Workers' Compensation Insurance
The grand bargain
Workers' compensation is a no-fault statutory system: employees give up the right to sue the employer in tort, and the employer accepts liability for work-related injury or disease regardless of fault. Benefits are set by statute: medical care, disability income (temporary total, temporary partial, permanent partial, permanent total), rehabilitation, and death benefits for dependents. The exclusive remedy doctrine bars employee suits against the employer, but third-party suits and the insurer's subrogation rights survive.
Wisconsin rules
Wisconsin's Workers' Compensation Act is administered by the Department of Workforce Development, not the OCI. Employers with three or more employees must carry coverage or qualify as self-insured; an uninsured employer faces the Uninsured Employer Fund. A three-day waiting period applies, and if disability extends beyond seven days, benefits are paid retroactively to the first day.
Policy structure
Part One, Workers Compensation, pays all statutory benefits with no dollar limit. Part Two, Employer's Liability, responds to suits outside the statute with stated limits. Premium is computed on payroll per $100 of remuneration by classification, adjusted by an experience modifier and a final audit.
Worked example: Payroll in a class rated $3.00 per $100 is $250,000. Manual premium = ($250,000 / $100) x $3.00 = $7,500; an experience modifier of 0.90 yields $6,750 before audit adjustments.
Traps
Sole proprietors and partners are excluded unless they elect coverage; corporate officers are generally included. Federal employees, longshore workers, and railroad workers fall under federal acts, not state coverage.