MN self-insurance program bonds.
2% of the bond amount.
A Minnesota employer that pays workers’ compensation benefits without buying an insurance policy does so on a privilege granted by the commissioner of commerce under Minnesota Statutes chapter 79A, and the commissioner takes a security deposit for it. A surety bond on the statutory form is one of the accepted deposits. Our premium is priced at 2% of the bond amount, with a $100 minimum. The application includes a credit consent, but it authorizes a soft credit pull only — a soft inquiry that never affects your score. No hard inquiry ever runs on this bond.
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Apply to filed in one sitting.
The Commerce side of a self-insurance file runs on its own clock — an application is granted or denied within 60 days of being complete. The bond is not the slow part:
Apply online
Your company details, years in business, the security amount your program requires, and an effective date. Sizeable programs may draw a short underwriter look at financials.
Pay & e-sign
Most applications approve instantly. Because these bonds run six and seven figures, a larger amount can get a brief review — and if a check runs, it is a soft pull that will not touch your score.
File with Commerce
Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to file with the Department of Commerce against your self-insurance application, your annual report, or a scheduled deposit installment.
What it is and who needs it.
What the self-insurance bond actually guarantees
Minnesota lets an employer skip the workers’ compensation policy and pay claims directly — but only with the commissioner of commerce’s permission, and only against security. The statutory bond form makes the beneficiary plain: the principal and surety are held and firmly bound to the State of Minnesota, and the obligation is to pay and furnish compensation under the workers’ compensation statute to the principal’s employees for injury or disability, and to their dependents. The injured worker, not the State’s treasury, is who this ultimately protects.
The amount is actuarial, not arbitrary. The minimum deposit is 110 percent of the private self-insurer’s estimated future liability, established by a study from a Fellow or Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society, and the commissioner may require more — chapter 79A lets a self-insurer be told to post double the ordinary amount in some circumstances. Because the estimate moves with payroll and open reserves, so does the bond: the financial requirements have to be met annually, and deposits are posted in a scheduled sequence tied to the annual report rather than in one lump.
The penal sum reaches further than the raw benefit number. Administrative, legal, and actuarial costs the surety or the self-insurers’ security fund incurs in discharging the principal’s obligations, together with assessments under chapters 79A and 176, are also a charge against it — which is why underwriters size these carefully. Cancellation is slow on purpose: written notice by registered or certified mail to the commissioner of commerce, effective 60 days after receipt. It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays, you reimburse the surety.
You need this bond if you are
One application, then a quick review.
Submit the application with the security amount your program requires. Because these run six and seven figures, larger amounts may draw a short underwriter look at financials.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Minnesota bonds.
Keep the self-insurance privilege.
2% of the bond amount, from $100, soft pull only, on the chapter 79A statutory form. Free until issued.