What If My Employer Doesn't Have Workers' Comp Insurance in Indiana?

Report the injury, verify the employer’s insurance or approved self-insured status, and protect the deadline for filing a benefits claim with the Board. A compliance report can trigger enforcement, but it is not the same as filing your own claim.

Key takeaways

• A business without a conventional policy may still comply if the Board approved it to self-insure.
• A covered employer that failed to insure or qualify for self-insurance remains directly responsible for the employee’s workers’ compensation claim and may face enhanced liability.
• Indiana’s Second Injury Fund serves limited statutory purposes; it is not a general fund that pays claims whenever an employer is uninsured.
• Workers’ compensation is ordinarily the exclusive remedy against the employer for an accidental work injury. Lack of insurance, by itself, is not a statutory tort election.
• A negligent person or business other than the employer may be subject to a separate third-party claim.
• Give written notice as soon as practicable. A Board claim is generally due within two years of the accident, but benefit payments and prior awards can change which timing rule applies.

Insurance, self-insurance, and noncompliance

Indiana law generally requires an employer covered by the Workers’ Compensation Act either to keep its liability insured by an authorized carrier or to give the Board satisfactory proof of its financial ability to pay compensation directly. The Board may require security for a self-insured employer’s obligations. See IC 22-3-5-1^[1] and the Board’s current self-insured-employer resources^[2].

That creates three materially different situations:

• Approved self-insured employer: The arrangement may be lawful. The employer, often through a third-party administrator, handles and pays covered benefits without a conventional workers’ compensation policy.
• Employer required to secure coverage but failed to do so: The employer remains liable for the employee’s claim. In a Board action, IC 22-3-4-13(f)^[3] permits an award of medical expenses, reasonable attorney fees, and compensation up to twice the amount otherwise provided by the Act.
• Employer or worker outside the Act: Some employments and workers are exempt or present disputed classification issues. That question is distinct from whether an otherwise covered employer purchased insurance.

The Board states that workers’ compensation benefits are paid by employers, not the State. Indiana does have a Second Injury Fund under IC 22-3-3-13^[4], but its defined functions do not make it a general backstop for every employee of an uninsured employer. Do not delay a claim while expecting a state uninsured-employer fund to pay it.

Coverage and eligibility also are separate. Our guide to qualifying for Indiana workers’ compensation discusses employee status and whether an injury arose out of and in the course of employment.

How to confirm coverage

The Board’s employer resources page^[5] links to its current “Confirm Worker’s Compensation Coverage” service and required workplace posters. Search the legal business name, work address, and injury date. A trade name may differ from the entity shown on payroll or tax records.

Ask the employer in writing for the carrier, policy number, claim number, and claims administrator. Employers subject to the Act generally must post coverage information under IC 22-3-2-22^[6]. If the employer claims to be self-insured, ask for its administrator and verify its status with the Board.

The Board’s official contact page^[7] lists current contact information for Compliance and employee claim assistance.

Steps to take now

1. Give written notice promptly. Under IC 22-3-3-1^[8], notice is due as soon as practicable. No compensation is paid until notice is given if notice was not provided within 30 days, but late notice does not bar the claim unless the employer proves prejudice. The statute also excuses formal notice when the employer or its representative knew of the injury.
2. Identify the correct employer. Save pay stubs, tax forms, schedules, work-app records, uniforms, and messages showing who hired, paid, directed, and supervised you.
3. Verify insurance or self-insurance. Save the search date and results, and request coverage information in writing.
4. Preserve medical and wage evidence. Keep records of treatment, bills, restrictions, mileage, earnings, and missed work.
5. Report suspected noncompliance. Use the Board’s Non-Compliant Employer Reporting form^[9] or contact Compliance.
6. File the benefits claim on time. Under IC 22-3-3-3^[10], a claim generally must be filed with the Board within two years after the accident (or death). If temporary total or temporary partial disability compensation was paid, the two-year period begins on the last date for which that compensation was paid. Radiation claims have a separate discovery rule.

Use the Board’s current forms page^[11] to obtain State Form 29109, Application for Adjustment of Claim. Reporting the injury to a supervisor or reporting an uninsured employer to Compliance does not substitute for filing the application when a formal claim is needed.

If the employer refuses benefits or disputes the injury, our guide to challenging an Indiana workers’ compensation denial explains the next steps. Delventhal Law Office’s Fort Wayne workers’ compensation practice handles medical-care, wage-benefit, and coverage disputes.

Your benefits claim and Board enforcement are different proceedings

Your benefits claim asks the Board to decide whether you are an employee with a compensable injury and what the employer must pay. The employer is the responsible party even when it unlawfully failed to insure that liability. The uninsured-employer remedies in IC 22-3-4-13^[12](f) are part of the Board proceeding; they do not depend on a state fund paying the award.

Compliance and enforcement address the employer’s violation. Under IC 22-3-4-13^[3], failure to secure required coverage can support penalties, a referral for prosecution, and an action to enjoin the employer from doing business until it proves coverage and financial ability. The Board describes its current compliance work on its Compliance page^[13].

A Compliance report may help the State investigate, but it does not request an award for your medical care or lost wages. Likewise, an award against an uninsured employer is not a guarantee of immediate collection. Collectability can be a serious practical risk if the employer lacks insurance and assets.

Can you sue the employer?

Usually not for ordinary negligence when the Workers’ Compensation Act covers the injury. IC 22-3-2-6^[14] makes the Act’s remedies exclusive for an employee’s accidental personal injury or death covered by the Act. Indiana’s uninsured-employer provision supplies enhanced remedies before the Board; it does not say that the employee may elect a negligence action because the employer failed to insure.

A civil claim against the employer may still exist when it is genuinely independent of a compensable accidental injury—for example, where the Act does not cover the worker or injury, or where the employer itself intended the injury. Indiana courts construe the intentional-injury route narrowly: knowingly permitting a dangerous condition or acting with substantial certainty of harm is not necessarily the same as the employer’s deliberate intent to injure. These are fact-specific jurisdictional questions, not an exception created by being uninsured.

Third-party claims are separate

Exclusivity does not ordinarily protect a legally responsible person or company other than the employer or a co-employee acting in the course of employment. IC 22-3-2-13^[15] allows an employee to pursue a qualifying third-party claim even when the employer also owes workers’ compensation benefits, subject to reimbursement, consent, and other statutory rules designed to prevent duplicate recovery.

Examples may include a negligent driver, a defective-product manufacturer, a property owner, or another contractor. Our guide to Indiana workers’ compensation and third-party claims explains how the two paths interact.

Information to save

• The employer’s full legal name, business address, owners, and supervisors.
• Pay records, tax forms, hire documents, schedules, and evidence of who controlled the work.
• The injury date, location, task, witnesses, photographs, and incident report.
• Written requests for the carrier, policy, claim number, or self-insurance administrator.
• Coverage-search results and photographs of workplace notices.
• Medical records, bills, work restrictions, mileage, wages, and missed-work dates.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can an employer legally pay workers’ compensation directly?

Yes—if the Board approved the employer to self-insure after satisfactory proof of financial ability and any required security. Simply choosing to pay bills without Board approval does not satisfy IC 22-3-5-1^[16].

Will an Indiana uninsured-employer fund pay my claim?

Indiana’s current Workers’ Compensation Act does not establish a general fund for claims against uninsured employers. The Second Injury Fund has limited statutory functions and should not be confused with uninsured-employer funds found in some other states. The responsible employer may be ordered to pay the award directly.

Does no insurance mean I can sue my employer for negligence?

No, not by itself. The exclusive-remedy rule generally still governs a covered accidental work injury. Indiana provides enhanced Board remedies against a noncompliant employer, not a general election between workers’ compensation and a negligence suit.

What deadlines apply?

Give notice as soon as practicable under IC 22-3-3-1^[17]. The statute’s 30-day rule affects payment and may bar a claim only if the employer proves prejudice; employer knowledge can excuse formal notice. File the initial Board claim within the period in IC 22-3-3-3^[18]—generally two years after the accident, with special rules for disability compensation already paid and radiation injuries.

What if benefits were already awarded and my condition changed?

IC 22-3-3-27^[19] governs modification of an existing award based on a change in condition. It generally allows an application within two years from the last day for which compensation was paid. That is different from the initial-claim deadline in IC 22-3-3-3^[18].

If you were hurt while working in Fort Wayne, Allen County, or elsewhere in Indiana and cannot confirm valid coverage, Delventhal Law Office can investigate the employer’s status, file the appropriate Board claim, and evaluate any third-party case. You may request a free consultation without posting private medical or employment details publicly.

This article provides general information, not legal advice; reading it or contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Sources

1. IC 22-3-5-1 (iga.in.gov) ↩
2. current self-insured-employer resources (in.gov) ↩
3. IC 22-3-4-13(f) (iga.in.gov) ↩
4. Second Injury Fund under IC 22-3-3-13 (iga.in.gov) ↩
5. employer resources page (in.gov) ↩
6. IC 22-3-2-22 (iga.in.gov) ↩
7. official contact page (in.gov) ↩
8. IC 22-3-3-1 (iga.in.gov) ↩
9. Non-Compliant Employer Reporting form (wcbgateway.wcb.in.gov) ↩
10. IC 22-3-3-3 (iga.in.gov) ↩
11. current forms page (in.gov) ↩
12. IC 22-3-4-13 (iga.in.gov) ↩
13. Compliance page (in.gov) ↩
14. IC 22-3-2-6 (iga.in.gov) ↩
15. IC 22-3-2-13 (iga.in.gov) ↩
16. IC 22-3-5-1 (iga.in.gov) ↩
17. IC 22-3-3-1 (iga.in.gov) ↩
18. IC 22-3-3-3 (iga.in.gov) ↩
19. IC 22-3-3-27 (iga.in.gov) ↩