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  2. Worker Classification
  3. Worker's Compensation
  4. Religious Sect Exemption

Worker's Compensation - Worker Classification

Religious Sect

Employers may apply for an exemption from the duty to insure workers who belong to a religious sect, such as Amish or Mennonites, whose tenets and teachings oppose accepting benefits of any public or private insurance payments for death, disability, old age or retirement, or that makes payments towards the cost of medical care, including federal social security benefits.

The exemption is not automatic. It applies only if all the following occur:

  1. the employer applies for an exemption;
  2. the religious sect has a long standing history (25 years is presumed to be long-standing history) of providing its members who become dependent on the sect as a result of work-related injuries, with a standard of living and medical treatment that are reasonable when compared to the general standard of living and medical treatment for members of the religious sect;
  3. the worker waives his or her rights to worker's compensation and requests an exemption; and,
  4. the religious sect agrees to pay benefits at a reasonable standard of living and medical treatment when compared to the general standards for members of the sect. To qualify for this exemption, employers must apply to the Worker's Compensation Division.
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