If you own a landscape company, does South Carolina require workers’ compensation insurance? The simple answer is yes—but it’s a little more complicated than that. In South Carolina, you’re required to purchase workers’ comp if you meet both of the following requirements:
You hire at least four workers (full-time or part-time).
Your annual payroll is $3,000 or more.
If both of those statements describe your landscape company, then the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission expects you to get workers comp (if you don’t, you could be subject to fines and even jail time).
It’s important to know, though, that even if your company doesn’t meet the requirements, workers’ comp might still be a good idea. To see why, let’s look at an example. Let’s say you run a small lawn care business and that you hire two only part-time workers during the busy season. You’re not required to purchase South Carolina workers’ compensation, so you don’t. Then, one day, you get an urgent call from a client—your employee had a run-in with a piece of equipment while on the job and is on the way to the hospital right now. Three days and an emergency surgery later, your employee is released from the hospital with a heavily bandaged leg—and a stack of medical expenses totaling over $90,000.
Suppose you don’t have workers’ comp. In that case, you are now responsible for paying that bill, as well as all forthcoming bills that relate to your employee’s work-related injury, including any rehabilitation and physical therapy costs. Your final bill could be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
That’s just one example of why workers’ comp is a great idea, even if South Carolina’s workers’ compensation law doesn’t technically mandate it for your business. It’s important coverage that could quite literally save your business from a catastrophic bill or lawsuit. (Plus, it’s the right thing to do for your employees.)
So now that you understand why it is important to secure workers compensation, it’s a good time to see what you may pay.
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