Workers' comp premium review for restaurants
Restaurant records combine hourly wages, overtime, tips, managers, kitchen work, delivery, and sometimes multiple locations. The review begins by making those streams visible.
What the official record says
WCIRB’s employer guidance says payroll generally includes gross wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, overtime payments, and paid leave, subject to specific exceptions in the California reporting plan. Its overtime rule allows the excess or premium portion to be excluded when records show it separately. Other states use their own approved manuals and exceptions, so the California rule should not be copied into a restaurant worksheet for another state without checking that state’s source.
What to check on the document
A useful export shows employee, location, department or role, regular pay, overtime hours, overtime premium, and total pay for the exact policy dates.
- Tie total remuneration to quarterly tax filings and explain any policy-period timing difference.
- Separate the extra overtime premium from straight-time wages instead of removing all overtime pay.
- List owners, managers, kitchen staff, servers, delivery staff, and temporary labor with their documented duties.
How to use the result
Give the broker any duty or code question before the record reaches the carrier. Our worksheet uses the codes already shown on the policy and makes the payroll arithmetic legible. It can identify a separately recorded overtime-premium line or missing labor document. It cannot decide that a restaurant role belongs in a different classification.
A premium review starts with the policy, the carrier’s audit statement, payroll records, and subcontractor documents for the same policy period. We preserve the class codes the carrier used and show the described work beside them. A class-code argument belongs with the broker and carrier. Auditors are often right; the free check says so when the bill looks right.
Operated by Reality Contact, LLC. This is document preparation and arithmetic, not insurance advice. Reality Contact, LLC is not an insurance agent, adjuster, or licensed insurance consultant. We do not contact your carrier; you or your broker sends it. No contingency.