27 Nov Coverage for Seasonal Employees: Workers’ Compensation and Temporary Staffing

The holidays are here! And you know what that means. This time of year, stores and warehouses begin to hire temporary employees, due to the skyrocketing holiday foot traffic and ordering. Other employers, like FedEx and UPS, also hire people to fill in the gaps thanks to the increased package loads from the end of October until the beginning of January.

But the question is: are these temporary employees eligible for insurance? What types of coverage do you need to purchase in order to protect them and your business? Here’s a quick breakdown of the coverage that you need to consider purchasing for your seasonal team members.

Worker’s Compensation Insurance

Every state requires companies to have workers’ compensation insurance on all of their employees, even temporary or holiday ones. Since workers’ compensation is designed to cover injuries that take place on the job, this makes plenty of sense. In addition, when you consider the fact that newer employees, especially those who are hired on a temporary basis, are less seasoned in managing the workplace obstacles around them, they are more prone to on-the-job incidents that result in needing medical care. And unfortunately, all the training in the world can’t always prevent some accidents from happening.

Commercial Vehicle Insurance

If any of your temporary workers are driving vehicles that are either owned or leased by the company or they’re using their own vehicles for business purposes, you’ll need to make sure that you have commercial vehicle coverage on those cars and trucks. Otherwise, you could end up paying quite a bit out of pocket if they get into an accident while delivering packages for your company. Since their personal car insurance won’t cover the claim, your business could get named in the lawsuit. It’s best to just make sure that the vehicles have coverage for this reason alone.

Health Insurance

Not every temporary holiday employee will qualify for company health insurance. However, there are some strict requirements from the federal government, stating that employees who work more than 30 hours per week are eligible for coverage. However, your business can set rules that prevent workers from gaining this benefit until they’ve worked for the company for a certain period of time, which is a requirement that most temp workers don’t meet. With that said, if you plan on keeping some temporary employees after the holidays are over, turning them into permanent ones, this is one perk that you can offer.

Building Insurance, General Liability Insurance, or Umbrella Coverage

You more than likely already have some general liability insurance or additional umbrella coverage in place. However, when things ramp up due to the holiday season, you might find yourself needing to increase your coverage. After all, things like having to lease an extra building for package overflow can increase your potential liability, so you need to have the right amount of insurance on it, should something go wrong. The same is true for your building insurance. Even if you’re only using the space temporarily, it needs to be properly insured. You don’t want to wipe all of your holiday gains due to an accident.

Ready to learn more about insurance for your seasonal or temporary employees? Our knowledgeable team at Spivey Insurance can help review your current coverage or help you set up a new policy. Contact us today.