South Carolina Workers Compensation Laws and Requirements

South Carolina workers’ compensation laws require most employers with four or more workers to carry insurance that pays medical costs and wage replacement to employees injured on the job. Title 42 of the South Carolina Code sets the framework: who needs coverage, who qualifies as an employee, what benefits get paid, the deadlines for reporting and filing, and what happens to employers who skip the requirement. The penalties for going without a policy routinely cost more than the policy itself.

Which Employers Must Carry Coverage

Any business that regularly employs four or more people in South Carolina must provide workers’ compensation insurance. The rule also captures smaller employers if their total annual payroll exceeded $3,000 in the prior calendar year.¹ Full-time and part-time employees both count. A workforce that fluctuates seasonally still needs coverage during any period that meets or exceeds the trigger.

Employers can satisfy the requirement three ways: buy a policy from a private insurer, obtain coverage through the state’s assigned risk pool, or self-insure with approval from the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission (SCWCC). Self-insurance applications go through the Commission’s Self-Insurance Division, and proof-of-compliance documents must be on file before the effective date.²

Employers must also post workplace notices identifying the insurance carrier and telling employees how to report an injury. Failing to post them does not extinguish a worker’s right to file a claim, and it weakens an employer’s defense if a worker says they never knew how to report.

Who Counts as a Covered Employee

The definition of “employee” is broad. Coverage extends to every person working under a contract of hire, written or verbal, and explicitly reaches minors (including those employed unlawfully) and undocumented workers.¹ Full-time, part-time, and seasonal workers all qualify as long as they perform work under the employer’s direction and control.

Temporary workers placed through staffing agencies are generally covered, though whether the agency or the host bears responsibility often turns on who controls the day-to-day work. Contracts with staffing agencies should spell this out.

Sole proprietors and business partners are not automatically covered. They can elect in by notifying their insurer.¹ Corporate officers are automatically covered and must affirmatively opt out by filing a Form 5 (Corporate Officer Notice to Reject) with the insurance carrier and giving a copy to the employer.³

Exemptions

Section 42-1-360 of the South Carolina Code lists the workers and employers outside the mandate:¹

Businesses with fewer than four regular employees and annual payroll under $3,000, though they can opt in voluntarily.
Agricultural employees, unless the farm employer elects coverage.
Casual employees hired for short-term tasks outside the employer’s usual business.
Railroad workers, who fall under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act.
Federal employees, who fall under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act.
Licensed real estate agents working on straight commission under a written independent contractor agreement.
Owner-operator truck drivers with a valid independent contractor contract with a motor carrier.

State and county fair associations are also exempt unless they elect coverage.

The independent contractor label deserves caution. South Carolina looks past what the contract says to how the relationship actually works. Where the hiring party controls how, when, and where the job gets done, a court can find an employment relationship no matter what the paperwork calls it. Misclassification is one of the quickest paths to penalties and back-owed benefits.

Benefits the System Pays

Temporary Total Disability

When an injury completely prevents an employee from working, the insurer pays a weekly benefit equal to 66⅔% of the worker’s average weekly wage. The benefit cannot fall below $75 per week (unless that exceeds actual wages) and cannot exceed the statewide average weekly wage for the preceding fiscal year.⁴ The SCWCC publishes the maximum rate each year.⁵

No compensation is owed for the first seven calendar days of disability. If the disability lasts longer than fourteen days, the insurer must go back and pay for those first seven days as well.⁴ Total disability payments can run for up to 500 weeks. Workers who are paraplegic, quadriplegic, or have suffered physical brain damage receive lifetime benefits.

Partial Disability and Scheduled Losses

Temporary partial disability pays 66⅔% of the difference between pre-injury wages and current earning ability, capped at 340 weeks. Permanent losses of specific body parts are compensated under a schedule that assigns a set number of weeks per body part, paid at 66⅔% of average weekly wage. Loss of a hand carries more weeks than loss of a finger.⁴

Death Benefits

If a work-related injury causes death within two years of the accident, or within six years if the worker remained totally disabled the whole time, the insurer pays 66⅔% of the worker’s average weekly wages to wholly dependent survivors for up to 500 weeks, plus burial expenses up to $12,000.⁴

Reporting an Injury

Two deadlines start running when someone gets hurt on the job. The employee has 90 days to notify the employer of the accident. For repetitive trauma injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, the 90 days start when the worker discovers, or reasonably should have discovered, that the condition is work-related.⁶ Missing the notice deadline can forfeit benefits, unless the worker shows a reasonable excuse and the employer wasn’t harmed by the delay.

The employer’s reporting obligation depends on how serious the injury is. Regulation 67-411 breaks it into three tiers:⁷

Minor injuries with under $500 in medical costs, no more than one lost workday, and no permanent effects: the employer can pay the medical costs directly without filing.
Moderate injuries with $500 or more in medical costs, more than one lost workday, or likely permanent effects: the employer must immediately send Form 12A (First Report of Injury) to the carrier.
Serious injuries with $2,500 or more in medical costs, compensable lost time, or permanent effects: the insurance carrier must file Form 12A with the SCWCC within ten business days of learning about the injury.

When in doubt, report. The Commission’s Compliance Division can fine employers for failure to file.

Statute of Limitations on Claims

The worker must file a formal claim with the SCWCC within two years of the accident. If the worker dies from the injury, dependents have two years from the date of death. For occupational diseases, the two-year clock does not start until the worker receives a definitive diagnosis and is notified of it.⁸

Repetitive trauma injuries follow a different rule: the claim must be filed within two years of when the worker knew or should have known the condition was compensable, but in no case more than seven years after the last date of harmful exposure. A claim filed one day late is typically barred.

Medical Treatment

South Carolina gives employers real control over medical care. During any period of disability, the employer picks the treating physician and directs the course of treatment. The worker must accept that provider, and treatment is furnished at no cost to the employee.⁹ If a worker sees an unauthorized doctor, the insurer can refuse to pay for that treatment.

The SCWCC can override the employer’s choice “for good cause shown,” but the worker has to petition the Commission. In contested cases, the Commission may order an independent medical examination to resolve disputes over diagnosis, treatment, or impairment rating.

Resolving Disputes

Most contested claims turn on whether the injury is work-related, what treatment is appropriate, or how much the worker should receive. Disputes usually begin with informal negotiations. If those fail, the worker files Form 50 for a standard claim or Form 52 for death benefits, with a $50 filing fee, which requests a hearing.¹⁰ A single commissioner hears testimony, reviews the medical evidence, and issues an award with written findings.¹¹

Either side can appeal the commissioner’s decision to the full Commission’s appellate panel. From there, the next stop is the South Carolina Court of Appeals. Procedural mistakes at the hearing level are hard to fix later.

Penalties for Employers Without Coverage

Going without required coverage costs more than a fine. The SCWCC’s Compliance Division investigates noncompliant employers and can assess fines for failure to file required reports.³ Willful noncompliance can be referred for criminal prosecution.

Uninsured employers are personally liable for every medical expense and wage replacement benefit an injured worker would have received through insurance. There is no cap. For contractors and residential home builders, knowingly falsifying workers’ compensation documentation or failing to report a lapse in coverage is fraud, and it carries a mandatory two-year license revocation on top of the criminal penalties.¹

The Commission can also issue stop-work orders against noncompliant employers, shutting down operations until coverage is in place.

Retaliation Is Prohibited

South Carolina law bars employers from firing or demoting an employee because that employee filed a workers’ compensation claim, caused one to be filed, or testified in a workers’ compensation proceeding.¹² The protection applies as long as the worker acted in good faith. Retaliation exposes the employer to a separate wrongful termination lawsuit with damages on top of the underlying claim.

How Federal Law Fits In

Two federal rules routinely sit alongside a South Carolina claim. Federal OSHA requires covered employers to record workplace injuries involving death, days away from work, restricted duties, job transfers, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness, and to report fatalities within eight hours.¹³ OSHA recordkeeping runs separately from the Form 12A filing, so one injury can trigger both.

A workers’ compensation injury that incapacitates an employee for more than three days and requires ongoing medical treatment generally qualifies as a serious health condition under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Employers can designate the workers’ compensation absence as FMLA leave and run both concurrently. Failing to designate FMLA in real time can stretch the total protected leave the employee ultimately gets.

1
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 42 Chapter 1 – Workers’ Compensation
2
Legal Information Institute. South Carolina Code Regulations 67-1502 – Self-Insurance, Granting the Privilege and Providing Proof of Compliance
3
South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission. South Carolina Code of Regulations Chapter 67
4
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 42 Chapter 9 – Compensation
5
South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission. Compensation Rates
6
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 42 Section 42-15-20 – Notice to Employer of Accident
7
Legal Information Institute. South Carolina Code Regulations 67-411 – Employer’s Report of Injury, Form 12A
8
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 42 Section 42-15-40 – Time for Filing Claim
9
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 42 Chapter 15 – Procedure
10
South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission. Claims Forms
11
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 42 Chapter 17 – Procedure Before Commission
12
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 41 Section 41-1-80 – Prohibition Against Discharge or Demotion of Employee
13
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. General Recording Criteria