Ohio Workers' Comp Exemption

A sole proprietor is excluded from mandatory coverage by default, since Ohio Revised Code §4123.01 doesn't treat them as their own "employee." They may voluntarily elect coverage by filing directly with Ohio BWC. If they remain uninsured and are injured, they have no recourse through the BWC system.

Treatment depends on structure. A single-member LLC, or an LLC operating as a partnership, follows the same elective/excluded-by-default rule as sole proprietors. An LLC that elects to be taxed and act as a corporation is instead treated like a standard corporation, which means officer coverage becomes mandatory rather than elective (see corporate officers below).

Ohio runs the opposite direction from most states here. Officers of a standard multi-officer corporation are statutory employees with mandatory coverage — there is no general opt-out, confirmed directly from BWC's own U-3 application form language. Only two narrow carve-outs make officer coverage elective (excluded by default, like a sole proprietor), under Ohio Administrative Code 4123-17-07: an "Individual incorporated as a corporation" (a specific structure with exactly one owner/officer and no employees), and family farm corporation officers (a specifically defined entity where a majority of voting stock is held by relatives within the fourth degree of kinship, at least one of whom lives on or operates the farm, with no corporate stockholders). This is a structural rule, not a payroll-based threshold.

All filings go to Ohio BWC directly, since there are no private carriers in Ohio's system. A new policy or election uses Form U-3, "Application for Ohio Workers' Compensation Coverage," which carries a confirmed $120 non-refundable application fee stated directly on the form. Adding or canceling elective coverage on an existing policy uses Form U-3S, "Application for or Request to Cancel Elective Coverage," with no separate fee stated. Cancellation must be in writing, and to backdate a cancellation to the original election date, BWC must receive the request within 45 days of the first invoice reflecting elective coverage. Private-employer policies renew automatically every July 1, and public-employer policies every January 1, until affirmatively canceled — no separate annual re-election filing is required. Reportable payroll for anyone covered (elective or mandatory) is subject to a minimum and maximum set as a percentage of the statewide average weekly wage (50%/150% of SAWW); the current-year dollar figures change annually and should be pulled fresh from BWC rather than assumed.

Ohio's monopolistic state-fund structure changes the shape of the whole conversation — there's no "which carrier" question, since everything routes through BWC. The default direction flips depending on entity type: sole proprietors, partners, LLC-as-partnership members, qualifying individual incorporations, and family-farm officers are all excluded by default (opt in), while standard multi-officer corporation officers are included by default with no general opt-out — the only way out is restructuring into a qualifying individual incorporation or family-farm entity. Uncompensated volunteer nonprofit officers are explicitly not considered employees for workers' comp purposes.