Covered Employers

Employers who hire employees in New York State are required to provide statutory disability benefits insurance for their employees unless they are considered exempt (as defined by New York State Law). An employer who provides disability benefits insurance for their employees is known as a “Covered Employer.”

To obtain additional information on a Covered Employer, please go to the NYS Workers’ Compensation Board website and click on Disability Benefits.

Who is not covered?

  • Sole proprietors, partners, and members of limited liability companies (however their employees must be covered)
  • A minor child of an employer
  • Government, railroad, maritime or farm workers
  • Ministers, priests, rabbis, members of religious orders, sextons, Christian Science readers
  • Corporate officers and persons engaged in a professional or teaching capacity in or for a religious, charitable or educational institution of a “non-profit” character, and persons receiving rehabilitation services in a sheltered workshop operated by such institutions under a certificate issued by the U.S. Department of Labor
  • Persons receiving aid from a religious or charitable institution, who perform work in return for such aid
  • One or two corporate officers who either singly or jointly own all the stock and hold all of the offices of a corporation that employs no other employees
  • Golf caddies
  • Daytime students in elementary or secondary school who work part-time during the school year or their regular vacation period
  • Employees who change jobs in an exempt employment or with a “non-covered” employer, and work in such employment for more than four weeks, lose protection until they work four consecutive weeks for a “covered” employer

Who is not covered but may apply for Voluntary Coverage?

  • Corporations with one or two corporate officers and no other employees
  • Domestic/personal employees who work less than 40 hours per week
  • Farm workers and farm laborers

Who pays for disability benefits insurance?

Premiums may be paid entirely by the employer, or paid jointly by the employer and the employee. New York State Law allows (but does not require) employers to deduct ½ of one percent of an employee’s wage up to a maximum of $.60 per week to offset the cost of providing benefits. For more information about employee contributions, contact your accountant or financial advisor.

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