Formal employer status · hiring in · duty of care
Liability insurance for a recruitment agency
A temporary employment agency rarely causes the damage itself, but it is named in the letter of liability as soon as an agency worker is injured at the hirer's premises. Where your candidate works determines your risk.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een uitzendbureau.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
The public and employers' liability insurance pays for injury and property damage you cause to others. Your office is hardly the problem here. The risk lies on the hirer's shop floor. As the formal employer you remain bound by the duty of care under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code, while subsection 4 imposes that same duty on the party actually having the work carried out. An injured agency worker may hold both parties liable and usually chooses the one that pays out fastest. Check, therefore, that agency workers, seconded staff and payroll employees are described in the policy in so many words as insured persons.
Just as important is the question of where you place people. An administrative worker in an open-plan office and a mechanic in a petrochemical plant are not the same risk, and insurers rarely accept both under one and the same arrangement. Sectors such as construction, roofing and facade work, the process industry and waste processing are assessed separately or excluded. If your sector mix changes during the year, report it; Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code tie the size of the payment to what you told the insurer when you applied.
The third strand is the quality of your placements. A certificate that was not checked, a missing certificate of good conduct or a candidate who lacks the required competence costs the hirer money without anything being broken. That is pure financial loss and falls outside the AVB; professional indemnity insurance is intended for that. A wider picture of the covers usually taken out together in this sector can be found at liability in temporary staffing and hiring in.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
What to look out for
Four points on which an agency file comes unstuck more often than on the level of the sum insured.
You are liable alongside the hirer
The hirer gives the instructions and controls the workplace, but that does not release you from your own duty of care. Under Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code the agency worker can hold both you and the hirer liable. Ask the hirer for his risk inventory and for the workplace instructions, pass those to the candidate in writing and keep the confirmation. Without that file you bear the full defence in an injury case.
Selection errors are not an AVB loss
If you supply a candidate without a valid forklift certificate, with an expired category C licence or without the required qualification, the hirer will claim downtime, rework or a lost contract. As long as nobody is injured and nothing is damaged, this is pure financial loss, excluded as standard on the AVB. The defence costs in such a case are then at your own expense too.
What belongs on no policy at all
Administrative fines from the Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie (the Dutch labour inspectorate) or under the Wet arbeid vreemdelingen (the Dutch foreign nationals employment act) are penalties and therefore uninsurable. The same applies to an additional payroll tax assessment under hirer's liability and to contractual penalties for failing to supply a worker. Damage caused by intent also stays outside every cover under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Agency workers who take to the road
As soon as a candidate drives for the work, in his own car or in a van belonging to the hirer, the risk shifts. Damage caused with a motor vehicle falls under the motor vehicle exclusion in the AVB and under the compulsory insurance in Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM). For the driver's own loss there is separate cover. You can read about the difference at WEGAS and WEGAM.
What does your premium depend on?
- Payroll per sector: the split across risk classes weighs more heavily than the total
- Sectors in which you supply agency staff: construction, industry and roofing are assessed separately
- Number of agency workers and average length of placement: short placements mean more induction moments
- Your own office and consultant headcount: counts as ordinary employers' liability
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
- Placements outside the Netherlands: cross-border placement changes the territorial scope
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
Which policy pays
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| An agency worker falls from a scaffold at the hirer on his first working day | Yes | No |
| A worker placed by you drops a roll of carpet on a shop window at a client | Yes | No |
| A seconded engineer turns out not to be certified and the work has to be redone | No | Yes |
| The hirer terminates the contract after an incident and you lose the turnover | No | No |
| A consultant sends a CV containing medical data to the wrong hirer | No | Provided that |
| An agency worker reports hearing damage after six months in a production hall | Provided that | No |
Agency workers and payroll employees fall under the AVB only if they are described in so many words as insured persons.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Who bears the loss if an agency worker is injured at the hirer?
In principle both parties can be held liable. As the formal employer you have the duty of care under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code, and subsection 4 places that duty on the hirer having the work carried out as well. Who ultimately pays depends on the arrangements between you and on which party can show that it arranged instruction and supervision. Set out that division in writing in the hire agreement.
Is a claim about a wrongly placed candidate insured?
Not on public and employers' liability insurance. A hirer claiming that an unsuitable candidate cost him production or a contract is claiming financial loss without injury or damaged property. That type of claim belongs on professional indemnity insurance, which also covers the costs of defence. Screening and recording certificates remain your best protection as well.
Does an additional payroll tax assessment fall under the cover?
No. Hirer's liability for payroll taxes and VAT is a tax debt and not compensation, and liability insurers do not cover it. You limit that risk with a blocked account (G-rekening), correct time records and checks on the chain you work in. For disputes about it you can turn to legal expenses insurance for temporary employment agencies.
Is candidates' data covered?
No. A temporary employment agency keeps CVs, copies of identity documents and salary details, but the costs of a data breach, the investigation and the notification fall outside the AVB. There is a cyber insurance for temporary employment agencies. Administrative fines from the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (the Dutch data protection authority) remain excluded there too.
Read more
Within Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
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