Connecticut Workers' Compensation Insurance

Connecticut treats sole proprietors, partners, LLC members, and corporate officers as having discretionary coverage rather than automatic inclusion or exclusion: each must file the appropriate election form (Form 75 for a sole proprietor, Form 6B-1 for a partner, Form 6B for an LLC member or corporate officer) to affirmatively accept or reject coverage for themselves, and that election can later be reversed by filing again. Until an election is filed, these individuals are not automatically covered. Because the election is on record with the Commission, employers should keep copies of whichever forms apply to their ownership structure.

Failing to carry required coverage carries a civil penalty of the greater of $500 per employee or $5,000 (up to a $50,000 cap), plus $100 for each day noncompliance continues after it's identified, also capped at $50,000; unpaid penalties can be doubled if not paid within 90 days. A knowing and willful violation is a Class D felony, and business owners, partners, LLC principals, and corporate officers can be held personally liable. The same Class D felony exposure applies to knowingly misclassifying employees as independent contractors to reduce premiums, and the Labor Commissioner can issue a stop-work order (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-288).

Connecticut is a competitive market state rated by NCCI, so employers and our agency can compare coverage across the many private carriers that write business here. Employers who can't find a voluntary carrier are placed through Connecticut's NCCI-administered assigned risk plan, which assigns the account to a servicing carrier so coverage remains available. There is no state-run workers' comp fund in Connecticut. Small employers should be aware that owner coverage is opt-in here, unlike some neighboring states, so it's worth confirming with an agent whether the owner's election forms are on file and current.