Workers' Compensation Rates in Oklahoma (2026)

State Overview

Oklahoma requires all employers to carry workers' comp. The state's opt-out law (Oklahoma Employee Injury Benefit Act) was ruled unconstitutional by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2016.

How to find an Oklahoma workers' comp class code from a job description

There is no Oklahoma workers' comp class code for a job title. NCCI files the classifications used in Oklahoma, and the NCCI rules are what an auditor applies, and what gets classified is the employer's business — not the separate employments, occupations or operations inside it. "Machinist", "CNC operator", "general construction labor" and "data entry" are therefore work that sits inside whichever classification describes the business, not values you can look up on their own.

NCCI publishes Oklahoma's classifications in the Basic Manual for Workers Compensation and Employers Liability Insurance for Oklahoma (the Oklahoma edition, on file with the Insurance Department under 36 O.S. § 994 — an advisory organization has to file every statistical plan and all supplementary rating information, which 36 O.S. § 982(23) defines to include any manual or plan of classification, at least thirty days before its effective date, and the filing is deemed approved unless the Commissioner disapproves it inside that waiting period). To confirm the classification for a specific business, use the Insurance Department's public rate and form filing access, which opens the advisory organization's own Oklahoma classification, loss-cost and manual-rule filings, published by the Oklahoma Insurance Department rather than by NCCI — that is the filed authority for Oklahoma, and a code quoted from another state's manual is not. Oklahoma gives the argument a hearing before it gives it an appeal. Under 36 O.S. § 990(A) every advisory organization, and every insurer that makes its own rates, must provide a means inside Oklahoma for an insured aggrieved by the application of its rating system to be heard — in person or through a representative — on written request, to review how that rating system was applied to their insurance. A party affected by what the advisory organization then decides has thirty days from written notice of the action to apply in writing to the Insurance Commissioner, stating the grounds; § 990(C) gives the Commissioner thirty days to decide whether the application is made in good faith and shows grounds that justify a hearing, and if it is, a hearing follows on at least ten days' notice and the Commissioner affirms or reverses.

Oklahoma opens the classification argument to the public earlier than most states do. Under 36 O.S. § 987(F) an insurer's filing becomes public once it takes effect, but an advisory organization's filing is open to public inspection on the date the department receives it — so a proposed Oklahoma classification or manual-rule change is readable before it reaches anybody's policy, which is why the department's filing access is the honest lookup here rather than a bureau search box. What the filed classification does not settle is the price. The department publishes a Workers' Compensation Loss Cost Multiplier list precisely because each carrier files its own multiplier against the same loss costs, and 36 O.S. § 992(A)(3) bars insurers from agreeing to mandate adherence to any rate classification or rating rule at all, adding that two insurers consistently using the same classifications is not by itself evidence that they agreed to.

the Insurance Department's public rate and form filing access, which opens the advisory organization's own Oklahoma classification, loss-cost and manual-rule filings (official Oklahoma lookup)

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Related Guides for Oklahoma Employers

• The Complete Guide to Workers' Comp Costs in 2026

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• Compare Workers' Comp Rates by State

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• Workers' Comp Premium Calculator

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• Workers' Comp Class Codes Explained

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• NCCI Class Code Lookup & Directory

  Search workers' comp class codes by keyword to find the four-digit NCCI (or Oklahoma bureau) code for your business — then see how it is rated above.

• Experience Modification Rate (EMR) Explained

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• 5 Proven Ways to Lower Your Workers' Comp Premium

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• How Rates Are Calculated: NCCI vs Independent States

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