Private Client
Domestic Workers' Compensation & Household EPLI.
Statutory workers' comp by state, employer's liability, and household EPLI for nannies, housekeepers, estate managers, drivers, and private staff.
When workers' comp becomes mandatory
Every state sets its own threshold for when domestic workers' compensation becomes statutory. New York, California, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Nevada have low thresholds — most full-time household staff trigger coverage from the first day of employment. Texas is the major outlier (workers' comp is technically optional for most employers, including domestic), but going non-subscribed exposes the household to direct negligence suits without statutory immunity.
Why household EPLI is the most under-bought private-client coverage
Household Employment Practices Liability covers wage-and-hour, harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, retaliation, and similar claims by current, former, and prospective staff. It is the only coverage that responds to the most common employment dispute pattern in private-staff households — and it is dramatically less expensive than the household assumes. Single-family households with two or more staff almost always justify the premium; the wage-and-hour exposure alone (overtime miscalculation, off-the-clock work, meal-and-rest-break violations) drives the case for it.
Who is the named insured — the principal, the LLC, or the family office?
Payroll structure determines named insured. The principal individually, a household management LLC, the family office entity, or a trust can each be the employer of record. Coverage needs to follow the entity actually paying payroll, with the principal's other entities added as additional insured where staff perform work across them. We coordinate with the family office accountant and trustees so the named insured matches the legal employer on every policy.
Multi-residence and travel coordination
Staff who travel with the principal across residences — primary, secondary, vacation, international — need workers' comp coverage in every state where work is performed. Carriers handle this through other-states-coverage endorsements or by writing separate policies in each state. International travel triggers separate foreign voluntary workers' comp and 24-hour accident coverage. We map every residence and travel pattern at binding.
Frequently asked questions
We use a payroll service — does that handle workers' comp?
Payroll services (HomePay, GTM, Poppins) handle tax filing and pay-stub preparation but do not place workers' comp coverage. The policy still needs to be brokered separately, and the household remains the named insured and policy owner.
Does the homeowners policy include any of this?
Most homeowners forms include a small workers' comp endorsement for occasional, non-resident staff (a part-time gardener, an occasional dog walker) — typically capped at low payroll thresholds. Full-time staff, live-in staff, and most multi-staff households need a standalone domestic workers' comp policy.
What is the household's exposure if we don't carry workers' comp?
In states where coverage is statutory, the household loses the workers' comp statutory immunity — meaning an injured staff member can sue directly in tort, without the limitations the workers' comp grand bargain imposes. State penalties for non-coverage (NY in particular) are also significant: per-day fines, stop-work orders, and personal liability for officers of any LLC or family-office entity employing staff.
Do we need EPLI even for a single nanny or housekeeper?
Increasingly yes. Wage-and-hour and harassment claims are filed against single-staff households regularly. Premium is modest, defense costs are covered separately, and the policy responds to exactly the dispute pattern most likely to surface — usually around hours, overtime, or termination.
What about 1099 contractors instead of W-2 staff?
Most state labor agencies and the IRS apply a strict employer-employee test to household staff — the household typically fails the contractor test on control, schedule, and tools. Misclassifying a W-2 employee as a 1099 contractor is one of the most common (and most expensive) household payroll mistakes. We coordinate with the family office and household accountant on classification before placing coverage.