When employees travel abroad for work, you must consider whether they are covered under your workers’ compensation policies. Your broker should be able to help you with this issue.
To start, review the following:
Policy Territory – To see if the territory they are traveling to is covered under your policy. The employees need to be covered in all countries they are traveling to or doing business in.
Named Insured – Make sure all subsidiaries including those outside the U.S. are covered. Include any operations outside the U.S. if employees from those operations are working inside the U.S. Or, perhaps consider assigning those employees to a U.S. operation if they will be in the U.S. longer than a few days.
Voluntary Workers’ Comp– If employees are outside the U.S. for more than 30 days, you may need to add voluntary worker’s comp coverage to your policy. If outside the U.S. for more than 30 days they may be considered on permanent assignment instead of temporary assignment, so check your policy carefully. You may need an endorsement to cover those employees.
Payroll Reporting – You should separate employees on overseas assignment when reporting payroll to your carrier because it may be rated differently.
These are only a few of the many considerations to keep in mind when reviewing your employees based in another country or traveling to another country. Make sure to check with your insurance broker to make sure you are properly covered.
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Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws are different. Consult with your corporate legal counsel before implementing any cost containment programs.
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