Employers Workers' Comp 101 Seminar

Reagan and Eric from Employers conducted a Workers' Comp 101 training for First Connect agents, covering Employers' background as a monoline workers' compensation carrier operating nationally except for four monopolistic states (Washington, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Ohio). They explained their target industries, including restaurant and hospitality, artists and contractors, and auto parts stores, with a specific requirement that artisan contractors must have at least $50,000 in payroll for consideration. The training detailed the process of excluding and including officers in policies, emphasizing the importance of correctly completing officer rejection forms at the time of binding, as corrections cannot be made retroactively to the inception date.

 

Eric explained the requirements for including or excluding officers in binding screens, emphasizing the importance of correctly listing officer names, titles, and ownership percentages to avoid audit variances and potential premium increases. He highlighted that if officers are excluded, they must be properly documented at the time of binding to comply with state requirements. Eric also introduced Precise Pay, a pay-as-you-go option available for policies of $1,500 or greater, which allows insureds to make smaller, more frequent payments based on actual payroll rather than estimates, helping to eliminate audit variances, especially for seasonal operations.

 

Reagan provided a comprehensive overview of eAccess portal functionalities and key guidelines for First Connect agents. She explained submission timelines for new business (120 days before effective date) and renewals (90 days in advance), as well as requirements for using prior effective dates and BORs. Reagan also covered important details about policy changes, including the need for endorsements after binding and the inability to offer what-if quotes. She emphasized the importance of identifying as First Connect when contacting customer service and using Noe Gonzalez's license for state appointment requirements.

 

Reagan explained the process of online endorsements, highlighting three self-service options that can be processed instantly without underwriting approval: changing mailing addresses, updating payroll by location, and adding/changing locations. She demonstrated how to access these features in eAccess, though the demonstration was limited due to technical issues with the testing environment. Reagan also introduced the My Quotes tab for managing active quotes and renewals, and mentioned the appetite checker tool as a resource for understanding underwriting guidelines. The meeting was transitioning to Eric for additional tips and tricks on workers' compensation quoting when Reagan's time ran out.

 

Eric demonstrated three valuable resources for workers' compensation insurance producers. He explained the E-modification factor, which indicates how well business owners maintain workplace safety, and showed how to access this information through NCCI and state insurance department websites. The demonstration covered how to use NCCI's Order Mods and Worksheets section to view business information, including governing class codes and historical data. Eric also introduced a public database of NCCI states that provides real-time verification of workers' compensation coverage for specific businesses. Reagan and Eric will provide a one-page cheat sheet with instructions on how to access these resources.