What Is a PEO in Insurance? How PEO Coverage Really Works

By Cesar Figueroa, Owner, ReUp Benefits · Updated October 11, 2026

A PEO in insurance is a professional employer organization that co-employs your team and puts them on its own large insurance policies: group health, workers' compensation and, in states like New York, disability and paid family leave. You get big-company buying power and one invoice. The trade-off is that the PEO controls the plans, the pricing and the exit terms, so the deal is only as good as what you negotiate going in.

What is a PEO in insurance? The short answer

In insurance, a PEO (professional employer organization) is a company that becomes the co-employer of your workers so it can enroll them in insurance policies the PEO itself holds. Instead of your 20-person company buying its own small group health plan and its own workers' comp policy, your team joins the PEO's much larger pool, and you pay the PEO one bill that covers payroll, taxes, benefits and insurance.

That is why people searching "what is a PEO" so often end up on insurance questions. Payroll software is cheap and easy to switch. The insurance is where most of a PEO's value, cost and risk lives.

I spent more than ten years inside the PEO industry and worked for three different PEOs. This guide is the explanation I wish every business owner got before signing: how the coverage actually works, what you are paying for, and what to ask so you are not surprised at renewal.

Key terms you will see in this guide

How does a PEO work? Co-employment in plain English

A PEO works by splitting the legal job of "employer" into two parts. You keep running the business and directing the work. The PEO takes on the employer paperwork: paying wages from its accounts, withholding and filing payroll taxes, and sponsoring the benefit and insurance plans your team enrolls in.

That split is called co-employment. Interestingly, the IRS says the term "co-employer" is not recognized under federal tax law. For tax purposes, the IRS treats a PEO as a type of third-party payer that may file employment tax returns under its own employer identification number. In practice, everyone in the industry still says co-employment, and many states write it into law.

What New York law says the PEO and the client each do

New York spells out the arrangement in the Professional Employer Act, Article 31 of the Labor Law. A few points worth knowing:

• The PEO must be registered. A PEO must register with the New York State Department of Labor before serving New York clients, and renew every year. Only registered companies may call themselves a PEO in the state. You can confirm a PEO's status through the NYS DOL PEO page.
• Responsibilities are allocated in writing. The professional employer agreement must spell out who handles hiring, firing and discipline, and both parties must give employees written notice of the relationship.
• You keep control of your business. The client keeps the direction and control it needs to run the company and meet its licensing duties.
• The PEO handles payroll and taxes from its own accounts. That includes withholding and remitting payroll taxes and paying unemployment insurance.
• You can be penalized too. A client that knows, or should know, its PEO is not registered can face civil penalties under the Act.

What a PEO does not take off your plate

Co-employment is not a full handoff. The IRS is direct about this: a business "is not relieved of its employment tax obligation" with regard to wages paid to its employees just because it uses a PEO, and it advises doing due diligence when choosing one.

The exception is a Certified PEO (CPEO). Under a voluntary IRS program created by the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014, a CPEO is treated as the employer for the federal employment taxes on wages it pays. That shifts federal payroll tax liability to the PEO, which is real protection if a PEO ever mishandles tax deposits. The IRS publishes a public list of CPEOs, so you can check any PEO you are considering. Not every legitimate PEO is certified, but it is a fair question to ask.

You send the PEO one invoice each payroll. The PEO pays wages, remits payroll taxes and pays the carriers, and the carriers cover your employees.

Why insurance is the heart of the PEO model

Insurance is the core of what a PEO sells because co-employment lets the PEO act as one very large employer when it buys coverage. A 15-person design studio on its own is a tiny account to an insurance carrier. As one of thousands of client companies inside a PEO's pool, it can get access to plans, pricing and carriers it could not reach alone.

The scale is real. NAPEO, the industry's trade association, reports that its member PEOs serve more than 230,000 small and mid-size businesses employing over 4.5 million people, and that about 15% of all U.S. employers with 10 to 499 employees now use a PEO (October 2025 research). New York holds about 9% of PEO clients, behind only Florida and California.

The PEO as master policyholder

In most arrangements, the PEO is the policyholder and your company is a participant. That single fact explains most of what feels different about PEO insurance:

• You choose from the PEO's menu. The PEO picks the carriers and the plan lineup. You choose which plans to offer your team and how much of the premium you pay.
• The PEO controls the pricing you see. Your invoice shows a rate per employee or per plan tier. You usually do not see the carrier's underlying rate, the PEO's administrative load, or how the pool's claims affected your renewal.
• Your coverage is tied to your contract. If you leave the PEO, your team leaves its plans. That makes exit timing an insurance decision, not just a software decision.

Every line of coverage a PEO can handle

That last row matters. A PEO covers insurance tied to employment. It does not replace your commercial insurance, and New York's Professional Employer Act says worksite employees are not automatically treated as PEO employees for general liability, auto, fidelity or similar coverage unless the agreement says so.

How PEO health insurance works

PEO health insurance is group medical, dental and vision coverage that the PEO sponsors and your employees join as worksite employees. Your team gets real insurance cards from a real carrier. What changes is who sponsors the plan, who sets the price, and who carries the risk if claims run high.

That last question, who carries the risk, is the one most PEO sales conversations skip. There are three common structures, and they behave very differently at renewal.

1. Fully insured master plan

The PEO buys a large group policy from an insurance carrier, and every participating client's employees are covered under it. The carrier takes the claim risk. If your employees have an expensive year, the carrier pays the claims, and the cost shows up later in pricing.

This is the most common setup and the easiest to understand. In New York, the Professional Employer Act says worksite employees covered by a registered PEO's fully insured plan are treated as participants in a single employer plan, not a multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA). That legal status is part of what lets a PEO offer one plan across many small companies.

2. Self-funded or partially self-funded plan

Some PEOs pay some or all of their clients' claims themselves, usually through a trust or captive arrangement, and buy stop-loss insurance to cap catastrophic losses. When it is run well, self-funding can lower costs. It also means the PEO's own financial strength and the quality of its stop-loss coverage now stand between your employees and their claims.

Regulators have watched these structures for a long time. In a 2006 information letter, the U.S. Department of Labor said arrangements built mainly to use federal ERISA rules to avoid state insurance regulation would not be respected. You do not need to become an ERISA lawyer. You do need to ask, in writing, whether a plan is fully insured or self-funded, and who the stop-loss carrier is.

3. Level-funded plan

Level funding is a hybrid. You pay a fixed monthly amount that covers expected claims, administration and stop-loss coverage. If claims come in lower than expected, some plans return part of the surplus or credit it at renewal. Level-funded plans exist both inside some PEOs and in the open market for small employers, which makes them a useful benchmark when you compare a PEO quote against going direct.

Can you keep your own plan inside a PEO?

Sometimes. Some PEOs let a client keep its own health plan while using the PEO for everything else, and some offer reimbursement arrangements instead of a group plan. For example, Justworks publicly lists a health insurance reimbursement option at $25 per enrolled employee per month on its pricing page. Expect a different fee and less help with the plan you keep. The question to ask is how the PEO prices the admin fee when you do not take its benefits.

How PEO health plans are priced, PEO underwriting and renewed

A PEO prices your health coverage from your census: who your employees are, where they live, which plans they pick and which tier they enroll in (employee only, employee plus spouse, family). PEO underwriting is evaluating the risk of the group.  The rate you see bundles the carrier's cost, the PEO's administrative load and, often, a margin. Understanding which of those moved is the whole game at renewal.

The baseline: what group coverage costs everyone

For context, the KFF 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey put the average annual premium for employer coverage at $9,325 for single coverage and $26,993 for family coverage, up 5% and 6% from 2024. Workers contributed an average of $1,440 and $6,850 of those amounts. When a PEO quote lands, treat those as national reference points, since premiums vary a lot by state.

Underwriting: a PEO can say no

A PEO is not obligated to accept every company into its health plan. Depending on the PEO and the carrier behind it, your group may be asked for a census only, a census plus prior claims information, or employee health questionnaires. Industry, location, average age and the share of part-time workers can all affect whether you are accepted and at what rate. A quote is not final until underwriting signs off, so ask whether the price you are shown is firm or subject to change.

The New York wrinkle: community rating vs. the PEO's pool

New York runs one of the most protective small group markets in the country. Under New York Insurance Law section 4317, small group health plans must be community rated, meaning the premium for everyone on a given plan is the same and cannot vary by age, sex, health status, tobacco use or occupation. New York also defines small group broadly, as 1 to 100 employees, where most states stop at 50.

A PEO's master plan is a large group plan, and large groups in New York can be experience rated. In practice, that means a PEO can price your company based on your own census and risk profile instead of the community rate. That cuts both ways:

• A young, healthy team may get a better price inside a PEO than in the community-rated small group market.
• An older team, or one with a known high-cost condition, may pay more inside a PEO, or be declined, and may do better in the community-rated market where price cannot depend on health.

This is the single biggest reason I tell New York business owners to get a side-by-side quote before signing with any PEO. The "PEO is cheaper" claim is true for some groups and false for others, and you can only know with real numbers.

Renewals: where the surprises live

Your first-year price is a sales price. Your renewal is the real price. A few things to pin down before you sign:

1. When the plan year renews. The PEO's plan year may not match your fiscal year or your current renewal date.
2. How much notice you get. Short notice leaves you no time to shop alternatives before open enrollment.
3. What drives the increase. Ask whether your renewal reflects the whole pool's experience, your own group's claims, or both, and ask to see the components.
4. Whether increases are capped. Some PEOs will agree to a first-renewal cap in writing. If you never ask, the answer is no.
5. Deductible credit when you join mid-year. If your team switches plans mid-year, ask whether the PEO's carrier will credit what employees already paid toward this year's deductible. Without it, people restart at zero.

How PEO workers' comp works 

PEO Workers' compensation through a means the PEO secures the coverage your state requires and bills you for it with each payroll, instead of you buying a separate annual policy. For many small businesses, especially in construction, retail, hospitality or anything with physical work, this is where the PEO's insurance value is easiest to measure.

Three ways PEOs structure workers' comp

PEO workers' comp specialist FrankCrum describes all three structures, and the right one depends on your industry, your claims history and your state's rules.

New York's rules

New York requires workers' comp for leased employees, and the Workers' Compensation Board allows two approaches: the client buys its own policy, or the PEO obtains a policy in the client's name covering the leased employees. Proof of coverage is filed electronically under the client's legal name and federal employer ID number. The Board also reminds employers they remain responsible for all of their employees, so anyone you hire outside the PEO arrangement needs coverage too.

Under the Professional Employer Act, both the PEO and the client are considered employers for workers' comp purposes, and both get the law's exclusive remedy protection, regardless of which one secured the coverage.

Pay-as-you-go billing

The most practical benefit is billing. With a traditional policy you pay a deposit up front based on estimated payroll, then settle up after a year-end audit, which can mean a surprise bill if you grew. Through a PEO, premium is usually calculated on actual payroll every pay period. No large deposit, and far fewer audit surprises. For a seasonal business or a fast-growing startup, that cash flow difference is real.

Your experience mod and your exit

Your experience modification factor (the "mod") reflects your past claims compared with similar businesses. A clean record pushes it below 1.0 and lowers premiums. Before you join a PEO, ask how your claims will be tracked, whether you will have your own mod, and whether you can get your loss runs (your claims history report) when you leave. A new carrier will want them, and without them you may be priced as a higher risk.

What to compare

Ask the PEO for the workers' comp rate it charges per $100 of payroll for each of your job classification codes. Then get a standalone quote for the same codes. Workers' comp is one of the places where a PEO's pricing can include a margin on top of the carrier's cost, and the class-code rate is the cleanest way to see it.

Disability, paid family leave and unemployment insurance

Beyond health and workers' comp, a PEO usually handles the state-mandated coverages tied to payroll. These are less exciting than health plans, but mistakes here create penalties, so it is worth knowing who is responsible.

Disability and Paid Family Leave in New York

New York requires employers to carry both disability benefits (DBL) and Paid Family Leave (PFL) coverage. According to guidance from the Workers' Compensation Board summarized by BIG of New York, that requirement applies to both leased and non-leased employees, and the client company is treated as the employer for coverage purposes.

There are two ways to satisfy it. The client can buy its own DBL and PFL policy covering everyone, with proof filed electronically under the client's name and FEIN. Or the PEO can obtain a policy in the client's name that covers only the leased employees. If you go the second route, make sure anyone outside the PEO arrangement is still covered.

State unemployment insurance (SUTA)

New York's Professional Employer Act assigns paying unemployment insurance to the PEO as part of its payroll duties. Across states, though, the mechanics differ. In some states the PEO reports wages under its own state unemployment account. In others, known as client reporting states, the PEO files under your company's own account and rate. Compliance platform Mosey explains the difference well.

This matters for cost. Your SUTA rate is based on your history of layoffs and claims, and a PEO's rate is based on its whole client base. Ask which rate you are being billed, how it compares with the rate your state assigned you, and what happens to your own account history if you later leave.

Retirement plans through a PEO

Most PEOs offer a 401(k) through a multiple employer plan (MEP), one plan the PEO sponsors that many client companies adopt. Joining it is usually faster and cheaper than setting up your own plan, which is why PEO clients are far more likely to offer retirement benefits. NAPEO's industry statistics show that among businesses with 10 to 49 employees, 52% of PEO users offer a retirement plan, compared with 23% of non-users.

The SECURE Act of 2019 made PEO plans safer for clients. According to NAPEO's summary, it eliminated the "one bad apple" rule for qualifying multiple employer plans, so a compliance failure by one employer no longer puts the whole plan at risk, and it required PEO-sponsored retirement plans to report each participating employer on Form 5500.

Three questions to ask about the 401(k):

1. What does it cost participants? Ask for the fee disclosure, including fund expense ratios and any per-participant recordkeeping fee.
2. Can you keep your existing plan? Some PEOs let you keep a plan you already have; others require you to join theirs.
3. What happens when you leave? Your employees' money stays theirs, but the plan assets have to move, usually into a new plan you set up or through a spinoff. Ask how long that takes and whether there are exit fees.

Does a PEO handle ACA compliance?

A PEO handles much of the paperwork, but the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate still applies to your business based on your own size. Under IRS rules, you are an applicable large employer (ALE) if you averaged at least 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalents, in the prior calendar year. Joining a PEO does not change that count.

If you are an ALE, you must offer affordable, minimum-value coverage to full-time employees or risk a penalty. When the PEO's plan makes that offer, the IRS needs to treat it as your offer. The regulation that governs this, 26 CFR 54.4980H-4(b)(2), was written for staffing firms and is generally applied to PEOs. Its test: an offer made under the firm's own plan on behalf of a client counts as the client's offer only if the fee the client pays for an employee who enrolls is higher than the fee for the same employee who does not enroll.

Most PEO pricing satisfies this naturally, because you pay premiums for people who enroll. It is still worth confirming in writing, along with who prepares and files the Forms 1094-C and 1095-C each year.

If you have fewer than 50 full-time employees, the employer mandate does not apply, and the ACA question becomes simpler: which plans are available to you, and at what price.

What does a PEO cost, and where does the money hide?

A PEO charges an administrative fee on top of the actual cost of payroll, taxes and insurance. ADP, one of the largest PEOs, says administrative fees may range from 2% to 12% of total payroll, or about $40 to $160 per employee per month. A few PEOs publish prices: Justworks lists its PEO plans at $79 and $124 per employee per month as of this writing.

The headline fee is only part of the story. After a decade inside PEOs, I can tell you the admin fee is the number everyone negotiates, and it is often not the only place a PEO earns its margin.

Two pricing models, very different math

Here is the same 20-person company with $1.5 million in annual payroll (an average salary of $75,000) under each model:

The catch with percent-of-payroll pricing is that your PEO's fee rises every time you give a raise, pay a bonus or pay commissions, even though the PEO does no extra work. If your company pays variable compensation, push for PEPM pricing or a cap.

Seven places to look beyond the admin fee

1. Health premiums. The per-employee rate you pay may include an administrative load above the carrier's cost. Ask what portion of the premium is the PEO's.
2. Workers' comp rates. Compare the PEO's rate per $100 of payroll for each class code against a standalone quote.
3. Unemployment insurance. Ask whether you are billed your own state rate or the PEO's, and what that rate is.
4. Payroll tax wage base resets. If you join a non-certified PEO mid-year and it files under its own EIN, Social Security and unemployment wage bases can restart, meaning some taxes are paid twice that year. A CPEO is generally treated as a successor employer, which avoids this. Ask before you pick a start date.
5. Add-on modules. HR consulting, ACA filing, onboarding tools or advanced reporting are sometimes extra. Justworks, for example, lists dedicated HR consulting at $30 per employee per month.
6. Setup, minimum and per-head fees. Look for implementation fees, monthly minimums, and whether you pay for terminated or part-time employees.
7. Exit costs. Termination notice periods, early termination fees and the cost of moving your 401(k) out.

Is a PEO worth it?

For many businesses it is. NAPEO reports that companies using a PEO see a 27% average return on investment from cost savings alone, along with 12% lower employee turnover and a 50% lower chance of going out of business. Keep in mind those figures come from the industry's trade association. Your own return depends entirely on the price you negotiate, which is why the line items above matter more than any average.

PEO vs. insurance broker vs. ASO vs. going direct

A PEO is one of four common ways a small or mid-size business gets employee insurance and HR support. The difference that matters most is who sponsors the insurance and who carries the employer responsibilities.

The honest answer is that none of these is always cheaper. A PEO wins when its pool and pricing beat what you can get alone, and that depends on your census, your state and your industry. That is why the comparison has to be run with real quotes.

The pros and cons of getting insurance through a PEO

The main advantage of a PEO is access: better benefits, simpler administration and one partner for everything tied to employment. The main disadvantage is control: the PEO decides the plans, the pricing and the terms of your exit. Each advantage has a matching thing to watch.

None of the cons is a reason to avoid a PEO. They are reasons to negotiate the contract before you sign instead of after your first renewal.

Who should use a PEO for insurance, and who shouldn't

A PEO tends to fit companies with roughly 5 to 150 employees that want better benefits than they can buy alone and do not have a full HR and benefits team. NAPEO's research found that almost two-thirds of PEO clients have 10 to 49 employees, and its October 2025 research found the largest share of clients in professional, scientific and technical services, followed by healthcare, construction and manufacturing.

Signs a PEO is likely a good fit

• You are hiring against larger companies and your benefits are losing candidates.
• Your team is relatively young and healthy, especially in a community-rated state like New York.
• You have employees in several states and no one in house who knows each state's payroll and leave rules.
• Your workers' comp deposit or year-end audit has hurt your cash flow.
• The founder or an operations lead is spending hours a week on payroll and benefits questions.

Signs to slow down

• Your team skews older or has known high-cost health conditions, and you currently have a community-rated small group plan.
• You already have a strong benefits broker and a plan you like at a fair renewal.
• You have 150 or more employees and the leverage to negotiate your own large group plan or an ASO arrangement.
• Your payroll includes large bonuses or commissions and the PEO only offers percent-of-payroll pricing.
• You are in a union environment or a licensed profession with specific employer requirements.

A note for tech, fashion and ecommerce companies

Tech and fashion are the industries I have worked with most, and as the owner of an ecommerce brand I know that world firsthand. All three share a pattern: lean teams, competitive hiring, people spread across states, and founders doing HR at night. A startup with 12 engineers in three states and a DTC brand with a warehouse crew and a remote marketing team have very different insurance needs, and different PEOs are strong at each. Industry fit is worth as much as price.

20 questions to ask a PEO before you sign

The best protection you have is asking the right questions in writing before the contract is signed. These are the ones I would ask on your behalf, grouped by where the risk sits.

Health insurance

1. Which carriers and networks are available for employees in each of our ZIP codes?
2. Is each plan fully insured, self-funded or level-funded? If self-funded, who is the stop-loss carrier?
3. Is the quoted rate firm, or subject to underwriting? What could change it?
4. When does the plan year renew, and how many days of notice do we get before renewal rates?
5. Will you cap our first renewal increase in writing?
6. Is our renewal based on the whole pool, our own claims, or both?
7. If we join mid-year, will employees get credit for deductibles already met?

Workers' comp and state coverage

8. Is our workers' comp under a master policy, a policy in our name, or our own policy?
9. What rate per $100 of payroll will we pay for each of our class codes?
10. Will we be able to get our loss runs if we leave?
11. Who secures New York disability and Paid Family Leave coverage, and does it cover everyone?
12. Which unemployment insurance rate are we billed, ours or yours?

Pricing and taxes

13. Is the admin fee per employee or a percent of payroll? Does it apply to bonuses and commissions?
14. What is not included in the admin fee? Please list every add-on and setup fee.
15. Are you an IRS-certified PEO (CPEO)? If not, will our payroll tax wage bases restart if we join mid-year?
16. Are you registered with the New York State Department of Labor?

Contract and exit

17. What is the notice period to terminate, and is there an early termination fee?
18. What happens to our health coverage, COBRA participants and 401(k) when we leave?
19. Who handles ACA Forms 1094-C and 1095-C, and will an offer under your plan count as our offer?
20. Can we see the full client service agreement before we commit, not just the proposal?

Get the answers in writing. If a PEO will not answer one of these clearly, treat that as an answer.

What happens to your insurance when you leave a PEO?

When you leave a PEO, your employees leave its insurance plans, so you need replacement coverage in place on the day the PEO relationship ends. Leaving is not hard if you plan for it, but every line of coverage moves at once.

Here is what has to move, and when to start:

The easiest exits happen at the PEO's renewal, which is also when you have the most leverage. A competing quote is the strongest negotiating tool you will ever have with your current PEO, and sometimes the best outcome is staying at a better price.

Where a PEO broker fits

A PEO broker compares PEOs for you, gets real quotes from several at once, and negotiates the terms on your side of the table. You would not buy a building without someone who knows the market, and a PEO contract can touch more of your company's spending than your lease does.

For how brokers work, how they get paid and how to choose one, read What is a PEO broker?

I started ReUp Benefits because I spent more than ten years inside PEOs, at three different companies, and saw how differently the same business could be priced depending on who asked the questions. Now I use that experience for the client instead of the PEO: running side-by-side quotes, reading the service agreement line by line, and pushing on the items in this guide before you sign and again at every renewal.

If you are evaluating a PEO, renewing with one, or wondering whether you are overpaying, book a 20-minute review with me. Bring your current invoice and renewal notice, and I will show you where the money is going.

Frequently asked questions about PEOs and insurance

What does PEO stand for in insurance?

PEO stands for professional employer organization. In an insurance context, it refers to a company that co-employs your workers so they can be covered under the PEO's group health, workers' comp and other employment-related insurance policies.

Is a PEO an insurance company?

No. A PEO is not an insurer. Licensed insurance carriers underwrite and pay the claims (or a stop-loss carrier backs a self-funded plan). The PEO sponsors the plans, holds or arranges the policies, enrolls your employees and bills you.

Is health insurance through a PEO cheaper?

Sometimes. Young, healthy teams often get better rates in a PEO's pool, especially in community-rated states like New York. Older groups or groups with high claims may pay more than in the small group market. The only way to know is a side-by-side quote.

Is PEO health insurance considered group insurance?

Yes. Employees are covered under a group health plan that the PEO sponsors. In New York, the Professional Employer Act treats worksite employees in a registered PEO's fully insured plan as participants in a single employer plan.

What is a PEO master health plan?

A master health plan is one large group policy held by the PEO that covers the employees of many client companies. It gives small businesses access to large group carriers and plan designs, with pricing set by the PEO.

What is the difference between a PEO and an insurance broker?

A PEO co-employs your team and puts them on its own plans. A benefits broker helps you buy a plan your company sponsors directly, with no co-employment. A PEO broker is a third option: a specialist who compares PEOs and negotiates with them for you.

Does a PEO provide workers' comp in every state?

Not everywhere. North Dakota, Ohio, Washington and Wyoming run monopolistic state workers' comp funds, so coverage there must come from the state fund rather than a PEO's private policy. Ask how a PEO handles employees in those states.

Will my employees know we use a PEO?

Yes. The PEO's name typically appears on pay stubs and W-2s, and New York requires both the PEO and the client to give employees written notice of the relationship. Most employees notice the benefits more than the paperwork.

Can a PEO cancel our coverage?

Yes. PEO agreements generally let either side end the relationship, for example for nonpayment, and the PEO can decline to renew. Read the termination terms and ask how much notice they must give you.

How long does it take to join a PEO?

It depends on underwriting and your start date, but plan for several weeks from signed agreement to first payroll. Starting on January 1 or at your current plan's renewal avoids deductible resets and mid-year tax wage base issues.

Sources

This guide is general information, not legal, tax or insurance advice. Rules change and vary by state, so confirm details with the agency or a qualified advisor before acting. Figures are as of October 2026 unless noted.

Government and law

• IRS: Third party payer arrangements, Professional Employer Organizations
• IRS: CPEO public listings
• IRS: Questions and answers on employer shared responsibility provisions under the ACA
• 26 CFR 54.4980H-4, assessable payments under section 4980H(a)
• U.S. Department of Labor, EBSA Information Letter 03-01-2006
• New York Labor Law Article 31, Professional Employer Act
• NYS Department of Labor: Professional Employer Organizations
• NY Workers' Compensation Board: coverage for leased employees
• New York Insurance Law section 4317, community rating
• NY Department of Financial Services: small group expansion to 1-100 employees

Research and industry

• KFF: 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey
• NAPEO: Industry statistics
• NAPEO: New research highlights growth and diversity of PEO clients (October 17, 2025)
• NAPEO: PEOs and retirement regulation (SECURE Act)
• BIG of New York: DBL and PFL for businesses using a PEO

Provider pages

• ADP: What is the cost of a PEO?
• Justworks: Pricing
• FrankCrum: PEO workers' comp, how coverage and claims work
• Mosey: PEO vs. client reporting states