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Delaware Workers' Comp Rate Calculator

Estimate a Delaware workers' comp premium from payroll, a rate per $100 and your experience mod. Defaults are explained under the rate field.

Regulator
Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Industrial Affairs, Office of Workers' Compensation
Market Type
Competitive private market
Rating Organization
DCRB
Class System
Delaware (DCRB) classifications
Step 1 — Your Business
About Your Delaware Business
Step 2 — Experience & Claims
Your Claims History
Total Incurred ($)
# of Claims
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Step 3 — Compare Options
Coverage Options
Your Results
Premium Estimate
Estimated Annual Premium
$0
Payroll/100 × Rate × EMR
YearEstimate
Illustrative Mod Path (3 Years)
Current Path
PEO Path

An estimate, not a quote. How this calculator works.

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Workers' comp in Delaware: what's different

Delaware has no state fund option. The coverage statute lets employers insure with an authorized insurer, form an approved employer mutual association, or prove they can pay claims directly as a self-insurer. The Office of Workers' Compensation, part of the Department of Labor's Division of Industrial Affairs, enforces the coverage law. Pricing runs through the Delaware Compensation Rating Bureau (DCRB), which the Department of Insurance lists as the licensed rating organization for workers' compensation. The DCRB, not NCCI, maintains Delaware's class codes and files its loss costs, and the Insurance Commissioner approves those filings.

Who must carry coverage

The trigger is a single employee. Title 19, chapter 23 applies to any employment with one or more employees, and the Office of Workers' Compensation says part-time workers are covered the same as full-time workers.

The exceptions are written into the statute:

  • Corporate officers and LLC members. Up to 8 officers who own stock, or up to 8 LLC members, may be exempted if the company and each exempted person agree in writing.
  • Sole proprietors and partners are outside the law unless they elect coverage. Members of their immediate family are covered unless each one signs a written exemption.
  • Household workers are excluded if they earn less than $750 in cash in any 3-month period from a single household.
  • Farm laborers are excluded unless the farm employer chooses to insure them.
  • Out-of-state employers must carry full Delaware coverage for employees doing substantial work here. That includes construction work needing a Delaware contractor license, or one or more employees working here more than 5 consecutive work days at a time.

Construction has its own rule. Independent contractors working for a licensed contractor must be covered, either by their own policy or by the business that hired them. The hiring business must collect a certificate of insurance or an officer exemption notice and keep it for 3 years. If it does not, it is treated as the insurer of those workers' claims. In this setting, the officer exemption is capped at 4 executive officers, and sole proprietors and partners cannot rely on their usual exclusion.

Where coverage comes from

The statute allows a policy from an insurer authorized to write workers' comp in Delaware, or self-insurance after proving to the Department of Labor that you can pay claims directly. Groups of employers may also form mutual insurance associations with Department approval. The Office of Workers' Compensation adds that your carrier must hold a Certificate of Authority from the Department of Insurance and be a member of the DCRB.

Every licensed insurer must offer an optional deductible of $500 to $5,000 per occurrence on medical and death benefits, priced with a premium credit.

Who sets rates

The DCRB files two sets of numbers each year: voluntary market loss costs, which insurers build their own rates on, and rates for the residual market. Each insurer then files its own rates with the Commissioner. A ratepayer advocate, retained through the Workers' Compensation Oversight Panel, takes part in the review of every DCRB rate or loss cost filing.

On October 12, 2026, the Commissioner approved amended DCRB Filing No. 2602. It lowers voluntary market loss costs by 3.99% and residual market rates by 4.11% on average, effective December 1, 2026 for new and renewal policies. The prior year's filing, effective December 1, 2025, cut loss costs by 11.60%.

Delaware uses its own class codes, about 330 of them according to the DCRB. Roofing is code 0659, not NCCI's 5551.

Experience rating

The DCRB runs Delaware's Experience Rating Plan, and the plan is mandatory for employers who qualify. You qualify when your experience period premium, recalculated at current DCRB residual market rates, reaches $5,000 or more. Smaller employers with exposure in each year of the experience period get the Merit Rating Plan instead.

Delaware also has two state-specific credits. Through the Workplace Safety Program, run by the Department of Insurance with the DCRB, employers who complete a certified safety inspection can earn a premium credit. The DCRB's program page currently puts the credit at 0.5% to 6.2% of modified premium. A later law, SB 248, changes the credit formula, and the Department says policies renewing on or after July 2027 may receive up to 12%. The Construction Classification Premium Adjustment Program gives credits to construction employers who pay wages above the statewide average.

If no insurer will write you

State law requires every authorized insurer to share in a residual market plan for employers who cannot buy coverage normally. In Delaware, that plan is the Delaware Workers Compensation Insurance Plan (DE WCIP), and the DCRB administers it. You apply through an agent or broker, who submits the application online through the DCRB's Delaware Insurance Plan Manager. Plan policies use the DCRB's residual market rates, and a surcharge applies only to plan employers with an experience mod above 1.0.

Penalties for going uninsured

When a carrier cancels or lets a policy lapse, it must notify the Department of Labor within 14 days. You then have 14 days to show proof of coverage or a valid reason you do not need it.

The civil penalty is three times a year's premium. For a previously insured employer, it is based on the last premium rate charged before the lapse. For an employer with no coverage history, it is based on the most expensive premium any carrier in Delaware was charging, at the time of the assessment, for appropriate coverage of that business. If you still have not complied after notice, a further assessment runs at $10 a day per employee, with a $250 daily minimum. After 30 days in default, the Department of Labor can ask the Court of Chancery to stop you from doing business. An injured worker can also sue you directly, and you lose defenses such as the worker's own negligence.

Your ongoing obligations

  • Post the law. Keep a Department-approved summary of the workers' compensation law posted where employees normally pass. The Department supplies copies free on request.
  • Report injuries. File a First Report of Occupational Injury or Disease with the Office of Workers' Compensation within 10 days of learning of the injury, and give the worker a copy. File a supplemental report when the disability ends. Skipping the report brings a fine of $100 to $250 per offense.
  • Keep proof of coverage. The Office of Workers' Compensation does not accept certificates of liability as proof. It wants the declarations page or the full policy, with Delaware listed in Section 3A. "All other states" coverage does not qualify.
  • Watch renewal notices. An insurer that will not renew must tell you in writing, by certified mail, at least 60 days before the policy ends.

Worked example: how the calculator estimates premium

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

The DCRB's approved voluntary loss cost for code 0659 (Roofing) is $7.41 per $100 of payroll for policies effective on or after December 1, 2026. It is a loss cost, not a rate. Each insurer adds its own loss cost multiplier, so the multiplier here is illustrative. Payroll and mod are hypothetical.

  • Annual payroll (hypothetical): $250,000
  • Code 0659 loss cost: $7.41
  • Loss cost multiplier (illustrative): 1.40
  • Experience mod (hypothetical): 1.08

Step by step

  1. Rate: $7.41 x 1.40 = $10.374 per $100
  2. Payroll in hundreds: $250,000 / 100 = 2,500
  3. Manual premium: 2,500 x $10.374 = $25,935.00
  4. Apply the mod: $25,935.00 x 1.08 = $28,009.80

For a policy written before December 1, 2026, the code 0659 loss cost is $7.60, which gives $26,600.00 before the mod at the same multiplier. An employer placed in the DE WCIP pays the residual market rate instead, $9.614 per $100 for code 0659 from December 1, 2026. That is $24,035.00 on this payroll before the mod and any plan surcharge.

Frequently asked questions

Does Delaware require coverage for one employee?

Yes. The law applies once you have one employee, and part-time workers count.

Does Delaware use NCCI class codes?

No. The DCRB maintains Delaware's own classification system and files its loss costs. Roofing, for example, is code 0659.

Can corporate officers opt out?

Up to 8 stockholder officers, or 8 LLC members, can be exempted by written agreement with the company. When they work as independent contractors for a construction business, the cap drops to 4 executive officers.

What if I cannot find an insurer?

Apply to the Delaware Workers Compensation Insurance Plan through an agent or broker. The DCRB administers the plan, and coverage is assigned to a participating carrier.

Official sources

Sources accessed 2026-10-16.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm details with the Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Industrial Affairs, Office of Workers' Compensation.

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