General Insurance Questions
Personal
Commercial

General:
Why did my premium increase?
What is an umbrella policy?
Can I pay by credit card?

Personal:
Do I need workers compensation for my nanny/babysitter?

Commerical:
Do I need workers compensation for my part-time employees?
Do I need workers compensation for myself?
My landlord wants to asses my policy. Is this expensive?

Most states require you to get workers' compensation insurance if you have even one employee. Policies and regulations vary by state, so check with your state's Department of Labor. If you are running a business with employees and aren't complying with your state's workers' compensation insurance requirements, you could face some heavy fines.

Employers have a legal responsibility to their employees to make the workplace safe. However, accidents happen even when every reasonable safety measure has been taken.

To protect employers from lawsuits resulting from workplace accidents and to provide medical care and compensation for lost income to employees hurt in workplace accidents, in almost every state, businesses are required to buy workers compensation insurance. Workers compensation insurance covers workers injured on the job, whether they are hurt on the workplace premises or elsewhere, or in auto accidents while on business. It also covers work-related illnesses.

Workers compensation provides payments to injured workers, without regard to who was at fault in the accident, for time lost from work and for medical and rehabilitation services. It also provides death benefits to surviving spouses and dependents.

Commercial umbrella (aka excess) liability insurance is an important source of protection that supplements the limits of an insured's underlying policies such as general liability, automobile liability, and employers liability.
Umbrellas also protect insureds from exclusions and gaps that exist in their primary liability insurance. Covered causes of loss that are not normally included in primary policies are subject to a self-insured retention (SIR), which is the responsibility of the insured to pay. SIRs in the amounts of $10,000 or $25,000 are common. An umbrella policy's coverage is triggered when the limits of the underlying insurance have been exhausted. Less commonly, an umbrella may also respond to a claim that is not covered by an underlying policy, but only when the loss amount exceeds the self-insured retention.