In Florida, workers’ compensation insurance is provided by insurance carriers, but the coverage terms and rates are dictated by the state. The coverage terms are listed under Chapter 440 of the Florida Statutes, which states that businesses need to provide workers’ compensation insurance for their employees if:

• The business is in an industry other than construction and it has four (4) or more employees, full-time or part-time (Corporate officers that have correctly filed exemptions with the state do not count as employees).
• The business is in the construction industry and you have one (1) or more employees (Corporate officers that have correctly filed exemptions with the state or a member of a limited liability company do not count as employees).

For landscapers, this means that if your business installs sod or plants trees, then it is considered to be in the construction industry and you need to carry workers’ compensation insurance if you have 1 or more employees. If your business only does lawn care and other landscape maintenance activities, or if your business trims trees, then you are required by law to provide workers’ compensation insurance when you have 4 or more employees.

I highly recommend that you provide workers’ compensation for your employees even when you are not required to do so by law. There are many advantages for this, but the main one is that by doing so, employees accepting workers’ compensation will waive many of their rights to sue your business for their injury, which often results in much higher costs. This is known as the ‘Great Trade-Off’.

Please keep in mind that BearWise Landscapers has access to over 10 insurance carriers that provide workers’ compensation insurance for Landscapers in Florida. If you need workers compensation insurance or if you currently have workers’ compensation insurance and are interested in obtaining quotes through our program, then we would like the opportunity to give those to you. Please select the ‘Get an Insurance Quote’ link at the top of this page and complete our online form. We look forward to working with your landscaping business.

The Agent Articles section of BearWiseLandscapers.com allows our insurance agents to provide practical information for landscapers. These agents can also obtain quotes and establish a custom insurance program for your landscaping business through our access to a variety of insurance carriers. This agent article is filed under 4 Workers' Compensation, and you can follow comments to it through the RSS 2.0 feed. Feel free to leave your own response below: