2020 Analysis of Workers' Compensation Laws - 18

Chart II-Coverage of Laws, cont.
Employment1 Covered

Exceptions2, 3

Special Coverage
Provisions

Compulsory as to all public
employment, except sheriffs'
deputies and officials.
Subdivisions may cover elected
and appointed officials. Coverage
for volunteer firefighters is
elective.

Crews of crop-spraying aircraft while acting as
contractors or employees of persons principally
engaged in agriculture; real estate brokers and
salespersons; landsmen; domestic workers; and
certain farm workers.

Excludes officers of nonprofit
charitable, fraternal, cultural,
or religious corporations or
associations. Musicians pursuant
to a service contract are exempt
from coverage.

Compulsory as to all employment,
including corporate executive officers.
Corporate officers who are 20%
shareholders may waive. Elective as
to self-employed persons or partners
or members of LLCs. Effective 1/1/13,
presumption of employment for all
workers.

Compulsory as to state, counties,
cities, towns, and quasi-municipal
corporations. Includes volunteer
firefighters, police, emergency
medical services personnel,
and certified search and rescue
workers. Effective 1/1/13,
presumption of employment for
all workers.

Domestic workers; seasonal or casual
agricultural or aquacultural employees;11
maritime employees in interstate or foreign
commerce within the exclusive jurisdiction
of admiralty law or the laws of the U.S.;
commission-paid real estate salespersons
or brokers who are independent contractors;
employees harvesting 150 cords of wood from
farm woodlot; independent contractors; voluntary
participants in employer-sponsored athletic
events; and elected or appointed executive
officers of a charitable, religious, educational, or
other nonprofit corporation.

Voluntary as to excepted
employment and persons
engaged in wood harvesting,
if contracted directly with
landowner and meeting
additional requirements. Parent,
spouse, domestic partner (as
defined in Title 24 §2319-A
Subsection 1), or child of sole
proprietor; partner or corporate
officer who is a 20% shareholder;
member of LLC or shareholders
of a professional corporation may
waive coverage.

Maryland

Compulsory as to all employment,
including corporate officers. Elective
as to partners or sole proprietors.
Corporate officers with 75% of income
from farm operations and who own at
least 20% of the outstanding capital
stock of the corporation; officers
owning 20% of the outstanding
capital stock of a professional services
corporation; and officers of a statutory
close corporation and of a limited
liability company with 20% profit
interest may elect to be exempt.

Compulsory as to state, counties,
cities, and their agencies; paid
firefighters in certain counties;
prisoners working for county
roads boards; forest wardens;
jockeys;12 crewpersons and
firefighters for Department
of Forest and Parks; jurors for
nonfederal courts; state militia
during both training and active
duty.

Domestic workers who earn less than $1,000
in cash in a calendar quarter from a household;
certain maintenance workers not employed for
30 consecutive days around a private home;
seasonal, migratory farm laborers within 25
miles of residence who work no more than
13 weeks a year and who do not operate
machinery or equipment; farmers who employ
fewer than three or have a full-time payroll
less than $15,000; commission-paid real estate
salespersons or brokers; and independent
contractors and owners/operators of Class F
tractors who are under agreement with a motor
carrier.

Voluntary as to excepted
employment. Officers of close
corporation may reject. Small
employers of farm laborers may
be insured under a group policy.
Certain volunteer firefighters and
paramedics may be covered. A
principal contractor is not liable
to pay workers' compensation
to an individual who is a sole
proprietor subcontractor if
the individual does not notify
the principal contractor of the
individual's status as a covered
employee and does not elect to
be a covered employee. Labor
and Employment Article, §9-2059-236 and §9-508, Annotated
Code of Maryland.

Massachusetts

Compulsory as to all employment.

Compulsory as to state.
Elective as to counties, cities,
and districts having power
of taxation. Municipalities
require indemnifying police and
firefighters. Cities and towns may
cover certain elected or appointed
officials.

Masters and seamen in interstate commerce
covered by federal law; athletes whose contracts
provide wages during job disability; commissionpaid salespersons; and independent taxi drivers.

Electives for domestic servants
working less than 16 hours per
week.

Michigan

Compulsory as to all employers of
three or more; fewer than three if one
is employed for 35 hours per week for
13 weeks by same employer. Elective
as to corporate officers who are 10%
shareholders (up to 10 shareholders)
and owners of LLCs with 10 or fewer
members.

Compulsory as to all public
employment. Trainees in federally
funded training programs deemed
employees of sponsoring public
entity.

Professional athletes whose AWW is more
than 200% of the statewide AWW; domestic
servants who work less than 35 hours a week
for 13 weeks a year; and licensed real estate
salespersons.

Voluntary as to employers of
two or fewer and as to domestic
servants. Family members may be
excluded by endorsement.

Minnesota

Compulsory as to most employment.
Elective as to the following (and
their families), if there are not other
employees: partners, some officers of
some closely held corporations, and
some managers of some LLCs.

Compulsory as to all public
employment. Service
subdivision concerning elective
and appointed officials of
government.

Household workers who earn less than $1,000
per three months from one private household;
family farms with prior annual farm labor payroll
under $8,000;13 railroad workers covered by
federal law; nonprofit corporations with annual
payroll less than $1,000; and certain casual labor
not in the course of employer business.14

Specifically covers voluntary
first responders, members of
law enforcement assistance
organizations, and voluntary civil
air patrol members rendering
service under supervision and
authority of the state or its
political subdivisions.

Jurisdiction

Private

Public

Louisiana

Compulsory as to all employment,
including corporate executives.
Corporate officers who are 10%
shareholders, partners, and sole
proprietors may reject.

Maine10

18 | 2020 Analysis of Workers' Compensation Laws

2020 Analysis of Workers' Compensation Laws

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2020 Analysis of Workers' Compensation Laws