Condo Association Management Blog

If you have no employees than you have need for workers compensation insurance. You must make sure that all contractors ie lawn company, painters etc that work on your property have workers compensation

Most of the time the CC&R's of the association will require workers compensation even if there are no paid employees. A policy can be purchased on an "if any" basis meaning that there will be $0 payroll. This type of policy could afford coverage if there are ever any paid employees or if at such time a subcontractor (i.e. lawn mowing service, trash collector, general maintenance person, etc.) comes on the property without proper insurance. It is possible that a subcontractor could be considered an employee and if so could possibly collect under the associations workers compensation policy. The cost for this type of policy would be relatively inexpensive ranging from $250 - $750 annually.  
 
 
 
 
 

I would like to echo both of the above comments. In Michigan, you would not be required to have workman's compensation insurance unless you are the employer, but you are protecting yourself from risk in having it.  
 
As a management agent, we require all the vendors to provide proof of insurance, including workman's compensation coverage. State law in Michigan is that sole-proprietorships of partnerships where both are working cannot obtain workman's compensation coverage, so we require them to fill out a waiver that states that they are such an entity and have been contracted and are not an employee of the Association. 
 
This policy protects your association if you are provided a fraudulent certificate or the contractor cancels coverage. You may have to pay an increased premium if there is a claim, but it would be far less than if you didn't have coverage.