Tennessee Workers’ Compensation

Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Law

In Tennessee, businesses with five or more employees need workers’ compensation insurance.

Workers’ comp helps protect your business and employees by paying for:

Medical bills resulting from work-related injuries or illnesses. In Tennessee, you must give your workers a choice of physicians in the local area.¹
Lost wages if injured employees need time off work to recover. In most cases, your employees receive workers’ comp benefits in the form of average weekly wages based on total earnings before their injury.

If your business needs workers compensation coverage, it’s up to you to find an insurance company with comprehensive coverage, like us. We can provide you with business insurance and workers’ compensation coverage.

Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Coverage

Workers’ compensation coverage helps protect your business from expensive lawsuits. It also helps pay for medical care, partial wage replacement and funeral benefits to a deceased employees’ family members.

Proof of coverage is important for all business owners. Getting this document from your insurance provider helps you prove that you have workers’ compensation. It also lets you know what types of injuries your policies cover.

Coverage requirements in Tennessee, say you need to have workers’ compensation insurance if you have five or more employees. Keep in mind that Tennessee counts family members, part-time workers and an officer of a corporation as employees.²

Businesses involved in coal mining and construction services also need workers’ compensation insurance in the state. However, construction businesses that are sole proprietors do not need this coverage.³

Our specialists can help make sure your Tennessee business has the coverage it needs. To get started, get a workers' comp quote today.

Additional Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Coverage

Workers’ compensation insurance may cover:

Accidents or injuries resulting from a work-related activity that need medical care.

Illnesses caused by harmful chemicals or allergens in the workplace.

Disabilities from severe injuries if employees can’t return to work. In some cases, they may be able to return to work, but in a different role.

Ongoing medical care for work-related injuries or illnesses. For example, if your employee hurts their leg at work and needs physical therapy.

Employee’s missed wages if they need time off to recover from a work-related injury or illness.

Funeral costs if your employee dies due to a work-related accident. This can be a big help to the deceased worker’s family.

Repetitive stress injury, like carpal tunnel. These repetitive injuries can take months or years to develop.

Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Exemption

The Tennessee Bureau of Workers’ Compensation oversees the Tennessee Workers Compensation Act.⁴This bureau makes sure businesses follow the rules in the Act.

According to Tennessee workers’ compensation law, some businesses are exempt from workers’ compensation. These exempt businesses have:

Farm laborers
Domestic employees
Local or state government employees

If you qualify for the workers’ comp exemption, you’ll need to go to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s workers’ compensation exemption registry and file the following forms:⁵

An initial workers’ compensation exemption⁶
A subsequent workers’ compensation exemption registration if you’ve already filed an initial form but want to add more businesses⁷

If an exempt business has an employee that gets injured on the job, that employee will not receive workers’ comp benefits. So there’s a chance they could sue your business to help pay their medical bills. That’s why, even if your business is exempt, you may still want to buy workers’ compensation coverage.