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Employee Safety
Workers' Compensation and Liability Insurance
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If you employ people to support you or your family member, it is important to minimize potential risk to your employees as much as possible. To avoid injuries to your family member and your employees, think about possible activities or areas where injuries or accidents may occur and take extra care and precautions to make these activities or places safe.
- Review safety concerns with the person or persons you hire.
- Choose employees who will listen to you, pay careful attention to the tasks at hand, and will make efforts to respond to potential safety hazards.
- Communicate clearly the nature and type of the support you expect in the home and in the community.
- Review home and community safety procedures with your employees.
- Be sure your employees are well trained to provide supports in a safe way.
When you pay someone to provide support to you or your family member 
within your home or in the community, they are considered to be a domestic employee and must be paid in accordance with the US Department of Labor's Fair Labor Standards Act related to domestic service employees. The state of CT expenses workman’s compensation policies for all employers who self-hire their supports. The funds are not taken out of the budget. The FI will assist in obtaining a workman’s compensation policy on your behalf.
Another insurance option that may cover employees who work for you less than 26 hours a week is the standard liability section of your homeowner's or renter's insurance policy. Talk with your insurance agent to see if your policy will cover someone who gets hurt while working for you.
For the protection of your family member and your employees, you should ensure there is adequate liability coverage on any car in which your employee(s) transports your family member. This includes either your car or your employee's car. At a minimum, the policy should insure the driver for $50,000/$100,000 liability and $5,000 property damage. Please be sure to notify your insurance agent if your employee transports your family member in your car and check with your agent to ensure your policy best suits your needs.
Yes. The costs of insurances directly related to supports your family member receives through an Individual Support Agreement (ISA) may be included in his or her individual budget. This applies to any additional coverage you purchase on automobile insurance related to having employees transport your family member.