Employers who don’t carry workers’ compensation insurance: a North Carolina problem

The Raleigh News and Observer this past weekend highlighted the plight of injured workers whose employers knowingly refuse to carry workers’ compensation insurance. These businesses pocket the insurance money, and get a competitive advantage over businesses that do not carry the insurance. When their employees are injured and there is no insurance company to pay for their medical treatment, it’s the taxpayer who is called on to help through Medicaid and food stamps. The willful failure to carry workers’ compensation insurance is a Class H felony, but as the reporters pointed out, uninsured employers are rarely punished. The injured workers and those who pay their expenses receive the real punishment.