An index of insurance terms and short definitions to help you with buying and managing your insurance policy. Keep it in your back pocket as your secret weapon to navigate this complex area.
Making informed decisions is essential when it comes to critical elements for business success like workers’ compensation insurance. In most states, business owners are required by law to provide their employees with workers’ comp coverage.
An ACORD 25 is a certificate of insurance, and it is generally a one-page document that provides a summary of the most important information regarding your business insurance policy. This page is often called a workers’ comp certificate of insurance among other names. The form essentially serves as proof that a company has insurance coverage, and it can be provided by your insurance company when you purchase a business insurance policy.
Additional insured endorsements can be a confusing part of insurance policies. To learn what an additional insured endorsement is, you first need to understand the full additional insured meaning and how it relates to other aspects of insurance.
In terms of insurance, an adjuster is a professional responsible for reviewing insurance claims. This person determines how much the insurance company owes by looking over the claim, considering the damage, and negotiating any settlements. This ensures all claims are accurately and fairly resolved.
A claim is when an insured person or business has an incident and asks the insurance company that they’ve been paying for coverage to pay for it.
Workers’ Comp Class Codes are a four digit number that is used like a barcode to reference different categories of job roles. Insurance companies use these codes to reference risk information and determine workers’ compensation costs.
Workers’ comp insurance sometimes provides dividends, though they are not guaranteed and depend entirely on the insurance company's discretion. Availability can vary by the size of the policy, the industry involved, and the location of the insured business. Dividends act as a form of rebate, offering businesses the chance to recover part of their paid premiums.
A part of workers' compensation insurance is employers' liability insurance. Most policies for workers' compensation include employer liability insurance or EL. The simple answer is that this insurance protects your company if an employee sues because of an illness or injury at work.
Estimated annual payroll is one of the key components when purchasing a workers’ compensation policy. Your insurance premium is based on your employees’ expected earnings for the year and multiplied by your industry’s class code.
The Experience Modification Rate (also called ExMod or EMR) is a number assigned by the state that compares your company's claims history to others in your industry. Insurance companies use this number to calculate your workers' comp premiums. The more claims you've had, the higher your ExMod—and the higher your premiums will be.