NAPEO members are committed to upholding the integrity of the workers' compensation system and working with the carriers, rating bureaus, and regulators who administer the system. PEOs have positive incentives to further the efficiency and viability of the system and to improve worker safety, resolving injured worker claims, and reducing workplace injury.
PEOs Are Co-Employers
A PEO contracts with client businesses to allocate employer rights and responsibilities. As a co-employer, the PEO pays wages and taxes and may be responsible for providing benefits and maintaining workers' compensation coverage. The PEO establishes and maintains an employer relationship with the workers, addressing worker complaints, retaining a right to hire, reassign and dismiss workers, and maintaining employer records. In a co-employment relationship, some authority as to the direction and control over the details of the work performed is exercised by each employer. As such, it is appropriate that the exclusive remedy doctrine protect both the PEO and the client.
PEOs Create Safer Work Environments
Safer work environments are created when PEOs are the workers' compensation policyholders. Effective safety practices such as pre-employment drug tests, loss control and safety procedures, claims management of injuries, safety training, employee assistance plans, back-to-work programs, and drug-free workplace programs enhance employee safety and well-being. Many of these safety practices are new to the typical PEO client-a small to mid-sized business without the time, expertise, or resources to cater to worker safety concerns. Co-employees benefit from safer workplaces, employee, PEO, and clients alike benefit from fewer workplace injuries.
The small to mid-sized business market segment traditionally has been underserved by insurance carriers. Accounts that generate a small premium often receive very little in the way of loss control services or claims management services. As a part of their suite of human resource management services, PEOs offer small to mid-sized company professional loss control and claims management services.
PEOs Effectively Resolve Injured Worker Claims
Comprehensive case management ranging from monitoring treatment to carrier contact ensures that injured workers receive proper care. Return-to-Work programs enable workers to benefit from a restoration of normalcy through either a modified job to accommodate the worker's injury or a job at a different worksite employer. Effective, aggressive management of injured worker needs and claims benefits the injured worker, client companies, and the PEO.