§85A-126. Agreement between general contractor and subcontractor to

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provide workers' compensation coverage.

A. For the purposes of this section:

1. “General contractor” means a person or entity who undertakes to procure the performance of work or a service, either separately or through the use of subcontractors. General contractor shall include, but is not limited to, a principal contractor, an original contractor, a prime contractor or other analogous term, and one who owns, occupies, possesses, or otherwise controls a premises who enters into contracts with subcontractors for all or part of the work being performed on the premises;

2. “Provides workers’ compensation insurance coverage” means to make available workers’ compensation insurance coverage. Workers’ compensation insurance coverage may be provided, even if it does not ultimately cover an incident, so long as it was made available to the subcontractor. The following does not constitute acceptable or relevant evidence to suggest that workers’ compensation insurance made available to a subcontractor was not provided to the subcontractor:

a. timing discrepancies between the issuance of workers’

compensation insurance policies and contracts between

and among general contractors and subcontractors,

b. factual discrepancies in secondary documentation such

as certificates of insurance or enrollment forms,

c. a general contractor’s lack of notice of election of

coverage, or

payment of premiums, or lack thereof, by the general

contractor; and

3. “Subcontractor” means a person or entity with whom the general contractor has entered into a contract to perform all or part of the work or services that the general contractor has undertaken to perform, and includes a person or entity with whom a subcontractor contracts to perform the work.

B. A general contractor and a subcontractor may enter into a written agreement under which the general contractor provides workers’ compensation insurance coverage to the subcontractor and employees of the subcontractor.

C. If a general contractor has workers’ compensation insurance to protect the general contractor’s employees and if, in the course and scope of the general contractor’s business, the general contractor enters into a contract with a subcontractor who does not have employees, the general contractor shall be treated as the employer of the subcontractor for the purposes of the Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act and may enter into an agreement for the deduction of premiums paid in accordance with subsection D of this section.

A premise owner who acts as a general contractor shall be treated as the employer of all subcontractors for the purposes of the Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act and may enter into an agreement for the deduction of premiums paid in accordance with subsection D of this section.

D. If a general contractor elects to provide coverage, then the actual premiums based on payroll that are paid or incurred by the general contractor for the coverage may be deducted from the contract price or other amount owed to the subcontractor by the general contractor.

E. An agreement under this section makes the general contractor the employer of the subcontractor and the subcontractor’s employees only for the purposes of this title. A subcontractor or subcontractor’s employee’s rights and remedies against the general contractor or any principal, officer, director, employee, stockholder, partner, or prime contractor of the general contractor shall be subject to the limitations pursuant to Section 5 of Title 85A of the Oklahoma Statutes. The limitations in this subsection shall only apply to claims against the general contractor.

To the extent not otherwise precluded by Section 5 of Title 85A of the Oklahoma Statutes, a subcontractor or subcontractor’s employee retains the right to recover from another subcontractor or subcontractor’s employee.

F. Notwithstanding subsection C of this section, a person who performs work or provides a service for an oil or gas well operator and who is an independent contractor that has no employees shall be treated in the same manner as an independent contractor with employees and is not entitled to coverage under the general

contractor’s workers’ compensation insurance policy unless the independent subcontractor and the general contractor enter into an agreement under this section. Added by Laws 2025, c. 293, § 2, emerg. eff. May 23, 2025.