Worker’s compensation is a special type of insurance that protects employees and employers in the case of an on the job accident. Working with live wires, under houses, in attics, and on ladders is dangerous and there is always the real possibility of injury. TE Certified Technicians attend weekly safety training and have invested in the special ladders and tools to do the job right. We have also invested in worker’s compensation insurance for all our employees.
If someone is injured at your home, you could potentially be liable for their injury even if it was not really your fault. Homeowners often believe they are only liable for injuries to guests at their home but this is not true. A homeowner can be liable for a worker as well and is often taking a big risk without even knowing it when they risk when hiring a less than professional person.
Here is what generally happens. Mrs. Homeowner shops around and finds a price for replacing her ceiling fan in the living room of her Roswell home. One “electrician” offers a price that is too good to be true and 1/2 that of the competition. Mrs. Homeowner is suspicious of the cheap price but wants to save as much money as possible so she asks the cheap electrician for his insurance. Mr. Cheap says “Yes, I am fully insured” and shows his insurance to Mrs. Homeowner who doesn’t look very closely because she is not an insurance adjuster and trusts Mr. Cheap. Then the unfortunate happens… Mr. Cheap slips on the front steps carrying in his ladder. He breaks the glass front door and his back on the way down. Mr. Cheap goes to the doctor and occurs $80,000 in medical bills to get his back fixed. His personal health insurance (if he has any) doesn’t cover on the job accidents and he is broke. The “full” insurance he showed Mrs. Homeowner turns out to be a scam. He has worker’s compensation insurance but he “opted out” of coverage. That means he got the insurance but elected not to be covered to avoid paying the premiums. After all, this is how most one-man companies in Georgia operate. Mr. Cheap got to say that he had worker’s compensation insurance even though he really did not. So now Mr. Cheap is $80,000 in debt and out of work with a bad back. His personal insurance won’t cover him and he had fake worker’s compensation insurance. He then talks to a lawyer and decides that the best thing to do is sue Mrs. Homeowner. After all, it was her slippery steps that caused the accident and she is liable. Mr. Cheap knows its not Mrs. Homeowner’s fault but has no other option. Plus, he knows Mrs. Homeowner’s insurance company is good for the money. In the best-case scenario, Mrs. Homeowner’s insurance company will take care of everything and her premiums will go way up. In the worst-case scenario, the insurance company finds out that Mr. Cheap is not licensed either (he just has a business license, not an electrical license) and denies the claim. This is a common clause in most home owner’s insurance programs. This means Mrs. Homeowner is left to fight Mr. Cheap all by herself.
Don’t take this risk. When you hire a Roswell electrician insist on seeing his insurance, particularly his worker’s compensation insurance. Don’t fall for the fake worker’s compensation scam.
