Yes, and by a lot. An office employee who works in a space separated from the shop and the job sites is rated in the clerical category, a small fraction of any field rate. Every Florida insurer uses the same state-approved rates, so the category, not the company, decides your bill. Who this is for: a Florida contractor who just noticed the office manager is on the workers comp policy at the same rate as the crew.
The short version
- Office staff who work behind a wall, partition, or counter away from the operations qualify for the clerical category.
- The clerical rate can be under one dollar per $100 of pay. Field categories run many times that.
- An estimator who visits job sites cannot be clerical. One who supervises a crew is rated in the trade.
- You cannot split one employee's pay between office and field by percentage. You need actual time records.
- In Florida every insurer uses the same approved rates, so the category is where the savings are.
Why does office work cost less to insure?
Workers comp premium is your payroll, divided by 100, times the rate for each job category, called a class code. The rate reflects how often people in that category get hurt. Office workers rarely do. The rates below are national illustrative ranges, not Florida's approved rates, and they move with the category, your credits, and your claims record.
| Job category | Illustrative national rate per $100 of pay | Premium on a $50,000 salary |
|---|---|---|
| Roofing | Roughly $12 to $20 | Roughly $6,000 to $10,000 |
| Carpentry | Roughly $6 to $11 | Roughly $3,000 to $5,500 |
| Electrical | Roughly $3 to $6 | Roughly $1,500 to $3,000 |
| Clerical office (Code 8810) | Well under $1 | A few hundred dollars |
That gap is the whole argument. See workers comp cost in Florida.
Who qualifies as clerical under the rules?
Under NCCI rules, which Florida uses, clerical is a standard exception with two tests. The employee must pass both.
| Test | Passes | Fails |
|---|---|---|
| Where they work | An office separated from the shop, yard, and job sites by a floor, wall, partition, counter, or other physical barrier | A desk in the corner of the shop, or a trailer on the job site |
| What they do | Correspondence, records, files, phone work and phone sales, data entry, copying, payroll, bookkeeping | Any exposure to the operations: loading trucks, running to the job site, handling materials, even now and then |
If your main trade category already says it includes clerical work, you cannot split the office out. Your broker can check the wording.
Can my estimator or project manager be clerical?
It depends on where they spend the day. Under NCCI rules an estimator who visits job sites is rated in a separate outside sales category, and that pay cannot be split with a construction category at any single job site. If the same person does construction work or supervises the crew at a site, all of that pay goes into the construction category. "Project manager" is not a rulebook term.
| What the person actually does | Category |
|---|---|
| Estimates from the office, never visits sites | Clerical, if the office test is met |
| Estimates and visits sites, no hands-on work, no supervising | A separate outside sales category, cheaper than the trade but more than office |
| Visits sites and supervises the crew | The construction category for that work |
Can I split one employee's pay between office and field?
Not into clerical. NCCI rules allow splitting pay between categories only when your payroll records show the actual hours worked in each. Estimates and percentages are not allowed, and clerical is never available for a split. A worker who spends mornings in the office and afternoons on site is rated entirely in the higher category.
What Florida-specific things should I watch?
- Audit. Your insurer's year-end payroll check will move an office employee into the field category if the records or the office layout do not support clerical. Keep job descriptions and a floor plan on file.
- Fraud. Calling a field worker office staff to cut premium is workers comp fraud in Florida, a felony graded by the dollar amount (F.S. 440.105). Classify honestly and document it.
- Owners. An owner who truly works only in the office is usually cheap to keep on the policy, because clerical is a fraction of any field rate. Ask your insurer what payroll it will use first: an included officer is rated on actual pay but subject to a state minimum and maximum, so a low paid owner is still charged on the minimum. See can I exclude myself from workers comp in Florida.
- Fixing it. Send your broker a list of employees with what each one does and where they sit, and ask for a classification review. The national rules are the same.
What this looks like in real life
Illustrative example. It is typical of what we see and is not a promise of how any specific situation would be handled.
The setup: A heating and cooling contractor in Lakeland has nine technicians, an office manager, and a dispatcher. The office is a separate suite in front of the shop, with a wall and a door. When the policy was written, all payroll went into the heating and cooling category.
What went wrong: The two office salaries cost about $5,060 a year in premium, illustrative. In the clerical category they would cost a few hundred. The dispatcher's phone work and data entry qualify, and she never enters the shop.
What it cost: About $4,800 a year in overpayment, illustrative. The broker sent job descriptions and a floor plan. At the Florida audit visit the auditor walked the suite, confirmed the dispatcher never crossed into the shop, and moved both to clerical.
The fix: Office staff behind a real wall belong in the clerical category. Ask for a classification review at every renewal, especially when the office moves or someone's role changes.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Should office staff cost less to insure than field employees in Florida?
Yes. An office employee who works in a space separated from the operations is rated in the clerical category at a small fraction of any field rate. If your office staff sit in the trade category, ask your broker for a classification review.
Q: How far back can the insurer correct a wrong category?
Going forward is straightforward once the office staff qualify. Whether the insurer will also reopen a closed audit depends on the insurer and on whether your records and office layout support the correction, so treat any refund as a possibility, not a certainty.
Q: What does the auditor look at when they visit my office?
Where people actually sit, whether a real barrier separates the office from the shop and yard, your payroll records by person, and job descriptions. If the layout and records do not match the policy, the auditor moves the payroll.
Q: Can I put my estimator in the clerical category in Florida?
Only if the estimator never visits job sites and meets the office test. One who visits sites is rated in a separate outside sales category. One who supervises crews is rated in the construction category.
Q: Can I split an employee's pay between office and field work?
Not into clerical. Splits are allowed only between certain categories and only with actual time records, never percentages. A part-office, part-field worker is rated in the higher category.
Q: Will a different Florida insurer rate my office staff cheaper?
No. Florida insurers use the same state-approved rates for each category. The savings come from getting the category right, which any insurer must honor if your records support it.
How Morrow helps
Morrow is a licensed independent commercial insurance brokerage that works with contractors and trades every day. Checking how a Florida contractor's office staff, estimators, and owners are classified is one of the first things we do on every workers comp review.
- Free contract review. Send us the contract or bid documents and we mark up the insurance section in plain English, whether or not you buy anything from us.
- Free, instant certificates. Clients issue their own certificates of insurance online in about a minute, any hour, any day, at no charge.
- Markets you cannot reach online. One application, shopped across many insurance companies for general liability, workers comp, auto, umbrella, and pollution coverage.
One more thing. This article is general information and is not legal advice or a statement of coverage. Your contract and your policy wording control in every case. Requirements vary by customer, by state, and by insurance company, so have a licensed advisor review your own contract and your own policy before relying on any of it.
Last updated: Reviewed by the Morrow commercial lines team. Last updated September 2026.