Section 4.14 Workers’ Compensation and Employers’ Liability Insurance

• Library: Construction Law 2016 Supp

V. (§4.14) Workers’ Compensation and Employers’ Liability Insurance

State law generally governs insurance coverage for an employer’s injured employees. There is a separate workers’ compensation and employers’ liability policy to cover these claims because commercial general liability and commercial automobile policies exclude this coverage.

While a full discussion of Missouri’s workers’ compensation laws are beyond the scope of this chapter—see I and II MISSOURI WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW (MoBar 2^nd ed. 1997 and 2002 Cum. Supp.)—contractors should recognize that workers’ compensation constitutes a substantial portion of its insurance program, both in terms of benefits and costs, and should be aware that it is typically required in construction contracts. By Missouri state law, small employers—those with fewer than five employees—are not required to purchase it. Section 287.030.1(3), RSMo 2000.

Construction over navigable waters of the United States—usually defined as waters that form a continuous highway for interstate or international commerce—deserves some discussion here because of construction projects on or about Missouri’s river system, which includes the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and the application of additional remedies afforded a worker injured on or about these waters. In performing work over navigable waters, a contractor is subject to federal, in addition to...