Tag: Insurance

Workers’ Compensation, Competitive State Funds

Each state has their own method for how they go about setting up a provider of last resort for workers’ compensation insurance coverage. This provider of last resort is also referred to as the assigned risk provider, the state fund or sometimes as the pool. This provider is designated as the provider of last resort for businesses who cannot find coverage through the open market. It is typically more expensive from this provider for a number of reasons.

Although, I have recently found there are a few state funds that are very competitive.  Some are so competitive my select carriers cannot compete with the rates being offered. I have a hand full of accounts that in the last few months I have tried to move out of the various state funds, but cannot find competitive rates.

Two of the states that I have had a hard time competing in are Texas and Kentucky. Both of these “competitive state funds” are really good at what they do. Offering Workers Compensation with both great rates and great safety resources for their insured’s. The clients I have tried to move out of these state funds are companies that do not fit in the underwriting box of our main street carriers. They still have opportunity to get coverage from a carrier that will offer pay as you go work comp and get out of the state fund. However the day has come when my current clients have said I am perfectly fine staying with the state fund. These carriers are offering dividends in some situations and are also offering an in network option. The in network option offers a network of Doctors that work with the carrier and streamline the process for workers’ compensation claims. This saves money for the employers and lowers the total pay out for a claim.

The state of Colorado also offers a “competitive state fund”. Three years ago I would have said my markets could still compete with these states in the voluntary market. Today I am not so sure. Don’t get me wrong it is still worth going through the process of getting quotes from all options. Depending on what classes of business the funds are doing really well in, you may be able to find better rates in the state fund. Much like the select carriers that are out there, the state fund will write most classes of business, but that does not mean they are going to offer their best pricing. For instance, take a Class Code 9014. This is for a commercial/industrial janitorial business in the state of Texas and this business has a substantial amount of payroll. The industrial cleaning portion of this company is going to kick them out of most of my select carrier underwriting guidelines. That leaves me with my high-risk carriers and my state fund (Texas Mutual). The high-risk carriers are usually going to have higher rates because they are offering to cover a business that not many carriers are willing to take the chance on. The high-risk carriers can only offer a 25% max credit. If the rates are not low enough to begin with we still are not going to be able to save the client money. On top of that we have the in network option and the dividend program. Many customers are benefiting by staying with the state fund of their home state.

The flip side to this is if we take the same Texas Janitorial Company and they decide to expand their operations outside the state of Texas. This would create a completely different scenario. State funds do have the ability to offer “other states” coverage’s on a separate writing paper or policy, but that is usually very limited to states and how much payroll will be allowed. In this case a high-risk carrier would be beneficial. The high-risk carrier will often times have the ability to add additional states to the policy as the company grows. They may also be able to offer better rates than the alternative, which would be having a policy with a handful of separate state fund policies.

Whether I am trying to move an existing client to a more competitive carrier or I have the opportunity to help a client that has come to me in need of a new policy. I have the tools and the ability to take care of the companies insurance needs. That can be through the state fund or through one of our many carriers.

What is the process for a Workers’ Compensation Payroll Audit?

The premium for most Workers Compensation Insurance Policies are based on a payroll “estimate” for the upcoming 12 month period from the effective date of the policy.  This is made as accurate as possible during the workers compensation payroll audit.  In addition, each business type is assigned one or more workers’ compensation classification codes. Each of the workers comp class codes are assigned a percentage rate factor. Payroll is than multiplied by the percentage rate factor for each class code. This is what determines the amount of the premium. After the policy period is complete, EVERY standard workers compensation carrier will perform a payroll audit for the previous 12 months of coverage.

During this payroll audit process the auditor can require either a physical or mail audit. Mail audits are fairly simple. They require completing a worksheet and submitting the requested payroll verification documents. Physical audits require the auditor to meet with the business owner, collect and verify payroll documentation and inspect the business to determine proper classification. Payroll documents usually include year-end tax reports, payroll ledgers and 1099 payroll information.

The purpose of an audit is to determine the “actual” wages paid to employees and to make sure the employees are classified correctly. After the payroll audit process is complete, the auditor reserves the right to change the workers compensation class code however they interpret the business based on their inspection. The auditor will report to the insurance carrier, the “actual” wages paid to employees and uninsured 1099’s per class code. The insurance carrier will than adjust the payroll figures and class codes. IF need be the auditor will than send the business owner a refund or an invoice for the additional amount due. If the business owner fails to complete the audit as requested it will cause difficulty purchasing a workers compensation policy in the future.

After the business owner receives the audit results, the business owner has the right to dispute the results if they feel something is incorrect. Business owners can go directly to the audit department to capture the auditor’s report/notes or business owners can involve their agent to assist with this process. If a classification code is changed and the business owner doesn’t agree the business owner must request an inspection by the appropriate state workers compensation bureau. Typically this request costs the business owner a few hundred dollars. The bureau inspection and classification code determination is final.

Should I Buy Workers’ Compensation Insurance?

 

This is a question that has been debated often in the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Industry. I think the best way to view this question is to break it down to an understandable level. Most Business owners’ biggest asset and achievement is their company. All of the blood, sweat, stress, and long hours that they have dedicated to this endeavor can be gone in a flash without insurance. A lot of the time it’s the cost of insurance that concerns owners. I never use it or I don’t need it is how business owner’s justify not carrying Workers’ Compensation Insurance Coverage. Why is it that we will insure our cars, home, and life but not our biggest asset? You may have the safest workplace in the world, but something could happen. That something could be just a fluke situation, but wouldn’t you rather have the protection of Insurance vs. the risk of covering out of pocket if something does happen. Below is an example for you to think about related to Workers’ Compensation Insurance:

 

Imagine you own a Law Firm. In your mind  your exposure to workers’ compensation insurance claims is minimal at best. Driving is an exposure that you may not think of that does exist for you and your business. Even though it does not happen very often it does exist. This could be driving to a different law office to pick up papers or meet for a mediation. You could be meeting with a client at their home of out of town. You could just be going down to the courthouse to file paperwork or go to trial. What happens if you or your legal assistance gets in an accident and is hurt. You tend to think that since it was an auto accident it should fall under auto insurance. What you don’t realize is that this employee was doing something in the scope of work and this is viewed as a workers comp incident. What if that employee can’t work anymore and they hire a lawyer. You don’t have work comp coverage so you could be directly responsible for paying claims out of pocket. If you have workers compensation in place, which for a law office is very affordable, then you could file this claim and be covered. You worked many years building your practice so why not protect it instead of leaving all your hard work and client development exposed to changing dramatically or ending completely over an incident that you could have taken care of with insurance.

 

Another quick example is a company that has about 5 employees and only Office exposure. This business doesn’t offer health insurance or work comp. The business owner thinks the business only has office staff. What’s the worse thing that can happen? Well in this scenario, Employee A is getting a glass of water from the dispenser and some water spills onto the floor unnoticed by the employee. Employee B later gets up to go send a fax. On their way Employee B slips and falls straight back and breaks their arm. If there is no insurance in place, the business owner is going to have to pay for this out of pocket. This will take money from the profitability of the company. The Cost of medical care for Employee B was around $20,000. Now if the same Business Owner had Workers’ Compensation Insurance Coverage, that probably based on exposure would have cost around $1,000 for the year, they could have saved $19,000. That is real money that makes a huge difference to business owners of any size.

 

There are many other examples we could go over from contractors to home health care to restaurants. You as a business owner may not think of the risk, but someone in your same business has either felt the pain of not having coverage or the relief of knowing that insurance is protecting what they have spent years building. Don’t leave your most treasured asset exposed. Consider the long-term benefits of insurance. It’s not a matter of if it will happen. It’s a matter of when it will happen.

What is Cyber Insurance? Does my business really need it?

Cyber Insurance is a new and emerging part of the insurance sector. Most of the coverages are so infant that common terms have not yet been established by the insurance industry. Most of the risks associated with cyber technology are so new that many business owners still think they do not effect their business. Those business owner’s are wrong.  In today’s day and age, it is becoming more and more difficult to operate a successful business without a presence online or without storing some type of information about your customers. In these situations a business must have cyber insurance or run the risk of being liable for all costs as a result of a data breach.

Learn how to prevent your small business from being a victim of a cyber attack at myinsurancequestion.com

A normal General Liability Insurance Policy does not cover damages caused by most data breaches. This is a fact many business owner’s do not realize. Many business owner’s think General Liability Insurance is an all encompassing coverage. It is not all encompassing. Most General Liability Policies covers losses due to bodily injury and property damage. Third party information lost in a data breach does not fall under losses covered by a General Liability Policy. A separate Cyber Insurance Policy is necessary in addition to a General Liability Policy.

Frequently business owner’s think they just don’t have enough customers for cyber insurance to be relevant. They might think not enough people in their business even use a computer for business purposes or they do not have enough customers for someone to want to hack them, but the main way data is stolen is not from sophisticated hacking techniques. Data is often stolen by someone stealing a laptop. A stolen laptop could happen to any business, not just those who work with advanced computer technology.

When a data breach does occur, the average cost to a business is around $200 dollars per customer. If your business loses the information of 100 customers, it could cost your company $20,000. If that amount were 10,000 customers it would cost about $2 million. Could your business survive a loss of these amounts? If not than you need some form of cyber insurance.

There are three main types of coverage a company may need:  Cyber Liability, Cyber Security and Technology Errors and Omissions. The first two deal with coverage resulting from a data breach. The third deals with companies that provide technology services and products.

Keep your business secure from a data breach by reading the most up to date information about cyber insurance at my insurance question.com

Cyber Security

Cyber Security is the term most commonly used to refer to first party coverage. First party coverage deals with damages to you and your company. These damages are often referred to as the immediate response costs resulting from a data breach. These costs include notifying all customers who are affected, hiring a forensic team to find out how the breach occurred and providing credit monitoring services for up to one year. These three costs are required by law in most states. Cyber Security Coverage would also cover costs like hiring a public relations firm to help repair your businesses tarnished image and setting up a post breach call-center to service customer concerns.

 Cyber Liability

Cyber Liability is the term most commonly used to refer to third party liability dealing with a data breach. Some industry professionals may refer to it as Information Security and Privacy Insurance. Third party coverage deals with damages to anyone who is not you or your employee, who was harmed by the data breach. It includes customers whose data was stolen or vendors you do business with. This will pay up to the policy limits for court costs, defense costs, some fines related to the breach and lost monies that were stolen from those effected.

Technology Errors and Omissions

The final type of coverage is Technology Errors and Omissions Insurance. This type of policy is a form of liability insurance that helps protect businesses providing all types of technology services and products. This coverage prevents businesses from bearing the full cost of defending against a negligence claim made by a client, and damages awarded in a civil lawsuit. Costly mistakes can and will happen, even to employees with the best training and years of experience. Technology Errors and Omissions Insurance is designed for when these errors take place. A good example where this coverage is necessary would be if a web developer provided faulty coding that causes a business to be closed for several days because their website is down.

Not all businesses need all three of these coverages. The most common coverages businesses need are Cyber Liability and Cyber Security. Not all businesses will need Technology Errors and Omissions Insurance, but those that do typically are at a very high risk if not insured. Most insurance providers prefer to offer these coverage’s as a part of a Business Owner’s Policy (BOP). A BOP usually includes general liability, business property, business loss of income, EPLI and cyber insurance. Offering packages like this contain the cost to the business and helps ensure there are no gaps in coverage. In today’s business climate some form of cyber insurance is essential to all businesses. Is your business at risk?

 

 

Floridas Workers Comp Exemption Process in 20 Steps

The process for an owner of a company to get themselves properly excluded from a workers compensation insurance policy in Florida is quite cumbersome. In fact, owners not becoming properly excluded is one of the leading causes of workers’ compensation audit balances in the state of Florida. In Florida, an officer or LLC Member can only be excluded if they have a properly filed a Florida workers comp exemption form on file with the state. This can be done in two ways: 1) Complete a form by hand, get a notary signature, and mail the form to the proper Division of Workers Compensation office; or 2) Complete the online version of the form.

Florida workers comp exemption

The handwritten option is not overly reliable. Any errors on the form or if it is sent to the wrong office can cause the form to not be filed. In this circumstance the owner ends up getting included on the policy and will owe additional premium.  The online form is the best solution, even though the process is cumbersome and detailed. That’s why I’ve created this 20-step process for an insured to follow to make sure the officers are properly excluded.

Florida Workers Comp Exemption

1. Go to Sunbiz.org

2. Use the Document Searches Tab to find your Corporation or LLC. It is best to use the Tax ID

3. Make sure the business is in Active status. If not, correct this with the secretary of state before filing your exemption.

4. Your information inputted for your exemption must match Sunbiz. Therefore it is important to have this information handy.

5. For online filing use the link below. Otherwise use the paper form (input form number)

https//apps.fldfs.com/bocexempt/

6. Click the Apply for or Renew an Exemption button

7. Agree to Terms and Use a Pin to access in the future.

8. Section 1:

a. Applicant Name – Name of the person who is being excluded

b. Drivers License Number – select the correct state

c. Last 4 of Social

d. E-mail address – this is not required but helpful

9. Section 2:

a. Select Construction or Non-Construction

b. Select Either an Officer or Member of LLC

10. Section 3: Important to have your Sunbiz paperwork for this

a. Enter all information as listed on Sunbiz. Do Not Mis-Spell

b. Select a Scope of Business from the drop down menu. This is your main workers compensation class code with a 0 in front of the 4 digit code.

11. Section 4:

a. Input the document number listed on Sunbiz

12. Section 5

a. Either complete or check mark the “not applicable” box.

13. Section 7

a. Input other company info the applicant is an officer for

– This does NOT mean that the exemption is registered for each entity. You MUST enter the exemption information for EACH entity the owner is connected with. A separate application is required for each Tax Id.

14. Section 8

a. Verify this is correct

15. Section 9 –

a. Input workers compensation carrier name

16. Section 10

a. Input Name & Drivers License

17. Hit Continue

18. Hit Submit – there is a submit button after you hit continue

19. Processing Time – It generally takes 3-5 business days to process. Check back on the Florida Proof of Coverage website until it shows as registered.

20. If the Application is Rejected – Use the register website above, Click “Modify Application”, input your Pin and correct the problem. Best to contact the Florida Division of Workers Compensation and ask why the application was rejected so you know what to correct. 850-413-1609 option 2

Notes

Most exemptions are only active for 2 years. The exemption must be renewed by re-entering the information online.

Construction exemptions require a payment of $50

It’s very important to check back on the status of the exemption. Several times when registering for exemptions my clients have not received communication and the application didn’t process.

Spelling everything exactly like listed on Sunbiz is VERY IMPORTANT

Are you paying too much for Workers Comp or too much for Payroll? Maybe Both

 

Have you ever purchased a used car or found a great deal on a piece of used furniture at a “sale”?  Than got home to find out it was not the steal you thought when writing the check. Buying commercial insurance can sometimes be this way. It can be a stressful and time-consuming process, especially if you do not have an experienced insurance agent on your side. A good insurance agent can help you find things you might be overpaying for, or maybe some parts of your insurance policy are not set up right at all.

 

For example, I recently worked with a client who’s business is in a high risk agriculture industry. They pay a significant amount on their workers’ compensation insurance each year. This business was part of an alternate service organization, which provided payroll services. It than reports the payroll to their workers’ compensation carrier for the companies Pay-as-You-Go reporting. This was two separate companies doing these processes.

 

In the case of this business we found the workers’ compensation rates were a little high. So to help this business we found a carrier who could save them money on their workers comp coverage. We also found their payroll reporting charges were very high. In this business there are lots of companies that provide work comp and Payroll services. both services. Most of these agencies can offer a better rate because they are getting both businesses. Some try to charge lower workers comp rates, but make up the difference by charging more for the payroll processing side of things or vice versa.  Sometimes it is just that a payroll company knows they can build in a little extra that ends up costing you a lot!

 

For this business we were able to find an aggressive workers’ compensation carrier that provided competitive workers comp rates.  This carrier also integrated their payroll services and collected on a Pay-As-You-GO billing plan. By combining the two services, we were able to save this client nearly $25,000 per year on their work comp premiums and $23,000 per year on their payroll processing. Part of this savings was based on the payroll being reported by a company different than the insurance carrier. This disconnect can cause inaccurate reporting. Many companies work with agencies who actually operate the payroll service in house. They do this with the insurance carrier operations to make this fully integrated. This process also helps prevent fraud by acting as an extra verification procedure.

 

There are a lot of solutions out there for getting coverage in place.  If you can get workers compensation in place on a hard to write class code and get it on a pay-as-you-go basis, it seems like a dream come true.  However, this is an example of how just looking at the down payment or the workers comp rates alone can end up costing your company significantly. It’s always best to review the rates you are paying for this type of plan.  Review what is being charged for all the services provided. Sometimes this is where another company is really making their margin at your expense.

Ride Sharing and Auto Insurance

Our country is dealing with some phenomenon’s that we have never experienced before and its causing some big changes in the insurance business.  Not all insurance companies have caught up to the technological advances of Drones, Driverless Cars and Ride Sharing or “Transportation Network Companies” as states are now referring to now.

Drones and Driverless cars are going to have to be an article for another day. For now, companies like Uber and Lyft are quickly changing how Americans get around. They both offer an opportunity for individuals to make money off their personal vehicle by giving others a ride for a fee. Ride sharing is a trend that is developing into a major industry that insurance companies and state lawmakers have quickly had to adjust to. Most states are opening up to this, some more openly than others as you would expect and the same goes with insurance companies.

 

What does Ride sharing have to do with Insurance?

Most personal auto policies are going to exclude business use from coverage on your policy. Many carriers have “business use” as an option, however it is important to know what that means as the coverage can vary greatly from carrier to carrier. So if you are driving for one of the new or existing Ride sharing companies it is important to know your personal auto coverage well. If Ride sharing is not covered at all, you really should take action. Either by seeing if a commercial policy is available with your current insurance company that would cover Ride sharing (not all carriers do) or by shopping for a new personal or commercial auto policy that will cover these operations.

 

Limits, limits limits….

As insurance agents we preach that the state minimum limits are very risky for your personal auto policy. In states like Missouri the state minimum liability limits are $25,000 for bodily injury, $50,000 for total bodily injury and $10,000 for total property damage. Think about the last time you went to the doctor with anything serious. It’s not far fetched to say these types of limits are not hard to meet in any serious vehicle accident. Consider if you were to have a paying customer in the car or possibly multiple. Many articles are pointing out the coverage gaps that Ride sharing brings about. This is important, however the limits of your policy are something that need to be addressed even if your insurance carrier says they will cover the claim. The coverage doesn’t matter as much if the limit of the coverage is too small to cover the claims.

For example; say you were to get into an accident which caused injuries to the another person which resulted in bodily injury claims of $90,000. If you have state minimum limits in Missouri with $25,000 in bodily injury liability per person this means $65,000 of the damages are not covered by your insurance and that goes back to you personally. Forget about mortgage, student loans and all other bills, that is a big hit that leaves nothing for you to show for it. If you had spent a little more on your auto insurance policy and had limits that were more acceptable, your insurance could cover this.

The amount an agent would recommend for auto insurance is going to vary on your individual circumstances and risk. Generally most recommended commercial auto policies have limits of at least $1 Million combined single limit. This allows a sufficient baseline of liability limits to make sure your covered claims are covered to the amount you would need them to be. The minimum limits we would typically recommend for a personal auto policy are around $100,000 bodily injury for each person, $300,000 for bodily injury liability for each accident and $100,000 Property Damage Liability. If you add the Ride-Share exposure, increasing those limits to at least $500,000 or $1 Million individually or combined single limit is better to make sure your protected for the full amount you need. This does cost a little more in premium. However, if a claim occurs the premium difference is the last thing you are going to worry about. Especially if your limits are less than the cost of the accident.

What is Pay as You Go Workers’ Compensation?

Pay as You Go Workers’ Compensation Insurance is a fairly new program that is designed to help business owner’s free up cash so they can pay their insurance premium’s monthly instead of in one lump sum. Pay as You Go Workers’ Compensation benefits employers in three main ways:

  1. Pay as You Go Workers Compensation Insurance allows businesses to pay their premium monthly instead of in one large payment.
  2. Pay as You Go frees up cash flow for more immediate business needs.
  3. Pay as You Go prevents audits because both payroll and premiums are calculated monthly instead of yearly.

My Insurance Question can help you pick out the best Pay as You Go Workers' Compensation Insurance Policy.

Pay as You Go Workers’ Compensation Insurance Coverage benefits businesses by allowing them to pay their insurance premium’s monthly based on the payroll of their workforce that month only. This is a great option for industries like construction, farming or landscaping. These industries sometimes have a hard time forecasting payroll because of the weather and many other factors. If your business deals with these types of issues than Pay Go may be a great option for you and your business.

 

Another benefit of Pay as You Go Workers’ Compensation Insurance is that it frees up cash flow for more immediate business needs. With a traditional Workers Comp policy typically twenty five percent of the premium is due all at once. The rest is usually paid in nine monthly payments. This means the business is spending money on insurance immediately that could be used on other more urgent business needs.

Pay as You Go Workers' Compensation Insurance

Finally, business owner’s benefit from Pay Go Workers’ Compensation Coverage because it prevents audits from happening more frequently. An end of term audit still happens, but Pay Go prevents audits from happening more frequently and makes the difference owed much smaller. With the monthly payment format there is less risk of over or underpaying the premium.

The Importance of Your Company’s Website for Getting Business Insurance

The web presence of a business dramatically affects the business insurance options available for that business.  Much of the insurance buying landscape for businesses is shifting to the online/e-commerce environment. This often offers businesses faster service, better prices and the opportunity to get quoted by more carriers. Many of these transactions are conducted exclusively over the phone and by email.   An agent seeing a business face to face is becoming less and less common. Thus, underwriters are increasingly relying on a company’s website to assess whether they want to insure a company or pass on the opportunity.

For some industries, such as contractors, many insurance carriers will require evidence of a business online before they will quote that business (even if a formal website is not be required).  This gives the insurance carriers more confidence they know what business they are insuring. A good web presence helps businesses obtain better business insurance by getting quotes from more carriers.

Websites are generally used as a marketing tool for businesses. They often are over-expansive in the services they list they will offer.  That is good for marketing, but can make it more difficult for businesses to get insured.   Insurance company underwriters often rely on information contained on a website more than any other resource available. Thus, they will often decline quotes if services are offered which are ineligible for coverage. The rub is that often the businesses don’t really offer all of the services listed on their websites. Many times websites are created by a vendor the business owner contracted with, and their only goal was to make the website the strongest it could be from a marketing perspective. Additionally, the business owners may not always monitor their website on an on-going basis or update the website for changes in business operations.

However, when it comes to getting insurance, it is important that your company’s web presence most accurately reflects your business operations. Editing your company’s website is one way to accomplish this task. Sometimes, it is possible to explain why websites advertise services which are not really offered. However, sometimes it is not. Furthermore, sometimes carriers might price insurance more conservatively due to their potential doubt of the company’s operations based on an inaccurate website. An accurate website puts a good foot forward with insurance carriers.

There are many persuasive reasons to have an accurate and current website. Ease in obtaining business insurance (and potentially better priced business insurance at that) is another reason to add to that list.

Janitorial Business, Liability Needs.

One of the first accounts I ever quoted was for a janitorial cleaning company. This company really stuck out to me. The client called me bright and early one morning looking for a workers compensation quote. It was a commercial cleaning company and when I started the quoting process, I realized there was much more to this risk than I actually thought. I noticed commercial janitorial cleaning was actually a very popular risk to insure, but sadly not many people know how to do it. It is not a difficult risk to write, but some might find all the questions to be rather nerve racking. So allow me to help you out!

If you are thinking about getting workers compensation for your own janitorial cleaning company, you need to first ask yourself these fundamental questions.

1) Will you be doing residential or commercial janitorial cleaning?
* There is a huge difference between commercial cleaning and residential. Commercial consist of any legal business, office, or sometimes contracted apartment cleaning (if the resident has moved out and you are cleaning it for the next resident.) Residential cleaning is basically any home that is occupied by residents.

2) What will you be cleaning?
* It is very important to tell your insurance agent exactly what you will be doing. For example: We will need to know if you are leaning window or gutters.  If so, we will need to know how you get to the gutters. What will be the maximum height you will go to, to do the cleaning? If you are moving furniture around.

3) How many employees will be on location?
* Since workers compensation is based off the employees’ payroll, it will be beneficial to tell your agent how many employees you will have at each location.

4) What chemicals will you be using?
* If you are using any type of harsh chemicals to clean with, then you should explain to the agent what the chemicals are and how you will be handling them.

5) What will be the travel exposure between job locations?
* This is a very important question. Your agent will need to know the estimated miles between job locations.

6) What safety program do you have in place?
* This is something you should always have no matter the job. It is critical you have a safety program in place.

These are some of the questions I always ask my clients. It is very critical to know exactly what the janitorial company does.

Now like all other workers compensation quotes, the agent will need to know employee count and payroll for each employee. If you have employees doing jobs other than janitorial cleaning, then you need to explain what those employees will be doing. After you have answered all those questions, then you will be ready to get started on the workers compensation quote.

Now I also want to share a piece of knowledge I learned while quoting janitorial companies. If you are seeking General Liability for your business, then here is a good piece of information that you want to ask your agent. A lot of janitorial businesses are trusted with a key to get into the building. Now if you have a lot of contracts with different locations, then you probably have several keys. Here is the gem I told you about, you need to ask your agent for ‘Lost Key Coverage.” Lost Key Coverage will be an endorsement added to your general liability policy that will pay to replace all the keys you have lost or were stolen. Having the locks replaced for 25 different businesses is very expensive. So if I were you, I would make sure that my general liability policy has lost key coverage or something very similar to it.

**There are also Janitorial Surety Bonds. These bonds will protects the insured’s clients, if one of your employees were to steal from the client. The employee must be convicted before any coverage will be applied.