workers' compensation coverage for subcontractors. They explain…

3 Jan 2025 · 0 min

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In this brief Q&A, the speakers discuss whether painting business owners must provide workers' compensation coverage for subcontractors. They explain that subcontractors are expected to carry their own workers' compensation policies, and the hiring business should not be the provider. However, if the business fails to collect proper certificates of insurance and documentation, it can unintentionally become liable for the subcontractors' coverage. This accidental coverage can surface during workers' compensation audits, potentially leading to higher premiums. The conversation emphasizes the importance of obtaining and verifying subcontractors' insurance documents to avoid unintended liability.

Is workers' compensation just for employees, or if you're hiring subcontractors, you need this as well?
You should not be providing coverage for your subcontractors. Typically, your subcontractors should have their own coverage. They need to have their own policy. However, you can unintentionally cover subcontractors if you don't get certificates of insurance and you don't have all your ducks in a row. There are cases where you can unintentionally cover subcontractors, so that's why it's really important that you're getting all of the documents from your subcontractors when you're hiring them on.
So basically, if you have subcontractors and they're not covered on their, their own policy, you might have to cover them.
Correct. Sometimes comes to light during— we'll talk about audits a little later, but sometimes that comes to light during workers' comp audits. If you don't have that proper paperwork in place, then you may have to pay premium for your subcontractors.