Connecticut Workers' Comp Rate Calculator

Workers' comp in Connecticut: what's different

Connecticut has no state fund. Employers buy a policy from a licensed insurer, qualify to self-insure, or join a group self-insurance organization. Two agencies split the work. The Workers' Compensation Commission (WCC) resolves claim disputes and keeps the coverage records, but it does not sell insurance or oversee insurers. The Connecticut Insurance Department (CID) reviews and approves the loss costs and assigned risk rates that NCCI files each year.

Who must carry coverage

The trigger is a single paid employee. Chapter 568 defines an employer as any person, corporation, LLC, partnership or other entity "using the services of one or more employees for pay." The WCC adds that the system covers part-time workers and minors, whatever the size of the business.

The exceptions are short:

• Household help. Someone working in or around a private home is excluded unless the owner regularly employs them more than 26 hours a week.
• Family living in your home. Excluded, unless their pay is included in the payroll your premium is based on. Then they are covered.
• Casual work done outside the purpose of your trade or business is excluded.
• Corporate officers and LLC members may opt out by filing WCC Form 6B. For corporate officers, the statute requires written notice to the employer and the administrative law judge. The WCC directs the form to its Office of the Chairperson.
• Partners are treated as covered and must be insured, unless every partner signs an exclusion filed with the chairperson (Form 6B-1).
• Sole proprietors are outside the act unless they elect in by written notice to the chairperson (Form 75). Once they do, they must buy a policy.
• Out-of-state employers must cover employees working in Connecticut and follow state law, according to the WCC. The statute itself leaves out a nonresident hurt in Connecticut unless that worker spends at least half of their work time at the employer's Connecticut location or works under a contract to be performed mainly in the state.

Construction gets extra checks. Before issuing a building permit, a local building official must get proof of coverage for the employees working on the site, normally a certificate of insurance from the general contractor or principal employer. A principal employer that hires a contractor for work that is part of its own business, on premises it controls, owes compensation to that contractor's workers as if it had hired them directly.

Where coverage comes from

Under C.G.S. 31-284(b), an employer can prove to the WCC chairperson that it is solvent enough to pay claims directly, file security with the Insurance Commissioner, or insure through a stock or mutual company authorized in Connecticut. The WCC's Self-Insurance and Managed Care Plans unit reviews self-insurance applications. Group (mutual) self-insurance organizations are licensed by the CID. A self-insured employer whose unpaid claims force a payment from the Second Injury Fund loses the right to self-insure for 10 years.

Who sets rates

NCCI is the licensed rating organization that files recommended loss costs and assigned risk rates for insurers in Connecticut. Loss costs cover losses, not insurer expenses. Each company converts them to its own rates with a loss cost multiplier that it files with the CID.

The rates in force today come from NCCI's filing for 2026, which Andrew N. Mais, the Insurance Commissioner at the time, accepted as filed on October 27, 2025. Effective January 1, 2026, voluntary loss costs fell 3.8% on average and assigned risk rates fell 0.4%. Contracting classes dropped 4.9% in the voluntary market. The same order set the WCC funding assessment at 1.8% of standard premium for industrial classes (2.9% for "F" classes) on policies starting on or after January 1, 2026, and insurers pass it through to employers.

A newer filing is pending. NCCI submitted it on September 11, 2026, proposing a 4.9% cut to voluntary loss costs and a 5.8% cut to assigned risk rates for January 1, 2027, with contracting down 6.0%. The CID opened public comment on September 29, 2026. Its orders page listed no decision on the 2027 filing when we checked.

Experience rating

Connecticut uses one uniform experience rating plan built on NCCI's loss costs. A CID bulletin from July 2013 (PC-72), still posted on the department's site, says every insurer must use the experience mods NCCI promulgates and follow the rating plans NCCI files. NCCI's guide to the plan says the experience period is generally three years of payroll and loss data. Eligibility differs by state, and we did not find Connecticut's premium threshold in the public sources we checked.

If no insurer will write you

NCCI serves as Pool and Plan Administrator of the Connecticut Workers Compensation Insurance Plan, the assigned risk market. Plan policies use full assigned risk rates that already include the servicing carrier's expenses. On June 30, 2026, NCCI counted 8,127 plan policies in force.

Penalties for going uninsured

An investigator from the State Treasurer's office who finds you uninsured will issue a citation, and an administrative law judge must hold a hearing within 30 days. If you are still out of compliance, the civil penalty starts at the lesser of $500 per employee or $5,000 and can reach $50,000. Another $100 is added for each day you stay uninsured after that finding, up to $50,000 more. These penalties go to the Second Injury Fund, and one left unpaid for 90 days can lead to a lawsuit to double it.

Other consequences:

• Felony exposure. Knowingly and willfully skipping coverage is a class D felony for the owner, partner, LLC principal or corporate officer.
• Misclassification. Knowingly calling employees independent contractors, or giving your insurer a false employee count, to pay a lower premium is also a class D felony. The same subsection (C.G.S. 31-288(g)) covers an employer that fails to carry the required coverage. If the Labor Commissioner finds a violation after an investigation, it issues a stop work order, and the Labor Department can collect a $300 civil penalty for each day. Working through a stop work order costs $5,000 a day.
• Lawsuits and repayment. An injured worker may sue an uninsured employer for damages. If the Second Injury Fund pays the claim and you do not repay it or agree to a payment plan within 90 days, the Attorney General sues to recover it plus double damages.
• Hiring freeze. The Attorney General can ask a court to bar you from hiring additional employees until you comply.

Your ongoing obligations

• Post the Notice to Employees in a conspicuous place in each workplace, in at least 10-point boldface type. It names your insurer or self-insurance administrator.
• Report injuries. Keep a record of every work injury that causes incapacity of one day or more. The First Report of Injury goes to the WCC through its online submission service or EDI, and claim notices served on you must be forwarded within one week. A judge may raise a worker's award if you fail to report.
• Contest within 28 days. To dispute a claim, file Form 43 within 28 days after you receive the written notice of claim.
• Know the worker's deadlines. Employees must report an injury immediately. A formal claim (Form 30C) is due within one year of the accident, or three years from the first symptom of an occupational disease.

Worked example: how the calculator estimates premium

Premium = (payroll / 100) x rate per $100 x experience mod

The CID's notice page posts only NCCI's two-page summary of the 2026 filing. The full filing sits in the CID's SERFF system, which we did not search, so we could not confirm the Connecticut loss cost for roofing (code 5551). Every number below is illustrative. Replace the rate with the one on your quote.

• Annual payroll (hypothetical): $250,000
• Loss cost per $100 (illustrative): $7.50
• Loss cost multiplier (illustrative): 1.30
• Experience mod (hypothetical): 1.05

Step by step

1. Rate: $7.50 x 1.30 = $9.75 per $100
2. Payroll in hundreds: $250,000 / 100 = 2,500
3. Manual premium: 2,500 x $9.75 = $24,375.00
4. Apply the mod: $24,375.00 x 1.05 = $25,593.75

The calculator stops there. Your bill also carries the 1.8% WCC assessment on standard premium. If standard premium were $25,593.75, that adds $460.69, for $26,054.44.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Connecticut Workers' Compensation Commission, About workers' compensation insurance
• WCC, CT's workers' compensation system
• WCC, After a worker's injury or illness
• WCC, Employer Forms
• WCC, Notice to Employees
• WCC, Directions for Filing Forms 6B, 6B-1 and 75
• WCC, Self-Insurance and Managed Care Plans
• Connecticut General Statutes, Chapter 568 (C.G.S. 31-275, 31-284, 31-286b, 31-288, 31-291, 31-294b, 31-294c, 31-316, 31-355)
• Connecticut General Statutes, 2026 Supplement, Chapter 568
• Connecticut General Statutes, Chapter 558 (C.G.S. 31-69a, 31-76a)
• Connecticut Insurance Department, Memorandum and Order on NCCI's filing effective January 1, 2026
• CID, Workers' Compensation Loss Cost Adoption Form (2026)
• CID, Bulletin PC-72, Procedures for Submitting Workers' Compensation Form, Rate and Rule Filings (July 23, 2013)
• CID, Commissioner's Orders
• CID, Notice of public comment on NCCI filing effective January 1, 2026
• CID, Notice of public comment on NCCI filing effective January 1, 2027
• NCCI, Connecticut filing summary effective January 1, 2027 (on the CID site)
• NCCI, Summary of the Proposed Connecticut Loss Cost and Assigned Risk Rate Filing Effective January 1, 2027
• NCCI, Connecticut Residual Market State Activity Report, Second Quarter 2026
• NCCI, ABCs of Experience Rating

Sources accessed 2026-10-16.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm details with the Connecticut Workers' Compensation Commission.

Reviewer: Sam Newland, CFP, Founder of Benefitra. Last updated October 17, 2026. How the calculator works. Editorial policy.