When hiring someone to clean your home, price should not be the only thing you consider. One of the most important questions to ask is whether the person or company carries workers’ compensation insurance, not just general liability insurance.
This applies whether you hire a large cleaning company, a small cleaning business, a two-person team, a solo cleaner, or an unlicensed individual.
Many cleaners may say they are “insured,” but that does not always mean they carry workers’ compensation. In many cases, “insured” may only mean they carry general liability insurance.
General liability insurance is not the same as workers’ compensation insurance.
General liability may help with certain claims involving accidental property damage or injury to a third party. It does not replace workers’ compensation coverage for workers who are injured while performing the duties of their job.
Workers’ compensation is the insurance designed to protect workers when they are hurt while working. It can help cover medical care, lost wages, rehabilitation, and death-related benefits in the event of a tragedy.
That matters because cleaning is real work with real physical risk. Cleaners lift, bend, scrub, climb, carry supplies, transport equipment, work around wet floors, handle chemicals, move through unfamiliar homes, and perform repetitive physical labor. A cleaner can suffer a fall, back injury, chemical exposure, head injury, broken bone, serious accident, or even a fatal injury while performing the duties of their job.
This is why customers should never assume, “It is just cleaning — my homeowner’s insurance will cover anything.”
That is not always true.
Not all homeowner’s insurance policies cover injuries to cleaners, household workers, domestic workers, independent contractors, unlicensed individuals, or employees of a company that should have been carrying workers’ compensation insurance. Coverage can be denied, limited, excluded, or disputed depending on the policy, the worker’s status, how the injury happened, whether the cleaner was operating legally, whether the company was properly insured, and whether workers’ compensation should have been in place.
If a cleaner is injured while performing the duties of their job in your home, on your property, or while traveling for the job, that injury still has to be paid for. If the person or company does not carry workers’ compensation insurance, the situation can become a serious dispute involving the injured worker, the cleaning business or individual cleaner, health insurance, vehicle insurance, homeowner’s insurance, attorneys, and possibly the homeowner.
A homeowner may be pulled into a claim if the injury is connected to a dangerous condition in the home, unsafe stairs, loose rugs, wet floors, pets, clutter, broken fixtures, unsafe access, chemical exposure, or any condition the homeowner knew about or should have warned the worker about.
Travel can also matter. Cleaners may drive between jobs, ride together, transport supplies, carry equipment, or travel as part of the workday. If a cleaner, small cleaning business, two-person team, or unlicensed individual gets into an accident while traveling for the job, and proper insurance is not in place, the situation can become very serious very quickly. Injured workers, passengers, insurance companies, or attorneys may look for other responsible parties if the proper coverage was not in place.
In New Mexico, most businesses with three or more workers are generally required to carry workers’ compensation insurance. That number may include more than just full-time employees. Part-time workers, seasonal workers, temporary workers, paid family members, and certain working owners may count.
A company also cannot simply avoid responsibility by calling workers “helpers,” “1099 workers,” “contractors,” or “family.” Worker classification depends on the actual working relationship, not just the label the company uses.
But here is another risk customers need to understand: if a very small cleaning operation truly has only two workers, or if it is just one unlicensed individual, they may not be legally required to carry workers’ compensation.
That does not mean the customer is safer.
It may mean there is no workers’ compensation policy at all.
If one of those cleaners is injured while performing the duties of their job, and the cleaner or business did not voluntarily purchase workers’ compensation or other proper coverage, there may be no workers’ compensation coverage available. The New Mexico Uninsured Employers’ Fund may not solve the problem if the person or business was not legally required to carry workers’ compensation in the first place.
That injury still has to be paid for.
This is the stark reality: without workers’ compensation insurance, the cost of an injury can become a fight between the injured worker, the cleaning business, the unlicensed individual, health insurance, vehicle insurance, homeowner’s insurance, attorneys, and possibly the homeowner.
An unlicensed individual may be cheaper because they do not carry the expensive protections that legitimate companies carry. They may not have workers’ compensation. They may not have general liability. They may not have business auto coverage. They may not have payroll, taxes, employee protections, safety systems, or legal business operations in place.
That lower price may come with risk.
A cheaper cleaner is not cheaper if an injury, insurance denial, lawsuit, vehicle accident, or tragedy lands at the homeowner’s door.
Maid O’ Matic carries workers’ compensation insurance because cleaning is real work with real risk. It is expensive, but it protects our employees, our clients, and our business.
We believe a legitimate cleaning company should protect the people doing the work and the customers hiring the service. Proper insurance helps keep responsibility where it belongs — with the business providing the service, not with the homeowner left wondering who pays after something goes wrong.
Before hiring anyone to clean your home — whether it is a company, a small business, a two-person team, a solo cleaner, or an unlicensed individual — ask for proof of both general liability insurance and workers’ compensation insurance.
If they cannot provide proof of workers’ compensation, the lower price may come with a risk you do not want in your home.