N.Y. Workers’ Comp Fund Offers Online Certificate Validation

New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) Executive Director David P. Wehner today announced the promotion of a new on-line tool at www.nysif.com wherein businesses can now validate certificates of insurance in minutes. NYSIF is the first New York workers’ compensation carrier to offer on-line verification.

Wehner said the initiative would “greatly reduce fraud” involving false certificates of insurance.

Government agencies, as well as contractors and other businesses, rely on certificates of insurance to prove coverage is in place. In the past, certificates of insurance have been easy to falsify and once issued, would not reflect if coverage had been cancelled, according to Wehner.

Users can now visit nysif.com for real-time verification. The process confirms whether a Certificate of Insurance was issued under the listed policy number and gives the period of coverage as well as the certificate holder.

If the information is incorrect, users receive a message that no valid certificate was found for the information entered. Users are instructed to recheck the information and try again. There are further instructions if they suspect that the certificate they have is fraudulent.

In addition to the validation feature, NYSIF policyholders can create certificates of insurance on the NYSIF web site, report a work-related injury, view monthly bills and account summaries, benefit from a return-to-work program, request a quote and apply for a policy.

NYSIF is a non-profit agency of the state of New York that was created as part of the Workers’ Compensation Law of 1914. By law, NYSIF is a competitive insurance carrier that sells workers’ compensation and disability benefits insurance to any employer doing business in New York State. Approximately 195,000 employers hold NYSIF workers’ compensation insurance policies, constituting about 37 percent of the market.