Appetite
Know if we'll write it before you build the packet.
Appetite is screened against each contracted market's written guidelines by a versioned rules engine — not a phone call to an underwriter who may or may not remember. Here is what the panel writes, and what it doesn't. Contracted panel: 2 PEO · 1 ASO · 1 WC. Named markets disclosed at contracting.
Mod ceiling
To 3.00 with a remediation story
Premium band
$25k – $2M+ annual WC premium
States
Placement states where ERA holds resident or nonresident licensing
Core focus
Staffing, construction, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare
Structures
Admitted · Surplus · PEO · PayGo
We write
The files that die on the fourth application.
- › High-mod accounts other wholesalers stopped shopping
- › Groups declined by a bundled PEO or ASO carrier
- › Assigned-risk exits with a credible remediation plan
- › Multi-state payroll with mixed class codes
- › Prior cancellation or non-renewal inside the last 24 months
- › Open lost-time claims with active return-to-work management
- › Mid-term takeouts when an incumbent walks
- › PEO and ASO placements needing a standalone WC solution
We don't
Publishing the declines saves us both a week.
- × Personal lines, health, and life placements
- × Sub-$25k premium accounts with no growth story and a 3.00+ mod
- × Professional athletes, aviation crew, and marine/USL&H-only exposures
- × Owner-only shells with no reportable payroll
- × Accounts where the retail agent is not the agent of record
- × Submissions without loss runs or any way to obtain them
- × Anything requiring ERA to rate, bind, or issue on its own paper
- × Direct-to-employer business — we are wholesale only
Class families
Where the panel concentrates.
Staffing & PEO worksite
Light industrial, clerical, hospitality staffing, and worksite employee populations.
Construction trades
Framing, roofing, concrete, electrical, mechanical, and specialty subcontractors.
Transportation
Local and regional trucking, last-mile delivery, and non-emergency medical transport.
Manufacturing
Metal fabrication, plastics, food processing, and light assembly.
Healthcare
Home care, assisted living, behavioral health, and clinical staffing.
Everything else
Retail, hospitality, landscaping, janitorial, and professional offices.
Risk characteristics we expect
None of these disqualify a submission on their own.
Mods 2.00 and above
Prior cancellation or non-renewal
Coverage lapse in the prior term
Open lost-time claims
Assigned risk exits
New ventures with projected payroll
Multi-state payroll
Misclassified payroll on the expiring dec page
30-second check-fit
Screen the risk before you build the packet.
Indicative only. This check reflects the general working parameters of our contracted panel — it is not an appetite screen of record, and every account is underwritten on its own facts by the market that writes it.
Guide
The ERA Appetite Guide
The full written parameters our screening engine runs against — class families, mod tolerance by structure, documentation thresholds, and the decline list in detail.
- › Class family detail with the characteristics that move a file
- › What a remediation story has to contain to clear a 2.00+ mod
- › Documentation thresholds by premium band
- › The decline list, with the reasoning behind each line
Not sure which side you're on? Send it anyway.
A same-day yes or no is worth more than a maybe. Same-day acknowledgment. Indication in 48 hours.