# South Dakota — State employment law headcount triggers that deviate from federal thresholds

For South Dakota, law category is workers compensation; state threshold is Not mandated; key differences is South Dakota does not legally require employers to carry workers' compensation insurance. Coverage is strongly recommended, because going without it removes the legal protections the system provides and exposes the business to lawsuits; coverage / scope is n/a, recorded from its source on 2026-08-14.

- **State:** South Dakota _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Law category:** workers compensation _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **State threshold:** Not mandated _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Key differences:** South Dakota does not legally require employers to carry workers' compensation insurance. Coverage is strongly recommended, because going without it removes the legal protections the system provides and exposes the business to lawsuits.
- **Coverage / scope:** n/a _(verified: appears in the quote below)_

## What the source says

> <https://www.workcompone.com/coverage-by-state/south-dakota/> South Dakota | Not mandated | n/a |

## Source

- https://www.workcompone.com/blog/minimum-number-of-employees-for-workers-comp-in-every-u-s-state/

Last verified: 2026-08-14. Review by: 2027-02-10.
Part of [State employment law headcount triggers that deviate from federal thresholds](https://referencesource.org/state-employment-law-headcount-triggers/).