Who We Insure

Insurance for Staffing & Recruiting Agencies

A staffing agency's core risk is that it stands between two employers and the workers it places — and gets pulled into problems on both sides. If a placed worker is unqualified, improperly screened, or causes harm on a client's site, the agency can face a negligent-placement or negligent-screening claim. If the placement relationship is treated as shared employment, the agency can be dragged into the client's employment disputes as a co-employer. The result is a firm whose liabilities come from people it does not directly supervise.

Why staffing & recruiting agencies carry specialized insurance

That structure also makes workers' compensation the agency's single largest and most volatile cost. Every placed worker sits in a class code tied to the work they perform, and an agency that places light clerical staff faces a completely different loss picture from one placing warehouse, industrial, or driving roles. Where those workers go, the agency's exposure follows — into client facilities where crime and property risk live, and onto the road where auto liability attaches. A OnePark Risk advisor structures a staffing agency's program around the kinds of roles it fills and the industries it serves, because those choices drive the workers' compensation class codes, the co-employment EPLI exposure, and the contract indemnities clients demand. The goal is a program that manages the agency's dominant workers' compensation cost while closing the E&O, EPLI, crime, and auto gaps its business model creates.

The risk profile of a staffing agency

A staffing agency's exposures flow from the workers it places into environments it does not control, which spreads risk across professional, employment, workers' compensation, crime, and auto lines at once. Key exposures: Negligent-placement and negligent-screening claims when a placed worker is unqualified or causes harm; Co-employment exposure pulling the agency into clients' discrimination, harassment, and wage claims; Workers' compensation as the dominant and most volatile cost, driven by placed-worker class codes; Theft or damage in client facilities where temporary staff are placed; Auto liability when placed workers or staff drive on assignment; Contractual indemnities the agency owes clients under placement agreements.

Workers' Compensation for staffing & recruiting agencies

For a staffing agency this is the headline coverage, not a background requirement, because the agency is the employer of record for the workers it places and their injuries are its responsibility. Premium is driven by the class codes of the roles filled, so accurate classification and disciplined placement in higher-hazard industries directly control the agency's largest cost. It is required wherever the agency places workers, and it is where most of the agency's claims dollars flow. Typically responds to: medical care and lost wages for injured placed workers; coverage tied to each role's workers' compensation class code; employer-liability protection arising from workplace injuries.

Employment Practices Liability (EPLI) for staffing & recruiting agencies

The co-employment relationship means a staffing agency can be named alongside its client in discrimination, harassment, wrongful-termination, and wage-and-hour claims brought by placed workers — even for conduct that occurred at the client's site. EPLI funds the agency's defense and settlement in those disputes, and third-party EPLI can extend coverage to claims arising from the placement relationship. Given how central employment is to the business, this is a load-bearing coverage. Typically responds to: defense and settlement of discrimination, harassment, and wrongful-termination claims; wage-and-hour and misclassification allegations on many forms; co-employment claims arising from the placement relationship.

Professional Liability (Staffing E&O) for staffing & recruiting agencies

Staffing E&O responds to the agency's core service failures: placing an unqualified worker, inadequate screening or background checks, or errors in the placement process that cause a client financial harm. It funds defense of negligent-placement and negligent-screening allegations from the first demand, covering the exposure that is unique to selling people rather than a product.

Crime / Employee Dishonesty for staffing & recruiting agencies

Placed workers operate inside client facilities and often have access to cash, inventory, and systems, and clients frequently hold the agency responsible for theft by the people it supplied. A crime policy — including third-party fidelity coverage — responds to loss caused by placed staff in a client's premises, addressing an exposure clients specifically ask agencies to insure.

Hired & Non-Owned Auto for staffing & recruiting agencies

Placed workers and internal staff drive personal and rented vehicles on assignment and agency business, and the agency can be held liable when a work-related accident occurs. Hired and non-owned auto answers that exposure, which is especially important for agencies placing drivers or roles that involve travel.

General Liability & Office Package (BOP) for staffing & recruiting agencies

General liability covers third-party bodily injury and property damage connected to the agency's operations and satisfies the certificates clients and landlords require, while the office package covers the agency's own premises and equipment. It is the baseline every client contract and lease expects the agency to carry.

Contract and certificate requirements

Client placement agreements are where a staffing agency's insurance obligations are set, and they are often extensive. Clients typically require the agency to carry workers' compensation, general liability, professional liability, and EPLI at named limits — $1 million per occurrence and per claim structures are common — and to name the client as an additional insured, provide waivers of subrogation, and indemnify the client against claims arising from placed workers. Clients placing workers in higher-hazard roles, or handling cash and sensitive systems, frequently require crime and auto coverage as well. Because these indemnities can shift substantial liability onto the agency, your advisor should review each client contract's insurance and indemnification language against the agency's actual program before signing. An agency that agrees to additional-insured status, waivers, or indemnities its policies do not support can find itself assuming exposure it cannot recover — a common trap in a business built on contracts.

What coverage costs

As of 2026, a staffing agency's insurance cost is dominated by workers' compensation, which is driven almost entirely by the class codes of the roles it places, its payroll, and its claims history. An agency placing clerical and professional staff will see a very different cost picture from one placing industrial, warehouse, or driving roles, because the injury exposure differs by orders of magnitude — which is why role mix and safety practices matter so much to the total. EPLI and professional liability pricing reflect the volume and nature of placements, the industries served, and claims history, while crime and auto costs track the access and driving exposure the agency's placements create. There are no citable staffing-specific loss statistics to rely on here, so pricing is best understood as a function of the agency's own role mix, payroll, and record rather than an industry average. Rather than quote a single number, a OnePark Risk advisor models the program around the agency's actual placement mix — especially the workers' compensation class codes — and benchmarks it across carriers so the agency sees how role type, payroll, limits, and safety practices move the cost.

Illustrative example: The negligent placement

An agency places a worker into a client role requiring a specific certification, and a screening gap means the worker's lapsed credential is missed. The worker's error on the job causes the client a financial loss, and the client sues the agency for placing an unqualified candidate. Staffing professional liability assigns defense counsel and funds the defense of the negligent-placement and screening allegations; any settlement reflecting the client's quantifiable loss is paid within the limit less the retention.

Illustrative example: The co-employment claim

A placed worker alleges harassment and wrongful termination arising from conduct at the client's worksite and names both the client and the staffing agency as employers in the suit. EPLI funds the agency's defense against the co-employment allegations and any settlement attributable to the agency, and third-party EPLI extends to claims arising from the placement relationship — coverage the agency needs precisely because it is treated as an employer of workers it does not supervise day to day.

Illustrative example: Theft by a placed worker

A temporary worker placed in a client's warehouse steals inventory over several weeks. The client holds the agency responsible under their placement agreement and demands reimbursement for the loss. The crime policy's third-party fidelity coverage responds to loss caused by the placed worker in the client's premises, funding the covered portion of the client's loss within the policy limit — addressing exactly the exposure the placement agreement assigned to the agency.

How much does insurance cost for a staffing agency?

As of 2026, cost is dominated by workers' compensation, which is driven by the class codes of the roles placed, payroll, and claims history — so an agency placing clerical staff pays very differently from one placing industrial or driving roles. EPLI, professional liability, crime, and auto are layered around that based on placement volume, industries served, and contract requirements. Because role mix drives everything, the accurate way to size premium is to model the program around the agency's actual placements and benchmark across carriers.

Why is workers' compensation the biggest cost for a staffing agency?

Because the agency is the employer of record for the workers it places, their on-the-job injuries are the agency's responsibility, and premium is calculated from the workers' compensation class codes of the roles filled. Higher-hazard placements — warehouse, industrial, driving — carry far higher rates than clerical work, which makes role mix and safety practices the primary levers on the agency's total insurance cost.

What is co-employment and why does it create EPLI exposure?

Co-employment describes the shared-employer relationship between a staffing agency and its client over a placed worker. Because both can be treated as the worker's employer, the agency can be named alongside the client in discrimination, harassment, wrongful-termination, and wage claims — even for conduct at the client's site. EPLI, including third-party coverage, funds the agency's defense in those disputes.

Is professional liability required for staffing agencies?

There is no universal statutory mandate, but clients effectively require it through their placement agreements, and the agency's own business model creates the exposure: negligent-placement and negligent-screening claims are unique to selling people. Most agencies carry staffing E&O because clients demand it and because the risk is real regardless of what any contract says.

Why would we need crime coverage for workers we place elsewhere?

Placed workers operate inside client facilities with access to cash, inventory, and systems, and clients routinely hold the agency responsible for theft by the people it supplied. Third-party fidelity coverage within a crime policy responds to loss caused by placed staff in a client's premises — an exposure many placement agreements specifically assign to the agency.

Do we need auto coverage if we don't own vehicles?

Often yes. Placed workers and internal staff drive personal or rented vehicles on assignment and agency business, and the agency can be liable when a work-related accident occurs. Hired and non-owned auto closes that gap, and it becomes especially important for agencies placing drivers or roles that require travel.

Can OnePark Risk review our client placement agreements?

Yes. Placement agreements often require additional-insured status, waivers of subrogation, and broad indemnities that can shift substantial liability onto the agency. We review each contract's insurance and indemnification language against your actual program and adjust before you sign, so you are not assuming exposure your policies cannot recover.

Frequently asked questions