Hawaii Workers' Compensation Insurance

Workers' compensation is a type of insurance required by law in many states, including Hawaii, and is overseen by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. This insurance is crucial as it covers medical treatment and provides wage-loss and permanent disability compensation benefits to employees who become sick or injured on the job. In exchange for providing workers' compensation benefits, your employees cannot file a civil lawsuit against your business for work-related injuries.

While some employers self-insure, most employers purchase insurance from an authorized workers’ comp carrier. As an employer, you are responsible for paying 100% of the cost to provide Hawaii workers' compensation insurance to your employees, meaning you cannot require employees to contribute to your workers’ comp insurance premiums. When your employee becomes ill or injured from a work-related incident, it should be immediately reported to your workers’ comp carrier. Once a claim is filed and accepted, your carrier is responsible to ensure that the employee receives all necessary medical treatment, applicable wage loss benefits, and, if the employee sustains any permanent impairment, permanent disability benefits. If the employee sustains an injury that renders them unable to return to their prior job, they may also be eligible for vocational rehabilitation. Hawaii workers’ comp insurance only covers work-related illnesses and injuries. If an injury or illness is not work-related, your employee may be eligible for Temporary Disability Insurance benefits, which Hawaii law also requires you to provide.

Benefits are provided to employees who meet the necessary criteria, but it's also important to understand that claims can be denied under certain circumstances. If a claim is denied, employees have the right to appeal the decision and seek the benefit they believe they are entitled to. The role of workers' comp policies is not just to provide assistance in the time of need, but to see that a fair process is followed for both the employee and the employer.

The cost of Hawaii workers' compensation insurance varies from business to business. Your payroll impacts your costs, as do other variables such as your industry, the type of work employees perform, and your company's safety record. Here's a brief overview of these variables.

• Annual payroll amount: Your annual payroll directly affects workers' comp premiums. Workers’ compensation costs are calculated per $100 of payroll. The smaller your payroll, the smaller your premiums. The larger your payroll, the larger your premiums.
• Your company's claims history: Your workers’ compensation claims history (i.e. your “track record” for safety in the workplace) impacts the cost of your workers’ compensation coverage. Most businesses are given an experience modification number or rating based on their workers’ compensation claims history. If your business has no workers’ compensation claims and has a “clean history,” you may have an experience modification number below 1.00. A number greater than 1.00 means you have a history of claims, which may impact the cost of your workers’ compensation coverage.
• Workers' comp class codes: Let's face it. Some jobs are riskier than others, and this risk impacts the cost of your coverage. Workers' comp class codes, maintained by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), help determine the amount of risk your business has. Each employee is assigned a class code when purchasing workers' compensation insurance. This class code identifies their work type and how risky that job is, which are factored into the cost to cover your business.
• Rate of injuries:  The total workers' comp cost for insurance also depends on the injury rate for both your industry and Hawaii.

There are two types of workers’ compensation providers: Traditional workers’ compensation providers and pay-as-you-go providers. Both offer the same type of workers’ compensation coverage and benefits—the main difference is how you pay for your premiums.

Unlike traditional providers, pay-as-you-go providers can help eliminate the need for a large up-front deposit and a painful audit at the end of the year. With a pay-as-you-go plan, your business relies on your real-time payroll data to calculate workers' compensation premiums (not payroll estimates). Each time you run payroll, your workers' compensation premiums get calculated simultaneously. These are two the biggest reasons why pay-as-you-go providers are growing in popularity with businesses today—and why ProService Hawaii only offers this type of billing.

With a traditional provider, your projected annual payroll determines your workers' compensation costs. Traditional plans require businesses to put down a large upfront deposit, followed by several installments and an extensive audit at the end of the year. With this option, your business is more at risk of overpaying or underpaying for workers' compensation based on your payroll projections. Those underpaying will have a surprise bill at the end of their annual audit.

ProService is the HR partner that takes a holistic approach to workmans’ comp in Hawaii. Our workers’ comp insurance Hawaii program is unique for several key reasons:

• True risk assessment and appropriate pricing: With ProService Hawaii, you can have peace of mind that your rates are priced based on your individual experience, not the open market or industry. We do our own underwriting and control pricing based on your company's specific loss history and risk.
• No up-front premiums due to pay-as-you-go billing: Your local workers' comp insurance premiums get calculated as a percentage of payroll with ProService Hawaii. Since we'll also manage payroll for you, your billing is current and accurate. There are no up-front deposits or year-end audits with us as there are with the open market.
• No middlemen or hidden fees:  Unlike other providers, our entire workers' compensation program gets managed 100% in-house. We underwrite your business and manage your claims if your employees become injured or ill. With us, there are no hidden intermediary fees built into your premiums.
• Rate stability for the long haul:  At ProService Hawaii, we're proud of the peace of mind we give our clients through our rate stability year after year. With us, there is no regular annual renewal process where your rates automatically increase yearly. We do our best to keep your workers' compensation Hawaii rates stable and as flat as possible.
• The right experts at the right time. One of the biggest things that separates us from other providers is that we have a dedicated workers' compensation and claims management team that works for you. Our team includes experienced adjusters who understand the importance of empathy in claims management, medical case management professionals to help facilitate claimants’ treatment and recovery, and safety consultants who will work with you to minimize workplace hazards. No matter the size of your business, all our clients have reliable, personalized, knowledgeable, and practical hands-on support and direct access to our team of experts – at no additional cost. 
• Unique client partnership. ProService Hawaii is vested in the safety of your business and your employees. We provide professional claims management and have an assertive and collaborative return-to-work program, which benefits all parties involved. We also help you proactively promote and improve your safety culture to minimize future injuries and claims.