Missouri Workers' Compensation: What you need to know

All workplaces with more than four employees are covered by the workers' compensation system. Construction firms are covered regardless of size, and employees of small firms in other industries may be included at the employer's option. The only types of workers excluded from coverage are:

• Those performing occasional labor for a private household

• Domestic servants

• Correctional facility inmates and state hospital patients

• Farm labor

• Volunteers for tax-exempt organizations

• Independent real estate salespersons whose compensation consists of commissions

• The owner and operator of a motor vehicle that is leased or contracted with a driver to a for-hire motor carrier operating within a commercial zone or operating under a certificate issued by the Missouri or U.S. Department of Transportation

A corporation may be exempt from workers' compensation requirements if there are fewer than three owners of the corporation who are also the only employees of the corporation. The corporation must file a notice of election to withdraw with the Division of Workers' Compensation Compensation (DWC).

A shareholder with at least a 40 percent interest in an S corporation may individually opt out of coverage by providing a written notice to the S corporation and its insurer (MO Rev. Stat. Sec. 287.037).

Workers' compensation is a "no-fault" system. Employees receive compensation without having to prove that the employer was at fault for the injury. They need only show that the injury arose "out of and in the course of employment." This "no-fault" aspect distinguishes workers' compensation from ordinary "tort" law, which provides for the compensation of injured people in most other ...