What’s in a name?

When Shakespeare wrote "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," he meant the essence of a thing isn't changed by the name it's given. If you call a rose a pickle, it doesn't change the look and smell of that rose, and it won't help you sell roses, either.

When you chose your business name, you no doubt considered how the name would shape people's perceptions about the services and products you offer. But as time went by, circumstances may have necessitated a name change.

Whenever you make a name change—or any other change to your business entity—remember to put SAIF near the top of your notification list.

If you've changed your business entity and we are not informed, we might be insuring a business that no longer exists. Claims brought against your new business entity might not be covered. If you don't know what sorts of changes might qualify as a business entity change, just call and ask us.

We know there's a lot of detail work involved in changing your business entity information, whether it's a name change, change of ownership, change of incorporation status, change of address, or change in operations.

The reason for that change could be very important to your workers' compensation policy. For instance, if your business was originally called "Cut Roses R Us" because you sold bouquets of roses, but you've decided to offer more variety and changed the name to "Cut Flowers R Us," there will be little or no effect on your policy. Your business is still the same, except your bouquets will now have more variety. Regardless, we still need to know you've changed names.

If you change your name to "Roses R Us" because you've decided you want to grow the roses your¬self and sell the plants, that's a different business activity with different class codes, different risks, and different premiums.

It's imperative we know of these changes within 30 days so you will have the correct coverage for your employees' exposures and to ensure your business remains in compliance with the laws of Oregon.

In addition, changing the business operations can change whether the owners are covered by your workers' compensation policy, which would affect your reporting requirements and your premium.

Other changes to your business also must be communicated to SAIF. An unreported change of mailing address, for instance, could delay delivery of your billing and renewal documents, setting up the possibility of termination for failure to pay. Not telling us about your new phone number might prevent us from contacting you with important information about your policy.

And any time the ownership changes, let SAIF know as soon as possible. Even if nothing else changes when Partner #1 buys out Partner #2, it's important that your workers' compensation records are up to date. And if you sell the business outright, the new owner will need to set up his or her own SAIF policy. In most cases, the new owner can't just assume yours.

Bottom line: for a lot of reasons, it's in your best interest to tell us about the changes to your business. You can contact us through saif.com, via email at servicecenter@saif.com, by phone at 800.848.2373, or by fax at 503.968.5353. We're here to help.