Who needs workers' comp in New York?
When is a small New York business required to carry workers' compensation?
The New York answer is one employee
Virtually all employers in New York State must provide workers' compensation coverage for their employees, under Sections 2 and 3 of the law. There is no four-employee or three-employee threshold of the kind many states use.
The Board puts it another way: workers' compensation insurance is mandatory for most employers of one or more employees. The moment anyone besides an owner is on the books, the answer is a policy.
What varies is not the headcount. It is who counts as an employee, which structures get an exemption, and how construction trades get treated more strictly. Those three questions are the rest of this page.
Virtually all employers in New York State must provide workers' compensation coverage for their employees, under WCL sections 2 and 3, and must post notice of coverage under Section 51. — New York State Workers' Compensation Board, retrieved 2026-09-29
1 employeeWorkers' compensation insurance is mandatory for most employers of one or more employees, according to the Workers' Compensation Board's insurance guidance. — New York State Workers' Compensation Board, retrieved 2026-09-29
Who counts as an employee under the law
An employee is a person who performs under the supervision, direction and control of an employer, on or off the premises. That definition, from the Board's own coverage page, is the one that matters.
The Board's list of what still counts is long: part-time, full-time, temporary, seasonal, casual day labor, leased, borrowed, or unpaid, including volunteers and family members. A Saturday helper and a brother on the books are both covered workers.
Most individuals providing services to a for-profit business are considered employees of that business. The exceptions are narrow, industry-specific, and listed by the Board separately, from clergy to licensed insurance agents meeting set conditions.
A spouse counts too. A spouse providing paid or unpaid services to a for-profit business is considered an employee, subject to the regular owner and officer exclusions. The family exemption many states offer does not exist here.
An employee is a person, including family members, who performs under the supervision, direction and control of an employer, on or off the premises, paid or not. — New York State Workers' Compensation Board, retrieved 2026-09-29
A spouse providing paid or unpaid services to a for-profit business is considered an employee under the Workers' Compensation Law, with the regular owner and officer exclusions applying. — New York State Workers' Compensation Board, retrieved 2026-09-29
The structures the law leaves alone
With no employees, three structures are off the hook: sole proprietorships, partnerships, and LLCs and LLPs.
Coverage is not required for a sole proprietor who has no employees, though a sole proprietor may voluntarily cover themselves under a policy.
Coverage is not required for partnerships, LLCs and LLPs that have no employees. Members and partners are not considered employees for the purpose of obtaining workers' compensation insurance, but may voluntarily cover themselves.
That voluntary half matters. Owners who stay off the policy have no coverage of their own if they are hurt, and general contractors routinely demand owners be on it. The owner-exemptions page covers that election in full.
Workers' compensation coverage is not required for a sole proprietor who does not have employees, but a sole proprietor may voluntarily cover themselves under a workers' compensation policy. — New York State Workers' Compensation Board, retrieved 2026-09-29
Coverage is not required for partnerships, LLCs and LLPs without employees, and members and partners may voluntarily cover themselves. — New York State Workers' Compensation Board, retrieved 2026-09-29
The corporate rule that catches two
Corporations are where New York's exemption gets tight. Coverage is not required only for a one or two person owned corporation whose owners own all the stock and hold all offices, each owning at least one share.
Even then, the exemption dies if the business has any other employees, day labor, leased employees, borrowed employees, part-time employees, other stockholders, unpaid volunteers including family members, or subcontractors.
Coverage is required the moment the corporation has more than two corporate officers, or more than two shareholders, or where the one or two officers do not own all the shares.
So a three-officer roofing corporation with no crew still needs a policy, while a two-officer salon corporation with nobody else does not. The count is officers and shareholders, not workers.
| Structure | Coverage required | Owner on the policy |
|---|---|---|
| Sole proprietorship | No, with no employees | No, voluntary to include |
| Partnership | No, with no employees | No, voluntary to include |
| LLC or LLP | No, with no employees | Members not employees |
| 1-2 person corporation | Only if all stock and offices held | Officers must be covered |
| Corporation with 3+ officers | Yes | Officers must be covered |
| Any structure with employees | Yes | Exemptions do not apply |
Coverage is not required for a one or two person owned corporation whose owners hold all the stock and all offices, with no other workers of any kind, including subcontractors. — New York State Workers' Compensation Board, retrieved 2026-09-29
more than 2 officersCoverage is required if the corporation has more than two officers or shareholders, or where the officers do not own all the shares. — New York State Workers' Compensation Board, retrieved 2026-09-29
The edge cases worth knowing before you assume
Households get a threshold businesses do not. A domestic worker in a private household triggers coverage only at forty or more hours per week for the same employer, and casual yard work around an owner-occupied single-family home is exempt, with two traps a landscaper should read on the landscaping page.
Farms must cover their employees, with narrow exceptions for spouse and minor children. Nonprofits, clergy and licensed real estate and insurance agents have their own narrow carve-outs the Board lists.
Out-of-state employers with workers in New York are a coverage question too, and the Board's out-of-state employer rules apply to both directions of the commute.
None of these carve-outs describe a for-profit crew business serving clients. A cleaning business with two helpers and a truck is nowhere near any of them, whatever a neighbor says. The cleaning page covers that confusion directly.
40 hoursCoverage is required for a domestic worker in a private household at forty or more hours per week for the same employer, and not required below that with no live-in workers. — New York State Workers' Compensation Board, retrieved 2026-09-29
Yard work around a one-family owner-occupied dwelling is exempt, but power-driven machinery, including a power lawnmower, or regularly scheduled work triggers coverage. — New York State Workers' Compensation Board, retrieved 2026-09-29
Where to check your own crew next
Work the list in order. First the headcount question, including everyone who works under your direction. Then the structure question, which is the corporate rule and the member exemption. Then the trade question, because construction changes the presumption.
If subcontractors or 1099 helpers do part of the work, the headcount question is not answered until the subcontractors page is read. An uninsured sub can become your payroll at audit.
When the answer is a policy, the getting-covered guide walks the purchase. When the answer is genuinely no employees, the proof guide covers the CE-200 paperwork that keeps license offices satisfied.
800,000 employersThe Workers' Compensation Board monitors the insurance coverage status of every New York State employer subject to the law, more than 800,000 of them. — New York State Workers' Compensation Board, retrieved 2026-09-29
Questions
Is there a minimum number of employees for workers' comp in New York?
One. Virtually all New York employers must carry coverage, and the Board describes the insurance as mandatory for most employers of one or more employees. Part-time, seasonal and unpaid workers all count toward that one.
Do family members working in the business need coverage?
Yes. Family members who perform services under the business's supervision, direction and control are employees, including unpaid ones, and a spouse providing paid or unpaid services is considered an employee under the law.
Does an LLC with no employees need a New York workers' comp policy?
No. Coverage is not required for an LLC that has no employees, and members are not considered employees for obtaining coverage. Members may voluntarily include themselves, and many general contractors require it in practice.
When does a corporation with only owners need coverage?
Only a one or two person owned corporation, with those owners holding all the stock and all offices, is exempt, and only if there are no other workers of any kind, including part-time, leased, borrowed, unpaid, or subcontractors. Three or more officers or shareholders, and a policy is required.
Are unpaid interns or volunteers exempt in New York?
Not for a for-profit business. The Board counts unpaid workers, including volunteers, as employees, and a for-profit business cannot have volunteers under the law. Nonprofit entities have their own separate carve-outs.