Do you know when you need to have workers’ compensation coverage for your New York business? Most business owners don’t have the time to understand how to get coverage and how the system works, but if you don’t have coverage and get presented with a claim, it can destroy your business.
NetPEO connects businesses with workers’ compensation needs with expert HR staff members who can handle all the regulations for your business. Your employees can get the protection they have under the law while you can focus on your core business. Here’s what you need to know about our New York PEO workers’ compensation services.
When Must I Have Workers’ Compensation Under New York Law?
As soon as you have employees, everyone in your business must have workers’ compensation coverage under New York’s laws. Sole proprietors, partners, and corporations with two or fewer officers are not required to carry worker’s compensation coverage, though they may opt to do so.
Workers’ compensation protects you from lawsuits from employees who get injured or ill because of their job. Your personal assets could be at risk if you do not have them. Also, New York has penalties for companies who willfully dodge the workers’ compensation coverage requirements.
The penalties are not kind. In fact, you can face felony charges if you have over five employees within a twelve-month period and do not have coverage! Corporate or LLC status will not protect you from penalties. The law makes owners and officers personally liable for not having coverage.
Why Work with a New York PEO for Workers’ Compensation Coverage?
You might think you need to hire a full-time HR professional to help you with workers’ compensation claims, but there is another way. Working with a PEO can give you access to a full range of HR and payroll services, and there are other advantages as well.
As you grow, your workers will want to get health insurance and other benefits. A PEO can give you access to benefit plans that would be out of your reach because of your number of employees. The co-employment relationship between PEOs and their clients lets them leverage a much larger pool of employees to get better costs.
Better benefits mean your workplace will be more productive and attractive to higher levels of talent, and you won’t have to worry about the administrative side of your benefits because your PEO will handle all of those tasks.
What Else Can PEOs Do for Me?
Professional Employer Organizations handle HR and payroll needs for businesses large and small. There’s a lot more to these professions than you might think! Besides workers’ compensation services, New York PEOs can provide services like:
- Recruitment
- Onboarding and training new employees
- Policy creation
- Safety audits and risk management
- Regulatory compliance
- Benefits administration
- HR support
- Payroll and tax filing
- Employee portals for common HR questions
- Data analytics related to HR
Working with a PEO also helps reduce your liability as an employer. Should unforeseen circumstances come up and you’re forced into litigation, your PEO may help you in your court fight. This depends on the PEO and the nature of the lawsuit.
What Kinds of Businesses Benefit from PEOs?
While your business is still in the small or medium stage, a PEO is a perfect way to handle critical HR and payroll tasks without compromising your core competencies. It’s also less expensive than hiring a full-time HR or payroll professional.
No matter your niche, there are PEOs with experience in your industry. This includes industries with high regulatory requirements like transportation and construction. Dangerous industries must have HR professionals help them through these to avoid potential fines and lawsuits.
What is Co-employment?
When you work with a PEO, you enter a co-employment contract. This contract spells out which business responsibilities are handled by the PEO and which are handled by you and your company.
Co-employment does not mean you no longer own your company or do not control it. A PEO will never make decisions about your business independently, change anything about how you pay your employees, or help with marketing, sales, or your product. PEOs strictly focus on HR, payroll, and tax issues.
PEOs are also different from outsourcing companies that lease employees to other businesses. Your PEO won’t provide a traditional employee. Instead, the organization will assume the responsibilities in the contract, and they will assign staff to your business internally.
Will a PEO Change My Company?
Not necessarily, though sometimes businesses ask PEOs to help them create policies that could change things. They will also explain regulatory issues that could require changing how you do business, but these changes are required from things like governments, not your PEO.
If you hire a New York PEO to add workers’ compensation and other benefits that weren’t there before, then these will change your company for the better. Workers are more loyal when they have access to excellent benefits.
How Do PEOs Make Money?
The cost between different PEOs varies, but they charge a fee for their services. This fee depends on how many employees you have and which services you need the PEO to help you with. You have full flexibility on which services you want your PEO to handle.
If you already have HR or payroll staff, a PEO can take away much of the grunt work of their position. This frees your in-house staff to focus on more important parts of their job or tasks that are more specific to your company, like policy creation.
When you speak with NetPEO about partnering with a PEO for workers’ compensation services, we will ask you about your HR and payroll needs to pair you with a PEO that can grow with you. NetPEO can also help you change PEOs if you’re unhappy with your current one or have outgrown their services.
Call NetPEO for a Free Consultation
If you have a single employee, you need to get workers’ compensation coverage as soon as possible. NetPEO can help you find a New York PEO to help you with workers’ compensation services. Workers’ compensation will protect everyone in your organization if they get hurt or ill on the job.
Get this vital protection now by speaking with NetPEO. Call today for a free consultation, or email us to schedule one. NetPEO is a national leader in PEO brokerage. Put our network to work for your business. Call today.
