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 By Mark Jackson
The State of Florida will be enacting changes effective January 1, 2010 that will affect the job classification codes for Architect, Engineering, and Surveying firms.
Currently, most design and surveying firms use the following classification codes for their employees.
- Code 8742 – Outside Salesperson: This code includes marketing employees and professionals who make presentations to clients outside of the office. These employees do not visit jobsites.
- Code 8601 – Architects, Engineers, and Surveyors: This code includes all employees that travel to visit with clients, go to jobsites, conduct inspections, and perform surveys.
- Code 8810 – Clerical: All clerical employees, drafting, CAD technicians and licensed professionals who work exclusively in the office.
Effective January 2010, on new and renewal policies, the new codes for design and surveying firms will be as follows:
- Code 8601 – The code will include architects, engineers, and outside sales employees. Firms will no longer use Code 8742 for their marketing employees. Surveyors will no longer be included in this Code.
- Code 8602 – Surveyors: This will be the biggest change affecting your surveying employees. In the past, surveyors were charged the same rate as an architect or engineer. Since the exposure to injury for a surveyor is higher than an architect or engineer, this did not make sense. A surveyor working on a highway project is at greater risk to injury than an architect who visits a project under construction. With these changes, surveyors will now have their own separate classification code.
Until the rating authority can compile enough data to establish separate rates, the rates for the new Surveyor code 8602 will remain the same as the Architect/Engineer code 8601. Our assumption is that the rate for 8601 – Architects/Engineers will decrease in the next 2-3 years. This is due to the exclusion of claims related to surveying work. The rate for 8602 – Surveyors should increase due to their higher loss exposure.
This change should benefit design firms by reducing their cost for Workers Compensation insurance. However, Surveying and Civil Engineering firms will likely see their insurance cost increase in the next 2-3 years.
- Code 8603 – Clerical Employees: All clerical employees, CAD technicians, drafting, and internal licensed professional employees will have their own classification code; they will no longer be eligible for the general Clerical Code 8810. This change is similar to other professions such as physicians & attorneys, which have a separate clerical code for their industry. We do not expect to see much of a difference in the rate as compared to the previous Clerical classification code.
Overall, Workers Compensation rates for 2010 will decrease an average of 6.8%. This brings the overall rate decrease since 2003 to 64%.
If you have any questions or need any additional information on how these changes will affect your Workers Compensation policy, please email Mark Jackson.
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