Does Utah require workers’ compensation insurance?
Yes. Utah requires workers' compensation insurance from the first employee: a business that regularly employs one or more workers under any contract of hire is an employer under Utah Code 34A-2-103, with no three- or five-employee floor. Sole proprietors, partners, LLC members, and corporate officers are not their own employees unless they elect coverage, and those with no employees can file a Workers' Compensation Coverage Waiver with the Utah Labor Commission.
Updated . Written by Andre Beukers, principal at Redoubt, a commercial insurance agency in Salt Lake City, not a government office.
How many employees before Utah requires workers' comp?
Utah treats a business as an employer, and requires it to secure workers' compensation, as soon as it regularly employs one or more workers under any contract of hire, oral or written. There is no minimum head count. Household employers below 40 hours a week and some agricultural employers, depending on payroll for non-family workers, are outside the Act and may opt in.
Source: Utah Code 34A-2-103, checked .
Which owners, officers, and family members are exempt in Utah?
A sole proprietor or partner is not an employee of the business unless the business elects to include that person and gives its carrier written notice naming who is covered. A corporation may exclude directors and officers by written notice to its carrier, or to the Labor Commission when it has no other employees, up to five people. Family members who work for pay are employees unless an agricultural or household carve-out applies.
The Labor Commission treats an LLC like a partnership, so members follow the partner rule. A corporation that contracts out its work, a construction contractor for example, cannot use the officer exclusion filing and applies for the coverage waiver instead.
Source: Utah Code 34A-2-104, checked .
What happens to a Utah employer with no workers' comp?
An uninsured Utah employer owes the Labor Commission the greater of $1,000 or three times the premium it would have paid for the uninsured period, under Utah Code 34A-2-211. Noncompliance is also a class B misdemeanor for the employer and each corporate officer, each day a separate offense (34A-2-209); the Commission can ask a court to stop the business until coverage is in place (34A-2-210); and an injured worker can sue the employer directly, without the usual defenses (34A-2-207).
Source: Utah Code 34A-2-211, checked .
Who enforces workers' comp in Utah?
The Utah Labor Commission's Industrial Accidents Division enforces the requirement. Its Compliance Section monitors every employer in the state, investigates suspected uninsured operations, issues the penalties above, and runs the online coverage verification and waiver systems. The Utah Insurance Department regulates the carriers, not the employers.
Source: Utah Labor Commission, Employers, checked .
Where do Utah employers buy coverage?
Utah is a private-market state: an employer buys from any insurer authorized to write workers' compensation in Utah, and the former quasi-public Workers' Compensation Fund became a mutual insurer under 2017 legislation. Employers no voluntary carrier will write go to the carrier the Insurance Commissioner contracts to accept every application, under Utah Code 31A-22-1001, so an eligible employer is never without a market.
Source: Utah Code 31A-22-1001, checked .
Who sets the class codes and rates in Utah?
Utah is an NCCI state. Under Utah Code 31A-19a-404 the Insurance Commissioner designates one rate service organization to run the classification, experience rating, and statistical plans every carrier follows, and the Utah Insurance Department points employers to the National Council on Compensation Insurance for that role. Class codes, experience mods, and advisory loss costs come from NCCI; each carrier files its own multiplier on top.
Source: Utah Insurance Department, Workers' Compensation, checked .
Is there an exemption or waiver form in Utah?
Yes. A sole proprietor, partner, LLC member, or corporate officer with no employees can apply to the Labor Commission for a Workers' Compensation Coverage Waiver (WCCW), online or by mail, with a $50 nonrefundable fee and documents that show an operating business: a business or DOPL license, a liability certificate, or a prior-year business tax return. The waiver runs one year and is what DOPL and hiring contractors ask for in place of a policy. A corporation whose only workers are up to five directors or officers can instead file the Corporate Exclusion form.
A waiver only says the owner is not covering themselves. The day the business hires, a policy is due, and a hiring contractor may require one regardless of the waiver.
Source: Utah Labor Commission, Workers' Compensation Coverage Waivers, checked .
Sorting out Utah workers' comp for your business
Tell Redoubt what the business does, who works in it, and what the Utah requirement in front of you says. We will say whether a policy, a waiver, or an exclusion fits.
This is general insurance information, not legal advice or a coverage determination. Statutes, agency instructions, policy forms, and the facts of the business control.
Workers’ comp requirements in every state
Each state page gives the employee threshold, the owner and officer exemptions, the penalty for going without, the rating bureau, the market, the enforcing agency, and the exemption filing, each with its statute or agency source.
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The hub, and the Utah pages that go deeper
Utah workers’ comp FAQ
Do I need workers' comp in Utah with only one employee?+
Yes. Utah Code 34A-2-103 makes anyone who regularly employs one or more workers an employer. Part-time, seasonal, and family employees count unless a household or agricultural carve-out applies, and the policy needs to be in force on the first day of employment.
Can an LLC owner in Utah skip workers' comp?+
An LLC member with no employees is not required to cover themselves; the Labor Commission treats an LLC like a partnership. If a license application or a hiring contractor asks for proof, the Workers' Compensation Coverage Waiver is the document that shows the exemption.
Does a Utah coverage waiver cover my 1099 subcontractors?+
No. The waiver covers only the person named on it. A subcontractor who meets Utah's independent contractor test needs their own policy or waiver; one who does not is your employee for workers' comp, and their pay lands on your policy and your audit.