Does Your Business Insurance Cover Work at Home Incidents?

If your business is moving employees to a work-from-home framework, or has never reviewed your insurance for work-at-home incidents, it's time to review your business insurance needs. Your business insurance will generally cover you no matter where your employees are but only if you've picked the right options. 

What Does Your Business Liability Insurance Say About Location? 

For the most part, your liability insurance policy applies anywhere. For example, if you're an architect, your business insurance covers your liability if something is wrong with your designs. It doesn't really matter if you made the designs in an office tower or in a home office.  

Still, there may be restrictions for certain types of businesses when it does matter where you are doing the work. For example, if you run an auto repair shop, your liability policy might only cover you there and not for house calls or working out of your home garage. Factors include that you may not have the same tools, safety equipment, or procedures as you would in your primary garage. 

Also, you might need to verify coverage if you have employees working across state lines or even in another country. This is because insurance regulations and policies are different in each state or country. There also can be a difference between someone who is taking a working vacation and someone who lives somewhere else permanently. If you don't have the coverage you need, you can request to add it to your policy package. 

What Does Your Business Property Insurance Say About Location? 

You should also check whether your business insurance covers company property at an employee's home. For example, you may send them home with a computer setup worth several thousand dollars. Since this is business property, and not your employee's personal property, then their home insurance generally won't cover it. 

However, some business property insurance may cover property temporarily used or transported away from your listed business location. In other cases, it will not cover property that you permanently use somewhere else. Other policies may only cover property at your actual business location. These are simply options that you may have selected to save on your premiums when you didn't have a work-at-home option. If you need coverage for business property that employees use at home, speak to your agent about whether you need to add coverage.