New Hampshire Workers Compensation Employer Rules
New Hampshire requires workers compensation from the first employee. Coverage rules, exclusions, where to buy, posting, injury deadlines, and penalties.
New Hampshire Workers Compensation
Coverage from the first employee, an officer exclusion that only counts once it is filed, a 5 day injury report, and up to $100 per employee per day for going without
A contractor near Manchester called me about a hire that had already gone wrong. He had taken on one part time helper for the summer. Somebody had told him the state does not care until you are at three or four people, and he had run six weeks with no policy. He wanted to know how much trouble he was in.
Quite a lot, as it turned out. New Hampshire sets no headcount threshold at all. The Department of Labor states the timing on its workers compensation employer page: the primary responsibility rests on employers, who must apply for and obtain coverage prior to the hiring of any employee. Not after the first payroll. Before the hire.
This page covers the New Hampshire rules only: who has to be covered, who is genuinely outside the requirement, where the policy comes from, what you must post, what the clocks are when someone gets hurt, what going without coverage costs, and which extra duties arrive as you grow. If you have one employee, or are about to hire one, the coverage duty already applies to you.
Who Needs Coverage in New Hampshire
Every private employer with one or more employees needs a policy. RSA 281-A:5, part of the state’s workers compensation chapter, requires a covered employer to secure compensation by insuring with a company licensed to write workers compensation in the state and filing evidence of that coverage with the commissioner. Small employers get no exemption band, and the obligation has no waiting period.
RSA 281-A:2, VIII defines a private employer as a person, partnership, association or corporation who employs one or more persons, in one or more trades or locations. The definition also counts people whose contract of employment was made outside the state, as long as they actually work in New Hampshire.
Out of state employers do not escape the rule either. RSA 281-A:5-f extends the chapter to nonresident employees and employers doing business here, so a company sending a crew across the border to do a job is inside the rule for those hours.
The one structural break in the counting rule is for owners. Executive officers of a corporation and members or managers of an LLC are not counted as employees when the state decides whether you are a covered employer, except for any beyond three. A two owner LLC with no staff is therefore not required to buy a policy. Hire one person, or grow to four owners, and the requirement switches on.
Who Is Excluded, and Who Only Looks Excluded
New Hampshire runs one of the narrowest exemption lists in the country. There is no agricultural carve out, no casual labor category and no family exception in RSA 281-A. The genuine exclusions come down to business owners covering themselves, a filed officer exclusion, railroad workers under federal law, and workers who meet every part of the state contractor test.
| Who | New Hampshire treatment | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sole proprietor with no employees | Not required to carry coverage on themselves; may elect it by buying a policy | RSA 281-A:3; NH Department of Labor FAQ |
| Partners in a partnership | Same as a sole proprietor: not required on themselves, may elect | RSA 281-A:3; NH Department of Labor FAQ |
| Corporate officers and LLC members | Not counted as employees for employer status except any beyond 3; up to 3 may be excluded from a live policy, and only by a filing | RSA 281-A:2, VIII(a); RSA 281-A:18-a |
| Family members on the payroll | Covered. The Department answers this in one word: yes | NH Department of Labor FAQ |
| Part time employees | Covered. Hours worked are irrelevant | NH Department of Labor FAQ; RSA 281-A:2, VIII(a) |
| Domestic workers in a private residence | Covered, and the coverage rides on homeowner, tenant or comprehensive personal liability insurance unless a separate policy exists | RSA 281-A:6; RSA 281-A:2, V-a |
| Farm and agricultural labor | No exemption. The chapter contains no farm labor carve out | RSA 281-A, full chapter text |
| Casual or short term labor | No exemption. The chapter has no casual labor category | RSA 281-A, full chapter text |
| Independent contractors | Presumed to be employees unless all seven statutory criteria are met | RSA 281-A:2, VI(b)(1)(A) through (G) |
| Direct sellers, licensed real estate brokers and agents, real estate appraisers | Outside the employee presumption where pay tracks output rather than hours | RSA 281-A:2, VI(b)(2) through (4) |
| Railroad employees in interstate commerce | Excluded; their rights run under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act | RSA 281-A:2, VI(a) |
| Volunteers | Coverage is not required, with exceptions including call firefighters and other public safety roles | NH Insurance Department FAQ; RSA 281-A:2, VII(a)(2) |
| Employees of an uninsured subcontractor | The contractor carries the liability for their compensation | RSA 281-A:18 |
The officer exclusion is where small New Hampshire companies get caught out. RSA 281-A:18-a lets a corporation or LLC exclude up to three executive officers or members from compulsory coverage, and paragraph III says no exclusion is valid unless it is properly filed with the commissioner.
The Insurance Department’s workers compensation FAQ states the practical version bluntly: you are not automatically excluded, and you have to ask your insurance company to submit the paperwork to the Department of Labor.
Contractor status is the other place employers guess wrong. RSA 281-A:2, VI(b)(1) presumes anyone who performs services for pay is an employee, and overturning that presumption takes all seven criteria: a federal employer identification number (EIN) or social security number; control over the means and manner of the work; control over the timing; hiring and paying any assistants; holding out as a business with continuing liabilities; contractual responsibility for completing the work; and no requirement to work exclusively for you.
A signed contractor agreement reciting all seven is prima facie evidence, meaning it counts as proof only until the real working arrangement shows otherwise. It is not a substitute for the facts.
If the commissioner finds the relationship was misrepresented, RSA 281-A:2, VI(d) allows a civil penalty of up to $2,500 and, in addition, $100 per employee for each day of noncompliance, assessed from the first day of the infraction for no more than one year. Unlike the uninsured penalty, which says up to $100, this daily figure is written as $100. Anyone who controls pay decisions and knowingly violates the rule is personally liable.
Where the Policy Comes From
You buy the policy from a private insurance carrier licensed to write workers compensation in New Hampshire. The state does not operate a monopolistic fund (a state-run insurer that employers are required to buy from), so there is no state office selling coverage and no Employer’s Liability gap to plug with a separate policy.
RSA 281-A:5 gives a private employer three routes and no others: a licensed carrier, personal lines coverage for domestic workers, or proof of financial ability to pay claims directly. In practice, almost every small employer takes the first one.
| Route | Who it fits | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Licensed private carrier, voluntary market | Almost every small employer | A policy from a company licensed to write workers compensation in New Hampshire, with evidence of coverage filed with the commissioner |
| Assigned risk pool | Employers the voluntary market declines | The Insurance Department notes that pricing choices are limited in this market |
| Individual self insurance | Large employers only | Proof of financial ability, actuarial loss reserves, specific excess insurance, a guarantee of the full retained risk (usually a surety bond), plus annual financial and actuarial reports |
| Group self insurance | Homogeneous groups or associations of employers | The same financial tests, plus membership that is homogeneous as defined in administrative rule Lab 404.01 |
| Homeowner or tenant policy | Households that employ domestic workers | Nothing to buy separately. The workers compensation for domestics comes with the personal lines policy unless a separate policy is in force |
| State fund | Does not exist in New Hampshire | RSA 281-A:5 lists licensed carriers, domestics coverage and self insurance only |
Self insurance under RSA 281-A:5-a is a real option in the statute and a closed door in practice for a small business. The employer must establish actuarial loss reserves, maintain specific excess insurance and open its administrator contracts to the commissioner.
The Department of Labor’s self-insurance page adds that the full sum of the retained risk, the claims cost the employer carries itself, has to be guaranteed, with excess coverage attaching so that no gap opens between the two. RSA 281-A:5-b then requires annual financial and actuarial reports. That is a program for a company with a large balance sheet, not for a small shop.
Two administrative details are worth knowing before renewal season. The first is classification. The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) is the Department of Labor’s designated agent for policy data, and disputes over your classification or experience modification (the factor that adjusts your premium for your claims history) go to NCCI first, then to the New Hampshire Workers’ Compensation Classification and Rating Appeals Board, then to the insurance commissioner.
The second is the lapse warning. If the Department has not received notice of new or reinstated coverage, it sends a questionnaire five days before a policy termination date. That letter is your early warning that the state believes you are about to go bare, meaning uninsured. If a workers compensation audit lands after that, the payroll records behind your class codes are what settle it.
Posting and What a New Hire Gets
New Hampshire requires a posted notice, not a handout. RSA 281-A:4 requires every employer subject to the chapter, or electing into it, to keep a notice posted in a conspicuous place on the premises saying that the employer is working under the provisions of RSA 281-A. An employer who fails to post it, or to keep it posted, is guilty of a violation for each day of that failure.
Households are the one carve out: the posting section does not apply to employers who are subject to the chapter only because they employ domestic workers.
The Department of Labor publishes its mandatory posters for free download, and the workers compensation notice is not among them, because the notice names your coverage rather than stating a state rule. In practice it comes from the carrier that writes the policy, so ask the agent for it when the policy binds (takes effect) rather than hunting for a state PDF.
No New Hampshire statute requires a workers compensation pamphlet to be handed to a new hire. The Department does publish a Workers’ Guide to Workers’ Compensation brochure and a one page fact sheet. Putting both in the onboarding packet is cheap insurance against the argument that nobody told an injured employee how to report.
What the state does require at hire is separate: RSA 275:49 says every employer shall notify employees at the time of hiring of the rate of pay and of the day and place of payment. Keeping those acknowledgments in one place instead of a filing cabinet is exactly the kind of administrative drag FirstHR was built to absorb.
Injury Reporting Deadlines
Your clock is 5 days and it starts when you learn of the injury. RSA 281-A:53 requires every employer or self insurer to record and report any injury sustained by an employee in the course of employment to the commissioner as soon as possible, and no later than 5 days after the employer learns of the occurrence. The employee clock is far longer, which is exactly why employers misjudge it.
| Clock | Deadline | Who it binds | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notice of injury to the employer | 2 years from the date of injury, running instead from the date the worker knew or should have known where an illness develops gradually | Employee | RSA 281-A:19 |
| Employer’s First Report of Occupational Injury or Disease | As soon as possible, no later than 5 days after the employer learns of the injury | Employer | RSA 281-A:53, I |
| Copy of the report to the carrier | Filed with the first report. The Department does not pass your filing to your insurer | Employer | RSA 281-A:53, I; NH DOL employer information page |
| Supplemental report where disability runs past 3 days | As soon as possible after the waiting period, no later than 7 days after the accidental injury | Employer | RSA 281-A:53, I |
| Waiting period before wage benefits | No compensation for the first 3 days of disability unless the disability continues 14 days or longer | Carrier | RSA 281-A:22 |
| Return to temporary alternative work | Come back within 5 days of the injury and compensation is paid from the first date of injury | Employer and carrier | RSA 281-A:23-b |
| Claim for disability, medical or death benefits | 3 years from the date of injury | Employee | RSA 281-A:21-a |
| Petition for a hearing after a denial | 18 months after notice that the carrier denied the claim | Employee | RSA 281-A:42-d |
| Right to reinstatement in the former job | Ends 18 months from the date of injury | Employer | RSA 281-A:25-a, II(a)(3) |
Read the first row again, because it is the one that surprises people. An employee has two years to give notice of injury under RSA 281-A:19, and for an occupational illness the period does not even begin until the worker knows, or by reasonable diligence should know, that the condition is work related.
A report landing eighteen months after a job ended is therefore not automatically stale in New Hampshire. The employer duty, by contrast, is spelled out in full in RSA 281-A:53.
Penalties for Going Without Coverage
The headline number is small and the multiplier is not. RSA 281-A:7 allows a civil penalty of up to $2,500 for failing to secure payment of compensation, plus up to $100 per employee for each day of noncompliance, assessed from the first day of the infraction for up to one year. Six uninsured employees for ninety days reaches $54,000 in daily penalties before the flat penalty is added.
| Failure | Exposure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| No coverage in place | Civil penalty up to $2,500, plus up to $100 per employee for each day of noncompliance, assessed from the first day for up to one year | RSA 281-A:7, I(a)(1) |
| Knowingly failing to secure coverage | Personal liability for the penalties for any person with control over decisions to disburse funds and salaries | RSA 281-A:7, I(a)(1) |
| Purposeful failure to secure coverage | Class B felony | RSA 281-A:7, VI |
| Continuing to operate uninsured | The commissioner may petition the superior court to restrain and prohibit the business from operating in the state, with a temporary injunction available ex parte | RSA 281-A:7, II |
| An injury while uninsured | The employee may take an award that becomes a lien on the employer’s property for 8 years and can be levied by the sheriff, or sue at law free of the immunities the statute normally gives employers | RSA 281-A:7, III and IV |
| No first report of injury filed | Civil penalty up to $2,500 | RSA 281-A:53, I |
| Discouraging an employee from reporting an injury | Civil penalty up to $2,500 per violation | RSA 281-A:53, I |
| Misrepresenting an employee as a contractor | Civil penalty up to $2,500, plus $100 per employee for each day of noncompliance, assessed from the first day for up to one year, with personal liability for anyone controlling pay decisions who knowingly violates it | RSA 281-A:2, VI(d) |
| No posted RSA 281-A notice | Guilty of a violation for each day the notice is missing | RSA 281-A:4 |
| No safety program or joint loss committee at 15 employees | Administrative penalty up to $250 a day, each violation counted separately | RSA 281-A:64, VIII |
The exposure that ends businesses is not the fine. Workers compensation normally buys an employer immunity from being sued over a workplace injury, and RSA 281-A:7, IV strips that immunity from an employer that failed to comply, letting the injured worker pursue any available remedy at law.
The personal liability for whoever controlled the money, and the class B felony for a purposeful failure, make the picture worse. Put them next to the lawsuit risk, and the calculation that skipping a premium is cheaper stops working. Text of the penalty section is at RSA 281-A:7.
One more trigger catches contractors specifically. Under RSA 281-A:7, V, any state agency or political subdivision, such as a city or town, must require satisfactory proof of coverage before awarding a contract involving labor. If you bid public work in New Hampshire, a lapse can cost you the contract as well as a penalty.
What to Do When Someone Gets Hurt
Work the sequence in order and the 5 day clock takes care of itself. The steps below are the New Hampshire specific version of the process, so pair them with whatever incident reporting you already run.
Small claims deserve one note. The Department’s administrative rules define first aid treatment as a one time treatment with a bill under $2,000 (Lab 502.10). Under Lab 504.02, an employer that pays such a bill within 30 days, without disputing it, may skip sending the first report to its carrier. The first report still goes to the Department.
The first aid route suits a cut that needs three stitches. It does not suit anything that needs further treatment or costs time away from work, because the same rule then requires notice to the carrier.
The Other Headcounts: 5 and 15
Coverage starts at one employee, but two more thresholds sit inside the same statute and both catch growing companies. At 5 employees you owe temporary alternative work and reinstatement rights. At 15 you owe a written safety program and a joint loss management committee.
| Headcount | What switches on | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 employee | Duty to secure workers compensation coverage before the hire, and to post the RSA 281-A notice | RSA 281-A:5; RSA 281-A:4 |
| 5 employees | Duty to develop temporary alternative work opportunities for injured employees | RSA 281-A:23-b |
| 5 employees | Duty to reinstate an injured employee to the former position on request, for up to 18 months from the injury | RSA 281-A:25-a |
| 15 employees | A current written safety program, prepared with the commissioner’s assistance, filed with the commissioner and reviewed at least every 2 years | RSA 281-A:64, II |
| 15 employees | A joint loss management committee with equal numbers of employer and employee representatives, meeting regularly | RSA 281-A:64, III |
| 15 employees | Placement on the list for early and periodic workplace inspections unless the employer is in the safety incentive program | RSA 281-A:64, IV |
The safety obligations under RSA 281-A:64 are state workers compensation law and sit alongside, not inside, the federal picture. General duty and recordkeeping obligations come from a separate body of rules. What RSA 281-A adds in New Hampshire is the filing.
The written safety program has to leave the building: it goes to the commissioner and gets refreshed on a two year cycle, with an administrative penalty of up to $250 a day for an employer out of compliance.
The Department of Labor runs that filing through a Safety Summary Form, which summarizes the written program and, in its own words, should not be filed unless a written program is in place. The order is simple: write the program first, then file the form.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a New Hampshire business with one part time employee need workers compensation?
Yes. RSA 281-A:5 requires every employer with employees to secure payment of compensation, and the Department of Labor confirms that full or part time makes no difference, family members are included, and nonprofit status is irrelevant. The Department also places the purchase before the hiring of any employee rather than after the first payroll.
Can I leave myself off my own workers compensation policy?
Usually, but the route depends on your entity. Sole proprietors and partners are not required to cover themselves and may elect coverage under RSA 281-A:3. Corporate officers and LLC members are excluded from the employee count except for any beyond three, and once a policy exists up to three of them may be excluded under RSA 281-A:18-a by a filing made through the carrier.
Where do I buy workers compensation insurance in New Hampshire?
From a private carrier licensed to write workers compensation in the state. New Hampshire has no monopolistic state fund. Employers the voluntary market declines go to the assigned risk pool, where the Insurance Department notes pricing choices are limited, and self insurance under RSA 281-A:5-a demands actuarial reserves, excess insurance and a guarantee of the full retained risk.
How fast do I have to report a workplace injury?
Within 5 days of learning about it, under RSA 281-A:53, with a supplemental report no later than 7 days after the injury if disability extends beyond 3 days. Send your carrier its own copy, because the Department does not forward what you file. Missing the first report can cost up to $2,500.
What happens to a New Hampshire employer with no coverage?
Up to $2,500 plus up to $100 per employee for each day of noncompliance, running from the first day for up to a year, with personal liability for anyone who knowingly failed to secure coverage. The commissioner can also ask the superior court to stop the business from operating, a purposeful failure is a class B felony, and the injured worker can sue outside the compensation system.
Are farm workers, casual labor or family members exempt?
No. RSA 281-A carries no agricultural carve out, no casual labor category and no family exception. Domestic workers are covered too, though the coverage usually arrives through a homeowner or tenant policy under RSA 281-A:6 rather than a commercial one.