In Virginia, a sole proprietor with no employees and no subcontractors is generally not required by law to carry workers' compensation — the mandate applies to businesses that regularly have more than two employees, counted broadly. But the count includes your subcontractors' workers, general contractors are liable for uninsured subs under the statutory-employer rule, and Virginia issues no exemption certificate — which is why the people who hire you ask for proof anyway.
This is the question every new solo electrician asks, usually the week a GC's office manager emails asking for "your workers' comp certificate." The short answer is genuinely short. The useful answer is about why the paperwork demand exists even when the statute doesn't require you to carry anything. Everything below is checked against the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission's published guidance — and none of it is legal advice; the Commission and a lawyer settle edge cases, not a blog.
The threshold: more than two, counted broadly
Virginia law requires an employer that regularly employs more than two part-time or full-time employees to carry workers' compensation coverage. "Employee" is read expansively — part-time, seasonal, and temporary workers count; minors count; working family members count; corporate officers count. The Commission's employer FAQ spells it out. So the mental model of "real employees" versus "just my nephew helping summers" does not survive contact with the statute.
How you yourself are counted
Per the Commission: a sole proprietor that has no employees and does not hire subcontractors is not required by law to carry coverage. A single-member LLC sits in similar territory — the member isn't automatically covered as an employee unless coverage is elected. Two important edges of that statement:
- Not required also means not covered. No policy, no benefits — if you fall off a ladder, there's no comp claim to file, and your health insurance and disability coverage are the whole safety net. Voluntary coverage can be purchased even when the law doesn't demand it; whether it's worth it for you is an agent-and-accountant conversation, not a rule.
- Virginia has no exemption form. Some states issue a certificate a sole proprietor can wave at GCs. Virginia explicitly does not — the Commission provides no exemption or waiver form for businesses not required to carry coverage. Keep that sentence handy; it explains a lot of confused email threads.
The sub-counting trap
Here's where solos get surprised. If a business hires subcontractors to perform the same trade or to fulfill a contract, the subcontractors' employees are included when counting that business's total. The Commission's own example on its contractor information page: a contractor with one employee who uses two subs with one employee each is at three — coverage required. So the day your one-truck shop starts subbing out, your headcount isn't what your payroll says it is.
The statutory employer rule — why GCs care so much
Virginia's statutory-employer law (Code § 65.2-302) makes a contractor liable for workers' compensation for workers of its subcontractors when the subs are performing the contractor's trade, business, or occupation, or fulfilling its contract. Add the insurance mechanics — at premium audit, a GC's carrier can charge the GC for uninsured subs it used — and the behavior makes sense: an uninsured sub is a cost and a liability the GC absorbs. That's why the office manager asks for the certificate, and why "the law doesn't require me to have it" is a true sentence that wins no arguments.
So why does everyone still ask me for paperwork?
Because from the hiring side, the possible outcomes are: (a) you carry coverage and hand over a certificate — clean; (b) you're a true solo with no coverage, which the GC's carrier may surcharge them for and which leaves an injury scenario legally murky; or (c) worst case, nobody checked. Sophisticated GCs and networks therefore ask everyone, every time. Some solos end up buying a policy mostly to make the friction disappear and price it into their rate; others work channels where the counting question is handled up front. Both are rational — what's not rational is discovering the question for the first time on a job site.
This is one of the quieter things a job network does for a one-truck shop: at Loadside the vetting conversation — license, GL, comp status — happens once, at application, not per-GC, per-job, per-email-thread. And the broader business context (the license ladder, the GL machine, the pricing math) is in the pillar: running a one-truck shop in Northern Virginia.
The decision points, summarized
| Your situation | What the Commission's guidance says |
|---|---|
| True solo — no employees, no subs | Coverage not required by law; also not covered. No exemption form exists. |
| Solo who hires subs | Subs' employees count toward your total; more than two total means coverage required. |
| Solo working under a GC | Expect to be asked for proof of coverage or a straight answer on your status — the GC carries statutory-employer exposure. |
| Hiring employees | More than two employees, regularly in service and counted broadly, triggers the mandate. |
Confirm anything load-bearing with the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission — the guidance above is a field summary of their published materials, current as of July 2026, not legal advice.