We are often asked if domestic workers are covered for injuries sustained at your home and they are doing work for you? The short answer is yes, they are covered.The more appropriate answer is that the coverage is likely much more limiting than traditional Worker’s Compensation Insurance, so if you have a situation where someone is employed at your house on a continual basis, you will want to consider having Worker’s Compensation coverage. 
The key difference between a domestic worker and a employee relationship is how often the worker comes to you home and how much of their total income is earned from your “employment” relationship? If a worker comes to the house once or twice a month, you are generally not considered to be an employer. However, let’s take a situation of a domestic care worker that comes to your home on a daily basis. Under this type of situation, you can be considered an employer because this employee is coming to your home and earning the bulk of their income from the job that you are paying them to do. In this case, you want to have workers compensation insurance for the employee. 
If you don’t have the ability to get a Worker’s Compensation policy as an employer, or are not willing to do so, you may consider hiring a domestic worker through an employment agency. The agency will be responsible for the Worker’s Compensation coverage, and they are the employer, not you! Of course the cost for this will be higher then if you were to pay someone directly, but you mitigate your liability in this type of relationship so it’s worth considering this option. 
If you have questions about employing or hiring a domestic worker, please give us a call today. We look forward to helping you with all your insurance needs.
