Liable for Workers You Hire? : Insurance: Coverage is essential for the various people that you bring in to do housework, yardwork, repair jobs or painting.

If you’re a homeowner, it’s likely that at some time or another you’ll hire somebody to work on your home. Your homeowner’s liability insurance will cover you for certain situations but not all, leaving you open for personal lawsuits.

Keep in mind that in terms of insurance coverage, degrees of responsibility vary from state to state. They also depend on what type of labor you might employ: domestic, casual or professional.

A domestic worker is hired to perform ordinary household duties such as preparing meals, mopping floors and making beds. Domestic workers are entitled to workers’ compensation insurance in many states. Depending on the state’s laws, insurance is purchased by the employer or jointly by employer and employee. The coverage provides cash benefits and medical coverage for workers who become disabled due to an on-the-job injury or sickness.

In one case, a New Jersey court ruled that a teen-ager who accidentally cut off his toe when he was hired to mow the grass fell under workers’ compensation rules. Because of this, the situation wasn’t covered under the homeowner’s regular liability insurance and a $2-million personal lawsuit resulted.

When covered by workers’ compensation insurance, an employee can’t sue his or her employer, so it’s a mutually beneficial system.

Casual labor refers to people you pay to work around your house on an occasional basis, such as baby-sitters age 17 and under, minors who might do odd jobs or an adult hired to do painting or repairs on a part-time basis. Casual workers are excluded from workers’ compensation laws but are covered on most standard homeowner’s policies.

Professional labor includes anyone that a homeowner enters into a written contract with to work on his or her property. Remodeling contractors, carpenters, roofers or landscapers fit into this category. These workers should have their own insurance. In most states, they can’t be licensed without it. It is still your responsibility to make sure these professionals are insured, so ask to see their certificates of insurance.

You are totally liable for any damage to property or personal injury involving an uninsured professional on your property. Also, if a professional is using any of your equipment, such as a ladder, you are liable for injury caused by any defect in that equipment. If he suffers an injury falling from his own ladder, you are not liable.

The gray area in liability is with casual labor. They’re probably covered under your homeowner’s policy, but only up to a certain amount.

For example, if you employ an uninsured college student to paint your house, and he falls off a ladder and suffers permanent spinal damage, your $50,000 liability probably won’t satisfy either him or his attorney.

Before amateurs engage in high-risk work on your property, talk to your insurance agent. It may be to your benefit to buy extra insurance, since you can have your policy altered to include a specific individual.

Remember, when purchasing a homeowner’s policy, you must disclose any hazards on your land, such as a hole or a pond. If you don’t, you won’t be covered in the event of an accident involving that hazard. Also, check out an umbrella liability policy. For about $100, you can buy $1 million worth of protection that covers situations well beyond the basic liability policy.

Homeowners are plowing a lot of money into their yards, but most homeowners insurance policies provide only limited coverage for such open-air investments. Up to $500 per plant or tree and up to 5% of the total value of the property is typical.

Now, according to Erik Haupt, chairman of the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers, there is a move afoot to develop special landscape insurance and to expand the scope of landscape protection under homeowners policies to include hazards such as wind damage. This new type of landscape protection may be available before the end of the year.

Distributed by AP Newsfeatures.