Hawaii Workers' Comp Rate Calculator

Workers' comp in Hawaii: what's different

Hawaii has no state fund you can buy from, according to the Disability Compensation Division (DCD) of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR). Employers insure with an authorized carrier or qualify to self-insure. The DCD takes injury reports, and when a claim is disputed, either side can ask for a hearing before a hearings officer. NCCI is the licensed rating organization that files loss costs in Hawaii, and the Insurance Commissioner at the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) reviews those filings and each insurer's rates.

Who must carry coverage

You need coverage once you have one employee. The DCD says this applies whether the worker is full-time or part-time, permanent or temporary.

HRS § 386-1 lists the work that falls outside the law. The items that matter most to small businesses:

• Household help. Work for personal, family, or household purposes is excluded if cash pay stays under $225 in the current calendar quarter and in each completed quarter of the prior 12 months.
• Corporate owners. Anyone who owns at least 50% of a corporation is excluded. An officer who owns at least 25% is also excluded when working without wages for a corporation that has no employees.
• LLCs and partnerships. LLC members with a distributional interest of 50% or more are excluded, as are individual partners of a partnership and LLP partners holding at least 50%. No employer may force a worker to incorporate, form an LLC, or become a partner as a condition of the job.
• Sole proprietors are excluded.
• Commission-only real estate salespersons and brokers are excluded.

The DCD adds that an employer may choose to cover excluded workers. Federal law covers federal employees and fishing, maritime, and longshore work.

Contracting chains carry their own rule. A contractor is treated as the employer of everyone working on its contract, including the staff of its subcontractors and their subcontractors. The direct employer is primarily liable, and the others are liable in turn behind it.

Location matters too. Chapter 386 applies to every work injury inside the state, and a worker hired in Hawaii stays covered if hurt on the job elsewhere.

Where coverage comes from

Under HRS § 386-121, a private employer can:

• buy a policy from any stock, mutual, reciprocal, or other insurer authorized to write workers' comp in Hawaii;
• deposit security with the state director of finance;
• get the DLIR director's approval to self-insure by proving solvency (Form WC-21). Each authorization runs only until June 30 of each year;
• join an approved self-insurance group; or
• join a workers' comp group insured by a captive insurer.

The DCD sends employers to the DCCA for a list of carriers. The legislature created the Hawaii Employers' Mutual Insurance Company (HEMIC) in 1996 as a domestic mutual insurer. The statute says HEMIC is not an agency of the State and writes workers' comp like any other private insurer.

Every policy must offer an optional medical deductible. You pick one of the amounts listed in the statute, which run from $100 to $10,000, or a higher amount if you and the insurer agree. The insurer pays medical bills in full and then bills you for the deductible.

Who sets rates

Hawaii uses a loss cost system. State law bars a rating organization from recommending rates that include expenses (other than loss adjustment expense) or profit. NCCI files the loss costs. Each insurer files its own rates, rules, and rating plans with the Commissioner, and it may build them on the approved loss costs. A filing waits 30 days, extendable by 15, and takes effect unless the Commissioner disapproves it.

The most recent approval we found in an official source came on November 27, 2024: a 3.5% average loss cost cut, effective January 1, 2025. NCCI then filed a 4.4% cut for January 1, 2026, on August 27, 2025. We did not find the Insurance Division's decision on that filing. On August 27, 2026, NCCI filed a further 2.5% cut for January 1, 2027.

The Division has pushed back before. In November 2002 it denied a 16% NCCI increase, saying the filing gave too little weight to Hawaii's improving claims. NCCI amended the request to 8%, which was then approved. A 2008 Division release reported loss costs down 61.4% over four years, counting NCCI's then-pending 11.6% cut.

Experience rating

Hawaii law adds one twist to experience rating. If a claim stays within your medical deductible and you reimburse the insurer, that claim is left out of your experience rating. We did not find an official Hawaii source that publishes the eligibility threshold for experience rating.

If no insurer will write you

Hawaii closed its assigned risk plan for workers' comp. Assigned risk coverage ended December 31, 1996, or when HEMIC wrote its first policy, whichever came later. The law states the aim was an orderly transfer of those assigned risks to HEMIC. Since January 1, 1997, the statute has required HEMIC to cover Hawaii employers that are entitled to coverage but cannot or choose not to buy it in the voluntary market and are not authorized to self-insure.

HEMIC must keep a high risk division. An employer lands there with two or more lost-time claims over $10,000 and a loss ratio above 1.0 in the previous three years, and HEMIC may add a surcharge. The statute lists four grounds on which HEMIC may deny or end coverage: unpaid undisputed premium, refusing on-site safety inspections, ignoring required safety programs, and misreporting ownership, operations, or payroll.

Penalties for going uninsured

The penalty is $500, or $100 per employee for every day without coverage, whichever is greater. The DCD's own example: two uninsured employees for five days means $1,000. The DLIR director may waive the amount above $500 for good cause once you get covered. If you stay in default for 14 days, a circuit court can bar you from doing business in Hawaii until you comply.

When an injured worker goes unpaid through no fault of their own, the Special Compensation Fund pays the benefits. The director can then order the employer to pay the fund back.

Your ongoing obligations

• Report injuries. File the Employer's Report of Industrial Injury (WC-1) within 7 working days when an injury causes at least one day off work or needs more than first aid. The DCD takes WC-1 through its portal. Send the worker a copy.
• Report deaths fast. For an immediate death, notify the DLIR in person or by phone within 48 hours.
• File follow-up reports. By January 31 each year, report every injury on which you are still paying compensation. File a final report within 30 days after the last payment. Willfully skipping a report brings a fine of up to $5,000.
• Post and hand out notices. Post the DLIR statement on benefit rights where employees can see it. Within 3 working days of learning of an injury, give the worker the brochure "Highlights of the Hawaii Workers' Compensation Law."
• Keep premium off paychecks. Employees cannot be made to pay any part of the premium, and a wage deduction for it carries a fine of up to $5,000.

Worked example: how the calculator estimates premium

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

We could not find NCCI's Hawaii loss cost for roofing in an official public source, so every number below is illustrative, not a filed Hawaii rate. Use the rate on your policy or quote.

• Annual payroll (hypothetical): $180,000
• Rate per $100 (illustrative): $12.00
• Experience mod (hypothetical): 0.92

Step by step

1. Payroll in hundreds: $180,000 / 100 = 1,800
2. Manual premium: 1,800 x $12.00 = $21,600.00
3. Apply the mod: $21,600.00 x 0.92 = $19,872.00

Your carrier's filed rates and rating rules will move the real number.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• DLIR Disability Compensation Division, About Workers' Compensation
• DLIR Disability Compensation Division, Frequently Asked Questions
• DLIR Disability Compensation Division, Forms
• HRS § 386-1 (definitions, excluded employment)
• HRS § 386-6 (territorial reach)
• HRS § 386-56 (Special Compensation Fund on default)
• HRS § 386-95 (injury reports)
• HRS § 386-100 (medical deductible)
• HRS § 386-121 (ways to secure coverage)
• HRS § 386-123 (penalty, injunction)
• HRS § 386-129 (no employee premium deductions)
• HRS § 431:14-103 (making of rates)
• HRS § 431:14-104 (rate filings)
• HRS § 431:14-107.3 (rating organizations, no expense or profit)
• HRS § 431:14-116 (assigned risks)
• HRS § 431:14A-103 (HEMIC established, coverage for employers outside the voluntary market)
• HRS § 431:14A-104 (HEMIC high risk division)
• HRS § 431:14A-115 (HEMIC denial and termination)
• HRS § 431:14A-119 (assigned risks discontinued)
• Hawaii Insurance Division, Report of the Insurance Commissioner of Hawaii 2025
• Hawaii Insurance Division, press statement on denied NCCI filing (Nov. 1, 2002)
• Hawaii Insurance Division, press statement on amended NCCI filing (Nov. 29, 2002)
• Hawaii Insurance Division, news release on loss costs (Sept. 17, 2008)
• NCCI, Summary of the Proposed Hawaii Loss Cost Filing Effective January 1, 2026
• NCCI, Summary of the Proposed Hawaii Loss Cost Filing Effective January 1, 2027

Sources accessed 2026-10-16.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm details with the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Disability Compensation Division.

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