Labour Hire Insurance Brokers

Management liability protects the business and its directors against claims about how the company is run, rather than the work your placed workers do. It typically includes directors’ and officers’ liability for wrongful acts and breaches of duty, crime cover for employee theft or fraud, and professional fees if the ATO audits your business.

A labour hire agency employs every worker it places, so its exposure to employment claims is far higher than most businesses of its size. Employment practices liability covers claims from your staff and on-hired workers alleging unfair dismissal, bullying, harassment or discrimination, including legal defence costs and settlements. Wage underpayment claims usually aren’t covered.

Statutory liability covers your legal costs if a regulator investigates or prosecutes your business for an unintentional breach of laws such as WHS, Fair Work or privacy legislation, plus insurable fines, depending on the policy wording. WHS fines themselves can’t be insured in Victoria, NSW, Western Australia, Queensland or the ACT, but your defence costs can still be covered.

Agencies hold large amounts of personal data, including candidates’ identity documents, visa details and bank accounts. Cyber cover responds to data breaches and cyber attacks, including notification costs, incident response and claims from affected candidates or clients.

Legal expenses cover helps pay the legal costs of disputes your liability policies don’t respond to, such as certain employment and contract disputes. For an agency managing large numbers of workers and client agreements, it protects against the cost of defending or pursuing a dispute.

As the employer of the workers you place, your agency must hold workers’ compensation in each state where your workers are employed. In NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, cover is through the government scheme, while in Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory it comes from approved private insurers.

Insurers generally prefer agencies to on-hire PAYG employees rather than subcontractors on an ABN. When demand peaks, you may need contractors to fill the gaps. Most insurers allow this, but it can mean higher excesses for injuries to those contractors, or in some cases a complete contractor injury exclusion. Tell us before you start using contractors so your policy reflects it.

If you do on-hire contractors, get a certificate of currency for their own public liability, and professional indemnity where relevant, before they start, and check it stays current while they’re on assignment.

An ABN on its own doesn’t make someone a contractor. If a worker is directed and supervised like an employee, regulators will treat them as one, and misclassifying them can expose your agency to sham contracting penalties, unpaid entitlements and workers’ compensation liability.

Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT require labour hire providers to be licensed, and it’s an offence for host businesses to use an unlicensed provider. Licensing and insurance are separate requirements, but they work together: host clients will check both your licence and your certificate of currency before your workers start. Our guide to what insurance a labour hire company needs covers licensing, penalties and each type of cover in detail.

Licence applications also assess your compliance with workers’ compensation, safety and workplace laws, so having the right insurance in place makes the licensing process smoother.

We can also review your terms of business, conditions of hire and third-party labour hire contracts, so the insurance clauses line up with your cover.