Whether you are having a parking lot sealed, a new driveway installed or a street repaved, you want to make sure that you work with a reputable asphalt contractor. Otherwise, you could wind up with shoddy work that will not last as it should. You may have checked on the quality of the contractor's work, asked your acquaintances for referrals and called the Better Business Bureau. However, if you do not make sure that your asphalt contractor is fully insured, you could still be leaving yourself open to risk. If Your Contractor Does Not Carry Workers' Compensation and General Liability Insurance Workers' compensation is a form of insurance that virtually all businesses are required to carry on their employees. Should one of your contractor's employees suffer a job-related injury or illness, the contractor's workers' compensation insurance will pay for the employee's medical treatment and lost wages; if the employee dies as a result of a job-related incident, …show more content…
Nor will workers' compensation cover damages to property caused by the contractor or his employees. For example, if one of your contractor's employees accidentally destroys your landscaping, damages a customer's car or causes one of your employees to be injured in a fall, workers' compensation insurance will not help you or the contractor. However, if your contractor carries general liability insurance, his policy will pay for repairs to the damaged property or for the medical expenses and lost wages incurred by a person injured who is not an employee of the contractor. If your contractor does not have a general liability policy, however, the affected party could sue you to recover the costs of repairs or medical care and other