If you're a corporate officer wondering whether you're required to carry workers' compensation coverage on yourself, the honest answer is: it depends entirely on your state, and the mechanisms states use are more varied than most owners expect. Some states cap how many officers can be exempt. Some tie eligibility to a specific ownership percentage. At least one state ties the exemption's validity to whether you're personally covered by health insurance. Here's what we've found researching real statutes and state agency pages.
The Default Matters More Than the Exemption
In most states, corporate officers are treated as employees by default — meaning coverage is presumed required unless the officer takes an affirmative step to be excluded. That's the opposite of how many states treat sole proprietors, who are often excluded by default and have to opt in if they want coverage. Knowing which direction your state's default runs is the first thing to check.
Officer Caps: Some States Set a Hard Limit
A number of states cap how many officers of a single corporation can be exempt at once:
- Georgia allows up to 5 officers per corporation to waive coverage on themselves, under O.C.G.A. §34-9-2.1, filed on Form WC-10 with the insurance carrier (or the State Board of Workers' Compensation directly if uninsured).
- New York doesn't use a headcount cap so much as a structural limit: the exclusion mechanism under Workers' Compensation Law §54(6) is only available to corporations with one or two executive officers total, and those officers must collectively own 100% of the issued stock (each owning at least one share). A corporation with three or more officers, or officers who don't collectively hold all the stock, simply isn't eligible for this exclusion path.
- Florida caps exemption at 3 officers specifically in the construction industry (Fla. Stat. §440.02) — but sets no officer cap at all for non-construction businesses.
Ownership Thresholds Instead of Caps
Other states skip the headcount cap entirely and instead ask what percentage of the company an officer owns:
- California requires an officer to own at least 10% of the company's stock (or at least 1% if a qualifying relative owns 10% or more) *and* be covered by a health insurance policy, under Labor Code §3352(a)(16). Both conditions have to be true — and the waiver is filed with the insurance carrier, not a state agency.
- Texas — a non-subscriber state where workers' comp is elective for most private employers in the first place — requires at least 25% equity ownership for an officer to be excluded from a policy the business does carry, under Labor Code §406.097.
Filing Mechanisms Vary Just As Much
Where you actually file matters too. Georgia and Florida both involve a state agency (the State Board of Workers' Compensation and the Department of Financial Services, respectively) directly or as a backstop. California and Texas, by contrast, handle officer exclusions as a private matter between the officer and the insurance carrier — no state filing at all, just a signed waiver or policy endorsement.
Construction Is Frequently a Separate Track
Florida's split between construction and non-construction officer caps is one of the clearest examples of an industry carve-out, but it's a common pattern nationally: construction businesses often face tighter caps, additional ownership documentation, or different renewal requirements than the same state applies to non-construction officers.
The Takeaway
If you're a corporate officer trying to figure out where you stand, don't assume your state works like a state you've heard about from a colleague in a different industry or a different state. Check whether your state uses a cap, an ownership threshold, or a structural rule like New York's — and check whether your industry gets separate treatment. Our state-by-state pages walk through what we've verified for each state we've researched, with sources cited.
If you want help figuring out where your specific business and officer structure land, reach out — we're a licensed insurance agency and can help you sort through both the exemption question and the coverage your business still needs for its employees.