Colorado self-insuring employer bonds.
From $4,500.
Colorado lets a large employer pay its own workers' compensation claims under a special self-insurance permit from the Executive Director of the Department of Labor and Employment, against accepted security such as this bond, with a $300,000 floor. Our premium is priced at 1.5% of the bond amount.
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How much does a Colorado self-insuring employer bond cost?
1.5% of the bond amount, from $4,500 at the $300,000 minimum. Enter your amount in the calculator for the exact price.
Three steps. One sitting.
The permit is the long part; the bond is not. Enter the amount your self-insurance packet prescribes, pay, and file the executed bond with the Division. Here is the whole thing:
Apply online
Your company details, your self-insurance permit block number, the security amount the Executive Director prescribed, and the effective date — plus a one-time consent that authorizes a soft credit pull.
Pay & e-sign
Your price is final at checkout — 1.5% of the bond amount. The application includes a credit consent, but it authorizes a soft credit pull only — a soft inquiry that never affects your score. One soft credit pull, never a hard inquiry, and it never affects your score.
File with the Division of Workers' Compensation
Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to file with your self-insurance application, your renewal, or a security increase the Director has ordered. Wet-ink originals mailed on request.
What it is and who needs it.
What the self-insurance bond actually guarantees
Colorado employers must carry workers' compensation coverage, and most buy it from an insurer or from Pinnacol Assurance. A third route exists: self-insurance. Under C.R.S. § 8-44-201 the Executive Director of the Department of Labor and Employment may grant an employer permission to be its own insurance carrier, and holds the sole power to prescribe the rules, terms and conditions on which that permit is granted or continued — and to revoke it at any time, at which point the employer must immediately insure the liability elsewhere.
The permit is not casual. Under the self-insurance rules at 7 CCR 1101-4 an applicant is expected to regularly employ at least 300 employees in Colorado, a threshold the Executive Director may waive for a corporation meeting stated financial tests — total assets of $100,000,000 or more, a current ratio of 1.5:1 or better, or long-term debt to tangible net worth of 1:1.5 or less. A permitted self-insurer also carries specific excess insurance with limits and retentions the Director accepts, and aggregate excess may be required as a condition of approval.
The bond is the security behind all of it. It runs to the state and stands behind payment of the claims you have taken onto your own balance sheet, so an injured worker is not left exposed if the employer fails. Accepted security includes cash, government bonds, certificates of deposit and other liquid forms bound in trust, an irrevocable letter of credit, or a surety bond on the Executive Director's prescribed form from a surety authorized by the Colorado Insurance Commissioner — and it carries a 90-day notice before a surety may terminate liability. It is not insurance for you: if the surety pays, you repay the surety.
You need this bond if you are
Claims, renewal, filing, and what sets the price.
If a claim is made
A claim comes from the party the bond protects, the obligee named on the form, when the duty the bond guarantees is not met.
The surety investigates and pays a valid claim, up to the bond amount. You then repay the surety: a surety bond is a guarantee of your performance, not insurance for you.
Renewal and term
The premium covers a one-year term from the effective date you choose.
Renew before the expiry date to keep the bond in force: the license, permit or contract it backs expects continuous coverage.
How to file it
File with the Division of Workers' Compensation. Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to file with your self-insurance application, your renewal, or a security increase the Director has ordered. Wet-ink originals mailed on request.
What sets the price
The premium is 1.5% of the bond amount, $100 minimum: the amount the obligee sets moves the price, not your business profile.
One soft credit pull, never a hard inquiry, and it never affects your score.
Where a check runs, it decides approval; the rate is the same for everyone approved.
One application, issued instantly.
These are the actual issuing fields — including your self-insurance permit block number and a one-time consent that authorizes a soft credit pull only. Your exact price is set at the application from $4,500.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Colorado bonds.
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Post the security and keep the permit.
Premiums from $4,500, soft pull only, and your price is final at checkout. Enter the amount the Executive Director prescribed and file the bond the same day. Free until issued.