Workers' comp when you work alone in Illinois

The one-person answer, in the state's own paperwork

A self-employed contractor with no employees files paperwork instead of a policy. Illinois agencies build the choice into their registration forms rather than leaving it unspoken.

The plumbing application asks the question on its first page: do you have any employees besides yourself? If no, you complete the enclosed Affidavit of No Employees instead of carrying coverage. Corporations, partnerships and LLCs reject coverage through the opt-out form. An event office states the same rule in one line: workers' compensation proof is needed only if employing help.

None of that is a gap in enforcement. It is the design: the requirement attaches to having employees, and the forms ask the question directly so the answer is on file. What the forms say is what this page holds to, section by section.

$500,000 if employeesThe IDPH plumbing application asks whether the contractor has employees, requiring $500,000 workers' compensation coverage if yes and the Affidavit of No Employees if no. — Illinois Department of Public Health, plumbing contractor application, retrieved 2026-09-29

only if employing helpIllinois State Fair vendors must certify workers' compensation insurance in the amount required by law only if employing help, not for individual, contracted workers or family. — Illinois State Fair, vendor insurance requirements, retrieved 2026-09-29

The affidavit and the opt-out form

Two forms carry the no-employee answer, and which one you file follows the ownership type on the registration.

The Affidavit of No Employees is the plumbing program's instrument. It is signed under penalties of perjury by an owner, partner, officer or manager/member, declares the contractor has no employee receiving wages reportable on a W-2, and must be notarized. One page, one signature, no premium.

The opt-out form is for the incorporated. Corporations with no employees other than the four main corporate officers — president, vice president, secretary and treasurer — complete Part A, each officer signing. Partnerships with no employees other than the partners complete Part B. LLCs with no employees other than managers and members complete Part C. By signing, each person rejects benefits provided by the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act, and only the individuals who sign are excluded.

notarizedThe Affidavit of No Employees is signed under penalties of perjury by an owner, partner, officer or manager/member, and must be notarized. — Illinois Department of Public Health, Affidavit of No Employees, retrieved 2026-09-29

opt-out formThe IDPH opt-out form is for corporations with no employees other than their four main officers, partnerships, and LLCs, and signers reject Workers' Compensation Act benefits. — Illinois Department of Public Health, workers' compensation coverage opt-out form, retrieved 2026-09-29

The day you hire someone

The exemption is a statement about your payroll, and it expires the day the payroll stops being yours alone. Every form that granted it asks again at renewal.

The plumbing application states the trigger exactly: employees means anyone receiving wages — clerical, janitorial, plumbers and the rest. Hire a part-time helper and the affidavit on file becomes false, not merely out of date, and the registration expects a $500,000 workers' compensation line on the certificate instead.

The roofing license shows what the state looks for once employees exist: proof of workers' compensation insurance for roofing as a certificate of insurance from the insurance provider, or a Certificate of Approval as a Self-Insurer from the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, plus the firm's unemployment insurance account number and proof it is not delinquent under the Unemployment Insurance Act. Where to buy the policy once that day comes is the insurance providers page.

WC proof on hiringThe Illinois roofing application requires workers' compensation proof as a certificate or a self-insurer certificate, plus the firm's unemployment insurance account number. — Illinois Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation, roofing contractor application, retrieved 2026-09-29

Officers, partners and members

The opt-out form is precise about who can be excluded, and the precision is the protection: it stops an owner opting out on someone else's behalf.

A corporation's Part A collects the signatures of the officers being excluded — president, vice president, secretary, treasurer — and each signer is excluded individually. A partnership's Part B does the same for each partner, an LLC's Part C for each manager and member. Nobody is excluded who does not sign.

The reverse matters as much as the front. An employee cannot be excluded by anyone's signature, and the form's own eligibility lines — "with no employees other than" — are what make that true. The structure of your business decides which part you sign, and the consequences of signing are personal: the signer gives up benefits as an employee of their own company.

signature-bound exclusionUnder the IDPH opt-out form, only the individuals who sign are excluded, and only for ownership types with no employees other than their own people. — Illinois Department of Public Health, workers' compensation coverage opt-out form, retrieved 2026-09-29

What clients and venues ask for anyway

Private askers treat workers' comp as a question on the certificate, and their wording varies even when the state's does not.

The Illinois State Fair's requirement sheet is the published example: vendors certify workers' compensation insurance in the amount required by law and provide proof — only if employing help, not needed for individual contracted workers or family. That is the pattern most private contracts follow, with the hiring party's own certificate wording on top.

A certificate with no workers' comp line answers that ask when the no-employee paperwork is honest, and the mechanics of getting every other line on that certificate right are the certificate of insurance guide. What a certificate does not answer is the bond half of a stack — that separation is the bond versus insurance page.

only if employing helpState Fair vendors certify workers' compensation insurance only if employing help, and not for individual, contracted workers or family. — Illinois State Fair, vendor insurance requirements, retrieved 2026-09-29

What opting out means for you

Opting out is not free cover. The signer of the opt-out form rejects benefits under the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act — meaning if the signer is hurt on the job, the workers' comp system is not the route for it.

For a one-person trade that is a real calculation. The alternatives are health insurance for the injury itself and general liability for the damage you cause others, and neither is a workers' comp substitute: general liability policies exclude injuries to the insured and employees, per the carriers' own published policy descriptions.

What none of this affects is the bond, the registration, or the license. Those ask different questions. The full stack in one order is the get bonded and insured guide, and the ownership type that picks your opt-out form part is covered on the structure page.

exclusion, not coverERGO NEXT's general liability description excludes injuries to the insured or employees, and opt-out signers reject Illinois Workers' Compensation Act benefits. — ERGO NEXT general liability insurance page, retrieved 2026-09-29

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