Sixty to ninety days before a California workers' compensation policy expires, gather payroll by class code, the experience modification, loss runs, the last audit, and any owner exclusion. A shop of one to five people in Stockton, San Jose, or the Central Valley should do that before the insurer prints the quote. This page does not promise a lower premium.
Start 60 to 90 days before the expiration date, while the policy is still in force. Pull payroll by class code, ask if an experience modification applies, order loss runs, reconcile the last audit, and check any owner waiver. A shop of one to five people in Stockton, San Jose, or the Central Valley usually moves on one of those items. None of them promises a lower price.
Definition. A workers' compensation renewal is the next policy term the insurer offers when the current term reaches its expiration date, often called the x-date. The new term still has to secure the payment of compensation. Labor Code section 3700 requires every employer except the state to do that, including by insurance from an insurer authorized to write compensation insurance in California. Letting the old term lapse does not pause the duty.
Insurance City Agency, LLC, CA Lic #6003045, writes this line statewide. The phone is 209-670-1556. This page explains the worksheet and does not quote a premium.
The renewal starts from payroll the employer expects to pay in each class code during the next term. Field payroll and clerical payroll are not the same rating base. If someone moved from the office to the tools, the class code changes with the work. Put the next twelve months of payroll beside the code before the insurer prints the renewal.
On a crew of one to five, one misfiled person is a large share of the payroll. The WCIRB publishes the statistical plan those classes live in. Guessing a lighter class is how an audit comes back later.
An experience modification compares an employer's prior losses with what the rating plan expected. It applies only when the employer meets the eligibility rule in the California Workers' Compensation Experience Rating Plan. A two-person shop may or may not meet that threshold. Do not assume either way.
Source: WCIRB, USRP, ERP and Miscellaneous Regulations, September 1, 2026 Experience Rating Plan. This page does not convert that threshold into a payroll dollar amount.
If the account is eligible, read the modification on the worksheet. This page will not say a clean year makes the renewal smaller.
Loss runs are the insurer's list of claims on the policy. Ask for them before the renewal talk, so open and closed claims are both visible. The premium audit compares estimated payroll with payroll actually paid. When the audit misses the deposit, the next term often starts from the audited figures.
The step-by-step of an audit is already written on the California workers' comp audit guide. Use this page for the calendar: reconcile the audit before you accept a renewal that was built on it.
An open claim can stay on the loss run after the person is back at work. The loss run is not a promise about next year's price.
Some owners can be excluded, and that changes which payroll the insurer rates. The waiver takes effect when the insurer accepts it. Other business forms follow different rules.
Section 3351 treats paid officers as employees unless they elect out. Sole proprietors, partners, and LLC managing members are on the owner-exemption guide. Employees stay covered under section 3700.
File the waiver before the renewal prints. A waiver signed after the x-date does not rewrite a term that already started. Acceptance may be backdated up to 15 days, not through last year.
Five changes show up again and again on a small-employer renewal: payroll by class code, whether an experience modification applies, the loss run, the last audit, and an owner waiver that was added or withdrawn. A new location or a new kind of work can add a class code. None of these items is a coupon. Each one is a fact the underwriter prices.
| What changed | What the renewal looks at | What to bring |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll up or down, or a person changed jobs | The rating base by class code | A payroll sheet for the next term, split by the work people do |
| The account does or does not meet the WCIRB threshold | Whether an experience modification is on the policy | The WCIRB worksheet, or a note that the account is not experience rated |
| A claim opened or stayed open | The loss run behind that modification, if one applies | Current loss runs from the insurer on the policy now |
| The audit did not match the deposit | The payroll the next deposit is built from | The audit billing and the books, side by side |
| An owner waiver was accepted or pulled back | Whether that owner's pay stays in the base | The signed waiver and the carrier's acceptance |
A two-person shop and a five-person crew can land on different sides of that rule.
Ninety days out, gather the records. Sixty days out, correct them. Thirty days out, read the renewal line by line and bind before the x-date so the duty in Labor Code section 3700 does not sit uncovered. The list below is the order. It is not a promise that the premium will fall.
A lapse is a section 3700 problem. Section 3710.1 is the stop-order statute if compensation is not secured.
If the quote does not match the payroll sheet, ask which number was used before you sign. Call 209-670-1556.
La misma lista de 90, 60 y 30 días, escrita para quien busca renovación de compensación de trabajadores y cotización.
No price promise. A renewal can go up when payroll, a claim, or a class code changes. This page does not say the renewal will be lower, and it does not publish a premium. The only phone number is 209-670-1556.
Request a callback. Leave a name and a phone number. A licensed agent at Insurance City Agency, LLC, CA Lic #6003045, will call about this coverage. Or call 209-670-1556.
Start 60 to 90 days before the x-date. That window is long enough to gather payroll by class code, loss runs, the last audit, and any owner waiver before the insurer prints the renewal. Waiting until the week the policy ends leaves no time to correct a class code.
For the Experience Rating Plan edition effective September 1, 2026, the WCIRB publishes the approved eligibility threshold on its regulations page, linked above. Confirm whether this account meets it. A small payroll does not automatically sit below the threshold.
No. This page does not promise that. The modification is one factor, and only if the employer is eligible. Payroll, class codes, and the audit can move the renewal the other way. Read the quote against the documents instead of expecting a reduction.
Sometimes. Other business forms follow different rules. Use the owner-exemption guide before anyone is removed.
Labor Code section 3700 still requires the employer to secure compensation. Section 3710.1 provides a stop order prohibiting the use of employee labor until the employer complies. Bind the renewal before the x-date rather than letting the term expire.
Insurance City Agency, LLC, CA Lic #6003045. The form on this page is the quote request. Bring the x-date and the payroll by class code.