Arkansas Workers’ Comp Exemption
We file workers’ compensation exemptions for Arkansas sole proprietors, LLC members, and corporate officers. Send us your details and we’ll confirm whether you qualify and handle the filing.
When coverage is required in Arkansas
Coverage is mandatory for employers that regularly employ three (3) or more employees in the course of business (Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102). Domestic servants, gardening/maintenance workers, agricultural farm laborers, casual employees, and certain religious/charitable nonprofit and real-estate-agent categories fall outside the statutory definition of covered employment.
Who can be excluded in Arkansas
Sole proprietors
Not automatically required to carry coverage on themselves; a sole proprietor with no employees of their own may apply to the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission (AWCC) for a Certificate of Non-Coverage (CNC) to formally elect not to be treated as an "employee" under the Act.
Partners
Same mechanism as sole proprietors — a partner in an unincorporated entity may apply for a Certificate of Non-Coverage from the AWCC.
LLC members
Same mechanism — an LLC member with no employees of their own may apply for a Certificate of Non-Coverage from the AWCC.
Corporate officers
Corporate officers are NOT handled through the Certificate of Non-Coverage (Form A/AR-A) process used for sole proprietors, partners, and LLC members. Per a secondary source, corporate-officer exclusions are instead arranged directly through the insurance agent/carrier. This could not be independently confirmed against an official AWCC statement fetched during this research and should be verified directly with AWCC (501-682-3930) before publishing as settled fact.
Construction rules in Arkansas
Multiple secondary (non-official) sources state that construction employers must carry workers' compensation coverage even with fewer than 3 employees — i.e., construction is exempt from the small-employer threshold that otherwise applies. I was not able to verify this specific carve-out against the official statute text or an AWCC page directly fetched during this research, so it is flagged here as medium-confidence rather than confirmed.
How the exemption is filed
Arkansas runs a true state exemption registry (unlike some other states) for sole proprietors, partners, and LLC members: apply using AWCC Form A / Form AR-A ("Application for Certificate of Non-Coverage"), which per secondary sources requires a notarized affidavit and a $50 fee, with roughly a 10-business-day processing time. Corporate officers use a different, carrier-based mechanism instead of this state certificate.
- Statute
- Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102
- Market
- Competitive — coverage is bought from a private carrier.
Notes and open questions
The official AWCC pages I was able to fetch directly (awcc-forms, awcc-about-us/basic-facts, awcc-certificates-of-noncoverage) confirmed the existence, name, and administering agency of the Certificate of Non-Coverage and Form A/AR-A, but did NOT themselves state the $50 fee, the notarization requirement, the ~10-day processing time, or the exclusion of corporate officers from this form — those specific procedural details come from consistent secondary/legal-directory sources rather than text I could directly confirm on an official AWCC page in this session. Treat the fee and processing-time figures as medium confidence pending a direct AWCC confirmation.
Sources
- https://labor.arkansas.gov/workers-comp/awcc-forms/
- https://labor.arkansas.gov/workers-comp/awcc-about-us/basic-facts/
- https://labor.arkansas.gov/workers-comp/awcc-certificates-of-noncoverage/
Source material dated Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing / AWCC web pages accessed 2026-08-30 (undated). Compiled from official Arkansas sources as a starting point, not legal advice — rules change, and your situation may turn on facts this page cannot see. Confirm with Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission (AWCC) or ask us and we’ll check it for you.
Workers' comp exemption filing in Arkansas
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