Do I need Ohio workers’ compensation if I send my employee there? (2026)
Do I need Ohio workers’ compensation if I send an employee to Ohio? If a non-Ohio employee works in Ohio for more than 90 consecutive calendar days, yes — you must report that payroll to the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and carry Ohio workers compensation coverage, because private workers’ comp insurance is not valid in Ohio.
Your California-based company just won a project at a factory in Columbus. You plan to send a service engineer out for ten weeks to oversee installation. Payroll runs through your California entity, your private workers’ comp policy covers the engineer in California, and you assume the same policy follows the employee across state lines. In most states that assumption holds. In Ohio, it doesn’t — because Ohio is one of only four U.S. states where private workers’ compensation insurance is not permitted at all. If you miss the registration window, Ohio workers compensation becomes your personal liability the moment that engineer gets hurt on the job, and the state collects the claim costs from you directly.
We work with a lot of Korean-owned U.S. companies that send technicians, installers, and sales staff into Ohio for finite projects — EV battery plants, consumer-electronics distribution centers, automotive-parts customers. They almost always underestimate how different Ohio is. This guide walks through the rule you actually have to follow, the one piece of paper that can keep an out-of-state policy valid for short visits, and the application you file when the project runs longer than you planned.
What makes Ohio workers’ compensation different from every other state? 🏛️
Ohio is a monopolistic workers’ compensation state. That means a single state fund — the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) — is the only legal provider of workers’ comp for Ohio employment. You cannot satisfy the Ohio requirement with a private carrier like The Hartford, Travelers, or AIG, no matter how comprehensive that policy is in your home state.
There are only four monopolistic states in the country: Ohio, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. In the other 46 states plus D.C., employers can buy a private policy, and that policy extends across state lines through standard “other states” endorsements. In a monopolistic state, that endorsement is worth nothing for work performed inside the state. The underlying statute is Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4123, and coverage runs through the Ohio BWC’s state insurance fund, not through the open market.
For a Korean-American business owner or a Korean parent company with a U.S. subsidiary, the practical consequence is simple: your usual broker cannot fix this with a phone call. Ohio coverage comes from one place, on one form, and the agency that enforces it is the BWC itself.
💡 CPA Insight — In our practice
When a client’s first project takes them into one of the four monopolistic states, we treat it as a pre-mobilization checklist item, not a payroll tax issue. The Ohio BWC policy number has to exist before the first day the employee performs work in Ohio, or the first payroll report pulls the entire exposure into the state fund without the discount that comes from registering on time.
Does an out-of-state employer really need Ohio BWC coverage for a short visit? ⏱️
Not always. Ohio applies a 90-consecutive-calendar-day rule. For temporary work shorter than that, Ohio recognizes the employee’s home-state workers’ comp coverage; beyond that, Ohio workers compensation must be in place and the employee’s payroll must be reported to the BWC.
The authority for the exception is Ohio Revised Code § 4123.54(H). Division (H)(5) states that a non-resident employee who is insured under the workers’ compensation law of another state is not entitled to receive benefits under Ohio’s chapter for injuries that happen while the employee is temporarily in Ohio. The BWC operationalizes that statute through what it publishes as the 90-day rule: a non-Ohio-resident employee performing temporary work in Ohio for up to 90 consecutive calendar days is treated as covered by the home-state policy, so no Ohio BWC policy is required for that period.
The 90-day count has four edges that catch people:
- Consecutive calendar days, not working days. A weekend in Ohio counts. If your engineer flies in on a Saturday and flies out 91 days later, you’re past the threshold even if the payroll cycle only shows about 60 working days.
- Per employee, not per employer. Day 1 resets when a new worker arrives. It doesn’t accumulate at the company level across different people on the same project.
- The home-state policy must be in force. If the California carrier has dropped coverage or the policy has lapsed, the exception collapses — there is no “home state” policy to recognize.
- Foreign-country residents are excluded. An engineer flown over directly from Seoul who is not a U.S. resident is not within the 90-day recognition. For that worker, Ohio coverage is required from day one if they perform employment in Ohio.
⚠️ The mistake we see most often
A Korean parent assigns a technical director directly from the Seoul headquarters to oversee a six-month ramp-up at a U.S. customer’s Ohio plant. The U.S. subsidiary’s California workers’ comp policy would cover a U.S.-based employee for the first 90 days — but a foreign-country resident on secondment is not inside the 90-day recognition, and Ohio coverage is required on day one. We’ve seen this missed more than once, and the fix is harder after an injury than before.
What is the C-110 certificate of extraterritorial coverage, and when does it help? 📄
The BWC Form C-110 is a written agreement between an employer and an employee that chooses which state’s workers’ comp law will govern their employment when work will be performed in more than one state. It is filed with the BWC within 10 days of signing.
A C-110 is useful in the opposite direction from what most people assume. Its typical use case is when an Ohio employer sends an Ohio-based employee to work outside Ohio for an extended period, and both sides want to stay inside the Ohio BWC system instead of being pulled into the other state’s workers’ comp law. The parties sign the agreement; the Ohio policy stays in force; and in a dispute over which state’s benefits apply, the agreement provides the record of the parties’ choice.
For an out-of-state employer looking at a short Ohio project, the C-110 is not a substitute for the 90-day rule. The form cannot create Ohio jurisdiction where none exists, and it cannot be used to escape Ohio coverage once the 90 days have run. The corresponding statutory authority is in R.C. 4123.54(H)(1), which requires any such agreement to be filed with the BWC within ten days after it is executed.
How do I actually apply for Ohio workers compensation coverage? 📝
New employers establish coverage by filing the U-3 Application for Ohio Workers’ Compensation Coverage with the Ohio BWC along with a $120 non-refundable application fee. Coverage is not in effect until the BWC has received both the application and the fee.
The U-3 can be submitted online, by mail, or in person at a BWC customer service office. Online applicants can save a partially completed application for up to 15 days. The form asks for:
- Federal employer identification number (EIN) or, for a sole proprietor, Social Security number.
- Legal business name, trade name (DBA), and mailing address.
- Legal entity type (corporation, LLC, partnership, sole proprietor).
- A description of business operations, including the equipment and materials used — this is how BWC assigns the manual classification code that drives the premium rate.
- The date employment first began in Ohio, so BWC can apply premium retroactively to the correct starting date.
- Owner, officer, and corporate-structure information.
| Step | What happens | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| 1. File U-3 + $120 fee | Submit online or by mail | Before Ohio work begins (or before day 91 for a 90-day exception employer) |
| 2. BWC assigns policy number | BWC classifies the business and issues a policy number and manual codes | Coverage effective when application + fee are received |
| 3. Report payroll | True-up Ohio-sourced payroll on the BWC schedule | Semi-annually for private employers |
| 4. Pay premium | Rate = payroll × manual-code base rate × experience modifier | Per BWC installment schedule |
For a first-time Ohio employer, the BWC base rate for the assigned manual code is the national-council classification equivalent, but the dollar outcome depends on how the BWC classifies your operation. A service engineer installing industrial equipment classifies very differently from a traveling sales representative; make sure the operations description on the U-3 matches what the employee will actually do in Ohio.
What happens if my employee is injured in Ohio and I never registered? 🚨
An employer that has no Ohio BWC policy when it should have one is classified as a “non-complying employer.” The BWC still pays the injured worker’s claim — and then collects every dollar back from the employer, plus retroactive premium, administrative assessments, and interest, under Ohio Revised Code § 4123.75.
The mechanics are set out in R.C. § 4123.75. The injured worker remains eligible for Ohio benefits as if coverage had existed. The BWC’s administrator pays the award from the statutory surplus fund and then issues a certification of the amounts due against the non-complying employer, which becomes a lien against the employer’s real and personal property in Ohio. The non-complying employer also loses the statutory immunity that a complying employer has against lawsuits by injured workers — meaning the employee may sue the employer at common law in addition to receiving BWC benefits, under R.C. § 4123.77.
For a Korean parent company with modest U.S. exposure, that combination — unlimited retroactive premium, lien against U.S. assets, and loss of the tort immunity shield — is a far worse outcome than the $120 application fee plus a few hundred dollars of manual-rated premium would have been.
💡 CPA Insight — timing the registration
If a project is clearly going to exceed 90 days, we recommend filing the U-3 at least two weeks before day 91 so the policy number is in hand when the 90-day exception expires. If the project is borderline — a 10-week assignment that could slip to 13 weeks — file at the start. The $120 fee is non-refundable but the retroactive exposure for waiting is open-ended.
How does Ohio workers compensation compare with the other monopolistic states? 🗺️
Ohio, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming are the four states that bar private workers’ compensation insurance. Each has its own temporary-work threshold and registration mechanics, and the thresholds do not match.
The point to carry across all four: a nationwide private policy does not cover work physically performed in any of them. If a project will take an employee into a second monopolistic state later in the year, run the same analysis for that state separately. Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries and Wyoming’s Department of Workforce Services administer their programs under their own statutes, each with its own temporary-work and registration rules.
Key takeaways
- Ohio is monopolistic. Private workers’ comp does not cover employment performed in Ohio — coverage must come from the Ohio BWC.
- 90-day rule for U.S.-resident employees. A non-Ohio-resident employee can work in Ohio up to 90 consecutive calendar days on the home-state policy. Foreign-country residents are not inside this exception.
- The C-110 is a choice-of-law agreement, not a workaround. File within 10 days of signing. It does not extend an out-of-state carrier into Ohio.
- U-3 + $120 fee. Coverage is effective only when both the application and the fee reach the BWC.
- Non-complying is expensive. R.C. § 4123.75 shifts the full claim cost back to the employer, plus loss of tort immunity under § 4123.77.
Frequently asked questions ❓
Q1. If my employee flies in and out of Ohio on short visits, how do I count the 90 days?
The 90 is a consecutive-calendar-days window. Days away from Ohio break the count as a practical matter, but the BWC’s Multistate Jurisdiction Payroll and Coverage policy reviews the pattern of visits to decide whether the employment is truly temporary or whether the Ohio portion has become ongoing. Rotating two engineers in and out to avoid any single 90-day stretch is not a safe workaround.
Q2. Does Ohio BWC cover independent contractors (1099 workers)?
BWC coverage attaches to the employer-employee relationship. A true independent contractor runs their own business and is responsible for their own coverage. The BWC applies the right-of-control test used under R.C. § 4123.01, and classifying a de facto employee as a 1099 contractor to avoid BWC coverage is one of the audit patterns the BWC investigates most actively.
Q3. We already pay Ohio payroll tax withholding through our PEO. Doesn’t that cover BWC?
No. Ohio income tax withholding and Ohio BWC are two separate systems administered by two different agencies (the Ohio Department of Taxation and the BWC). A PEO arrangement can supply BWC coverage only if the PEO is a BWC-certified professional employer organization and the specific employee is reported on the PEO’s Ohio policy. Confirm with the PEO in writing before relying on it.
Q4. We’re a Korean company and our employee came directly from Seoul on a B-1 visa. Does the 90-day rule apply?
No. The BWC’s 90-day recognition is specifically for non-Ohio residents of other U.S. states who are insured under that state’s workers’ comp law. A foreign-country resident on a short U.S. assignment is outside the exception, and Ohio coverage is required from the first day of Ohio work if the person meets the Ohio definition of an employee.
Q5. Can I buy private “monopolistic state coverage” from my U.S. broker?
You can buy a stop-gap employers liability endorsement from a private carrier, and most national carriers offer it for the four monopolistic states. Stop-gap pays employers-liability (Part B) losses — essentially lawsuits by employees — but it does not pay the statutory workers’ comp benefits. Those still must come from the Ohio BWC. Stop-gap plus Ohio BWC is the standard combination; stop-gap alone is not.
Q6. How do I find out what manual-code rate Ohio will assign to my operation?
Ohio uses the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) classification system, with Ohio-specific modifications. The BWC publishes current base rates in its annual Employer rate tables available on the BWC’s website. For a new employer, the manual classification is assigned at the time the U-3 is processed; you can request a re-classification later if the work changes.
