Continued over-regulation of WC by states to control inter-state commerce

Massachusetts has joined NY in requiring line 3A coverage for MA under the Workers Compensation Insurance policies of businesses that are not domiciled in MA. Here’s the requirement.

• The Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA) is now requiring any business domiciled in another state, but needing a license or permit for work in Massachusetts, to obtain either a completed Form 154 or have Massachusetts added to item 3.A. on their Workers Compensation Information Page

You really want to get line 3 coverage because form 154 is a complicated mess. To quote Peerless Insurance, they will not assist in filling out form 154 because, “Due to the complexities and logistics of executing Form 154, Peerless is not able to assume this responsibility. It appears discussions are underway to modify this new requirement; however, we do not have any additional details at this time. ”

It can be argued that this is less onerous than the equivalent bulletin from NY. However, there are penalties to back this up so make sure you add MA as a named state on line 3A of your Workers Comp policy if there is any chance you will do any work of any kind in MA.

As with the NY requirement, this is something that the neighboring states will come to understand. But how is a contractor (and that doesn’t mean building trades alone) from two states aways supposed to know that he or she needs to worry about this upon taking on a job in MA or NY?