North Dakota Workers Compensation: Employer Rules
North Dakota workers compensation comes from WSI only. Coverage before your first hire, who is exempt, injury deadlines and the employer liability gap.
North Dakota Workers Compensation
One state fund, coverage required before the first employee starts, and an employer liability gap you have to fill somewhere else
A contractor in Bismarck called me the week he hired his first two crew members. His insurance agent back in Minnesota had quoted him a workers compensation policy in about ten minutes the year before. This time the same agent told him no. Not a bad rate, not a hard market for construction risk. Just no.
North Dakota is one of the few states where workers compensation is not sold by insurance companies at all. Workforce Safety and Insurance, the state fund known as WSI, is the only source, and you apply to it directly. That one fact changes how you buy coverage, what you can put on a certificate for a general contractor, and which piece of protection you are quietly missing.
So this page sticks to North Dakota: when coverage becomes mandatory, who sits outside it, what has to be posted, how fast an injury has to be reported, and what happens to an employer who skips it. The mechanics of how the system works in general are covered in our guide to workers compensation insurance. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not an insurer or a broker, and we do not sell coverage, so nothing below is a pitch.
Which North Dakota Employers Need Coverage
Every employer with an employee working in North Dakota needs coverage, starting with the first hire. There is no headcount threshold to grow into, and no waiting period.
WSI puts it directly on its coverage requirements page: North Dakota law, with limited exceptions, requires all employers to insure all employees including full-time, part-time, seasonal and occasional workers, before those employees begin working. A summer helper counts. A weekend closer counts. Somebody hired for one job counts.
The timing matters more here than in most states. Coverage takes effect when WSI receives a completed application for insurance and Policyholder Services approves it, so an application filed on someone’s first morning leaves a real gap. North Dakota Century Code section 65-04-33 states the rule from the other direction: an employer may not employ a person in hazardous employment without first applying for coverage and telling WSI the nature of the intended employment and the estimated payroll.
Out-of-state employers get pulled in on a different test. WSI treats an employer as having significant contacts with North Dakota when an employee earns, or expects to earn, 25 percent or more of gross annual income from that employer for services rendered inside the state. If you run payroll in Minnesota or Montana and a technician spends a quarter of the year in Williston, that is a North Dakota coverage question, not a home-state one.
For everything else on the state list, from wage rules to leave, start with the North Dakota HR compliance guide and the state minimum wage rules.
Who Sits Outside Mandatory Coverage
A short list of workers falls outside mandatory coverage, and almost everyone on it can be covered voluntarily instead. WSI calls that elective coverage: it is a separate application and contract, it is not required by law, and it takes effect only once WSI approves it.
The exempt categories come from WSI’s coverage types page, which also confirms that elective coverage is available for every exempt group except federal and railroad employees.
| Worker or role | Mandatory coverage? | How North Dakota treats it |
|---|---|---|
| Owner, partner or corporate officer | No | Outside the mandate whether you run a sole proprietorship, a partnership, an LLC or a corporation. Elective coverage available on application to WSI. |
| Spouse of the owner, partner or officer | No | Treated the same as the owner. Elective coverage available. |
| Employer’s children under age 22 | No | Exempt while under 22. Coverage becomes mandatory once the child turns 22, so a family payroll line changes status on a birthday. |
| Household domestic workers | No | Outside the mandate. Elective coverage available if you want the protection. |
| Farm and ranch labor | No | Outside the mandate, along with certain custom farm operations. Elective coverage available. |
| Certain licensed real estate brokers | No | Outside the mandate as listed by WSI. Confirm the individual arrangement with WSI before assuming it applies. |
| Newspaper delivery personnel | No | Outside the mandate as a named category. |
| Employees operating a place of worship | No | Outside the mandate. Elective coverage available. |
| Federal and railroad employees | No | Covered by federal systems instead. These are the only groups WSI cannot write elective coverage for. |
| Independent contractors | Depends on the facts | Not employees if the relationship is genuinely independent. WSI applies a 20 factor common law test under Administrative Code section 92-01-02-49. |
| Casual, seasonal and occasional workers | Yes | No carve-out. WSI names seasonal and occasional workers inside the group that must be insured. |
Read the last two rows together, because that is where small employers lose money. There is no casual labor exemption to hide a short job in, and a contractor label does not settle anything by itself. WSI weighs factors such as integration into the business, whether the worker serves the public, significant investment, the right to end the relationship and the chance of profit or loss.
WSI is also blunt about paperwork: a worker who is an employee for WSI purposes cannot sign an agreement waiving rights under Title 65. If you are unsure which side a worker falls on, our guide to worker misclassification walks through the same factors from the payroll side.
One more piece of exposure runs downhill. WSI states that general contractors and subcontractors are liable for premium and any applicable penalty for an employee of a subcontractor or independent contractor that does not secure required coverage. Before you hire a sub, check them in WSI’s employer search tool. That check takes a minute and moves their uninsured problem off your balance sheet.
Where You Buy the Policy: WSI and Nowhere Else
There is one seller. Workforce Safety and Insurance writes all workers compensation coverage in North Dakota, private insurers do not sell the line here, and there is no competitive state fund to bid against them. You apply to WSI directly and you pay WSI directly.
That also means the artifacts you are used to handing over do not exist in the same form. WSI states that because it is a state agency it does not issue a written policy at all: every provision lives in North Dakota statute or administrative rules instead. It also states that it does not allow additional insureds on an account and does not waive its rights of subrogation. When a general contractor sends you an insurance requirement asking for both, that request was written for a private-market state, and the answer in North Dakota is proof of an active WSI account rather than an endorsement.
Self-insurance is the other route employers ask about, because several large states allow a qualified employer to carry its own risk. WSI’s published coverage material describes one path only, an application to WSI, and lists no self-insurance program or qualification standard. I could not confirm an official self-insurance option in North Dakota, so if you are large enough to be asking, put the question to WSI Policyholder Services directly rather than assuming the answer either way.
Premium works differently too. There is no shopping season and no quote comparison, so the levers you control are payroll classification accuracy and safety programs that earn premium discounts. If you have ever been through a private-market audit, our explainer on the workers compensation audit covers the payroll reporting habits that matter in either system.
The Employer Liability Gap
WSI coverage is not employer liability insurance, and nothing in the state fund fills that space. This is the single most common coverage mistake in North Dakota, and it does not announce itself until there is a lawsuit.
In most states a workers compensation policy carries two parts: Part One pays statutory benefits, Part Two is employer liability, which responds to injury-related suits that fall outside the benefit system. North Dakota only sells the first half. WSI states that its coverage does not include general liability coverage, and its all states coverage for employees traveling out of state on a temporary and incidental basis expressly does not provide employer liability coverage either.
The out-of-state piece is worth knowing on its own. WSI enrolls active policyholders in good standing into all states coverage automatically through an arrangement with an outside carrier, which handles North Dakota workers traveling elsewhere temporarily. That is not the same as coverage for a permanent worksite in another state, and it is not employer liability. If you open a location across a state line, that state’s own rules apply, and our state-by-state overview of workers compensation requirements is the place to start.
Posters, Notices and New Hire Paperwork
Two documents belong on your wall and one belongs in the new hire packet. WSI publishes an Important Notice to Workers in English and Spanish that tells employees what to do if they are injured, warns them to notify their employer promptly, and lists the numbers to call.
The notice with teeth is the designated medical provider notice. A designated medical provider, which WSI calls a DMP, is the medical professional or facility an employer selects to treat work-related injuries. Selecting one is optional. Making the selection stick is not: WSI requires an employer that selects a DMP to inform employees in writing, display the selection where employees can easily see it at every location including mobile worksites, and obtain a signed and dated acknowledgment from all employees.
Miss any of that and the selection is void. The poster itself states that if you do not post or share the notice, the DMP selection is not valid, which means an injured worker can treat anywhere and your program does nothing. That signed acknowledgment is the North Dakota item to add to your new hire paperwork, alongside the federal forms every state requires.
A DMP selection does not control emergency treatment, care for an injury the worker did not realize was work-related, or treatment WSI directs. A worker also has to treat with the selected provider for at least 30 days before requesting a change, and a worker who chose a provider before the injury keeps that provider.
One honest caveat on posting. WSI does not attach a statutory citation to the general Important Notice to Workers the way the state does for its wage poster, and I could not confirm one from an official source. Post it anyway. It costs nothing, and the state poster set is a short list to keep current in any case, as covered in our guide to workplace safety posters.
Injury Reporting Deadlines
Three clocks start the moment someone gets hurt, and they are not the same length. The worker tells you, the claim goes to WSI, and you file your own report, each on its own schedule.
| Who | What has to happen | Deadline | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employer | Apply to WSI for coverage | Before employees begin working; coverage starts on receipt and approval | WSI coverage requirements page |
| Employee | Tell the employer about the injury | As soon as possible. WSI may deny a claim not reported to the employer within 7 days | WSI Important Notice to Workers |
| Employee | File the claim with WSI on a First Report of Injury | Immediately after the injury, within 24 hours | WSI claims process page |
| Employer | File a First Report of Injury with WSI | Within 7 days of receiving notice of the injury from the employee | WSI claims process page |
| Employer | File an incident report when no medical care is sought | By midnight central time on the next WSI business day | WSI employer common questions |
| Employee or survivors | Outside limit to file any claim | One year after the injury; two years after a death | WSI reporting an injury page; N.D.C.C. 65-05-01 |
The employer filing deadline is the one people miss, and WSI states it plainly on its claims process page: your employer is required to file a First Report of Injury with WSI within seven days of receiving notice of an injury from an employee. WSI registers the claim on receipt and generally assigns a claim number within 24 hours.
The incident report deserves a habit of its own. When a worker gets hurt but does not seek care, filing an incident report by midnight on the next WSI business day both flags the hazard and protects you: WSI notes that filing in that window lets an employer avoid the medical assessment charge if a claim is filed within 14 days. It takes two minutes and it removes the temptation to wait and see.
What Going Without Coverage Costs
Being uninsured in North Dakota costs more than the premium you skipped, and the exposure is both civil and criminal. WSI publishes the civil side on its failure to secure coverage page, and Century Code section 65-04-33 supplies the rest.
| Consequence | What it means |
|---|---|
| $10,000 penalty plus $100 per day | WSI states a $10,000 penalty and a $100 per day penalty for each day the violation continues. |
| Back premium | You still owe premium for the entire period you were not insured. |
| The claims themselves | An employer may be liable for the actual cost and reserves of any claim attributable to it during the uninsured period. |
| Loss of protection from suit | WSI states that workers may bring suit against an uninsured employer for damages caused by an injury during the uninsured period. |
| Criminal exposure | Under N.D.C.C. 65-04-33, willfully failing to secure coverage is a class A misdemeanor, and a class C felony where the premium due exceeds $1,000. |
| Personal liability for officers | For a corporation or LLC, the president, secretary, treasurer or person with primary responsibility carries that liability personally. |
| Using an uninsured subcontractor | WSI states a $5,000 penalty and $100 per day for a general contractor or subcontractor that willfully uses an uninsured subcontractor. |
The full statutory scheme in chapter 65-04 of the Century Code goes further, adding graduated penalties tied to how many premium periods went unreported and allowing WSI to seek an injunction against continued employment of uninsured workers. It also reaches employers who make false statements to defeat a benefit claim, or who discharge or threaten an employee for seeking one.
Set against that, the premium on a small payroll is not the expensive part of this decision. The expensive part is one injury during a month you meant to get around to the application.
What to Do When Someone Gets Hurt
Work the sequence in order, and start it the same day. The first three steps are the ones that decide whether the claim goes smoothly.
Documentation is what carries this. The claim file, the restrictions, the offer of transitional duty and the dates all matter later, and reconstructing them from memory never goes well. Our overview of OSHA forms 300 and 301 covers the federal recording side that runs in parallel with a WSI claim.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need workers compensation in North Dakota with only one employee?
Yes. North Dakota sets no headcount threshold. WSI requires all employers to insure all employees including full-time, part-time, seasonal and occasional workers, before those employees begin working. Coverage takes effect when WSI receives a completed application and approves it, so the paperwork has to go in ahead of a start date. Out-of-state employers are pulled in when an employee earns or expects to earn 25 percent or more of gross annual income from that employer for services performed in the state.
Can I buy workers compensation from a private insurance company in North Dakota?
No. North Dakota is a monopolistic state fund jurisdiction and WSI is the only source. Private carriers do not write the line here and there is no competitive fund. Because WSI is a state agency it issues no written policy: the provisions live in statute and administrative rules. It also does not allow additional insureds on an account and does not waive subrogation, so a contractor asking for either is asking for something the fund does not do.
Are owners and corporate officers covered by WSI?
Not automatically. An owner, partner, corporate officer or spouse sits outside mandatory coverage, as do the employer’s children under 22. Any of them can be added through elective coverage, which is a separate application and contract approved by WSI. Elective coverage is available for every exempt category except federal and railroad employees. Watch the age line: a child of the employer stops being exempt at 22, and coverage becomes mandatory from that point.
How fast does a workplace injury have to be reported?
The worker should tell you as soon as possible, and WSI warns that a claim may be denied if the injury is not reported to the employer within seven days. The claim goes to WSI within 24 hours of the injury. You then file your own First Report of Injury within seven days of receiving notice. The outside statutory limit is one year after an injury, or two years after a death.
What happens if I do not have coverage?
WSI states a $10,000 penalty plus $100 per day for each day the violation continues, back premium for the uninsured period, and liability for the actual cost and reserves of claims attributable to that period. Workers may also sue an uninsured employer directly for injury damages. Century Code section 65-04-33 makes willful failure to secure coverage a class A misdemeanor, or a class C felony where the premium due exceeds $1,000, with named corporate officers personally liable.
Does WSI coverage include employer liability insurance?
No. WSI pays benefits under Title 65 but states that its coverage does not include general liability coverage, and its all states coverage does not provide employer liability either. Employers fill that gap with a stop gap employer liability endorsement on a commercial general liability policy from a private insurer. Ask your commercial agent for it by name, because a policy written for a private-market state will usually leave it out.
Do I have to post a workers compensation notice?
Post the WSI Important Notice to Workers, available in English and Spanish. The requirement WSI states in terms of a consequence covers the designated medical provider notice: inform employees in writing, display the selection where employees can see it at every location including mobile worksites, and collect a signed and dated acknowledgment. Without that, the provider selection is not valid. Hiring in the state generally is covered in our North Dakota hiring guide.