Workers Comp Audit

[famousperry]

Just wondering what employee categories you guys have and the % you are respectively charged.

For years, it has been just restaurant workers vs delivery drivers. The categories on the form also lists clerical/phone sales so I would think if I separate my counter help as “clerical” would that provide a cost savings as opposed to restaurant workers?

Really curious as to what % you are charged for delivery drivers and how this is determined?

Thanks!

 

[bodegahwy]

We just have two categories… restaurant worker and driver. The biggest savings for us comes from making sure that employees clock in by job. i.e. an employee who does both driving and cooking shifts clocks in for each shift according the job they will be doing which ensures that we pay the lower kitchen rate when they are in the kitchen. It used to be that an employee who was usually a driver was counted as a driver for all hours worked.

My guess is that clerical is not going to be materially different from cook.

At least in Colorado, your rates will come down based on your claims history after a few years. We are at the lowest rates available as we have had just one $600 claim in 16 years. (knock on wood!)

 

[Smokin]

The class code for restaurants is 9079 and most states include all workers in this class code. For a clerical person to be classified as 8810 (Clerical) they have to be totally separated from the restaurant and not enter the restaurant environment. If an employee enters the restaurant then they will be included in the higher rated classification. Most states include drivers in the 9079 classifications and some states will break out drivers. If you look at the classification list you should see 9079 NOC & Drivers which means all employees Not Otherwise Classified and Drivers. 9079 is the governing classification for Restaurants. Best bet is to contact your agent and tell them what the employees do and let him help with classifications. If the policy is written with 8810 (clerical) and the insurance company audits you, which they will at some point, you will have a premium adjustment to make up.

If you run an office business that just does phone sales then you can list them as 8810. If you run a lumber yard and have an office staff that never goes out into the lumber yard you can list them as 8810. Once a clerical person enters the major exposure of the business they are considered exposed and the insurance company is going to charge for that exposure.

I currently work in the Work Comp insurance field and you can trust me that if you list clerical for a restaurant a red flag is going to be raised.

 

[Joe]

We just have two categories… restaurant worker and driver. The biggest savings for us comes from making sure that employees clock in by job. i.e. an employee who does both driving and cooking shifts clocks in for each shift according the job they will be doing which ensures that we pay the lower kitchen rate when they are in the kitchen. It used to be that an employee who was usually a driver was counted as a driver for all hours worked.

My guess is that clerical is not going to be materially different from cook.

At least in Colorado, your rates will come down based on your claims history after a few years. We are at the lowest rates available as we have had just one $600 claim in 16 years. (knock on wood!)

Bodega, what do you pay a year for WC? And what is your annual labor $? Just got a renewal and given our sales are thru the roof compared to last year but this seems ridiculously high.

 

[pizzapiratespp]

Bodega, what do you pay a year for WC? And what is your annual labor $? Just got a renewal and given our sales are thru the roof compared to last year but this seems ridiculously high.

I think California just did an increase. I think the base rate is around 9% now. We get some experience modification so its bringing us down to around 6%. It still a lot though.

 

[bodegahwy]

given our sales are thru the roof compared to last year

Presumably your labor cost is also up in tandem with sales… WC is a % of labor. If your wages are up 30% your work comp will also be us 30%.

We have been in business 18 years and have had one WC for about $500 in all that time. That claim was something like 6-7 years ago so our history is pretty good. Our WC runs about 3% of wages. In store is less than that, drivers a bit more.