We use analytics cookies to understand how the site is used and improve it. No tracking runs until you allow it. See our Privacy Policy.
Professional Services
Insurance for the people you place, the sites they work at and the licence you hold.
Get a quoteIn short
A recruiter or staffing agency in Canada needs professional liability (E&O) for placement and screening errors, commercial general liability for injury and damage caused by workers at client sites, third-party crime cover for theft by placed workers, and cyber for candidate data. Temporary help agencies are the employer of their assignment workers, so workplace injury and employment claims follow too. In Ontario, agencies and recruiters must be licensed, and agencies must post $25,000 in security.
Last reviewed
Recruiters and staffing agencies answer for the people they place. A candidate whose credentials were never checked, a temporary worker who damages a client's stock, a placed clerk who diverts a payment: each one comes back to the agency, and the client's master service agreement usually says it should. Temporary help agencies are also the employer of their assignment workers, so injury and employment claims follow the payroll.
We build programs around your model: professional liability (E&O) that names screening and placement, general liability with clients as additional insureds, third-party crime for theft at client sites, cyber for candidate data, and surety bonds for Ontario's licence security. See our professional services guide for the wider sector.
The risk depends on whose payroll the worker is on. A permanent placement recruiter introduces a candidate and steps away. A temporary help agency employs the worker and sends them to the client, so the agency carries an employer's exposures for every assignment. Many firms do both, and the program has to follow each model.
| Model | Where claims come from | Core coverages |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent placement and contingency recruiting | A placed candidate who lacked the stated credentials, fee disputes, candidate discrimination complaints | Professional liability (E&O), cyber, CGL |
| Executive search | Misrepresented background or references, confidentiality breaches during a search, off-limits disputes | E&O with adequate limits, cyber, CGL |
| Temporary help agencies (light industrial, warehouse, general labour) | Injuries to and by assignment workers, damage at client sites, theft by placed workers | CGL with client additional insureds, employer liability, third-party crime, E&O |
| Office, IT and professional contract staffing | Errors by placed workers doing professional tasks, data access at client sites | E&O that names placed workers, cyber, third-party crime |
| Healthcare and home care staffing | Patient injury, abuse allegations, credential verification | Malpractice or professional liability for placed staff, abuse coverage, CGL |
For how professional firms structure E&O, cyber and office cover more broadly, see our professional services sector guide.
Since July 1, 2024, Ontario has required a licence to operate as a temporary help agency or to act as a recruiter. Part XVIII.1 of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 states that no person shall operate as a temporary help agency, or act as a recruiter, without a licence for that purpose. It also binds the other side: no client shall knowingly use an unlicensed agency, and no employer shall knowingly use an unlicensed recruiter. That is why client onboarding now asks for your licence details alongside your insurance.
O. Reg. 99/23 defines a recruiter as anyone who, for a fee, finds or attempts to find employment in Ontario for prospective employees, or employees for prospective employers in Ontario. Employers recruiting for themselves, in-house staff doing so as part of their job, schools, trade unions and registered charities are among the exclusions.
If you would rather not tie up $25,000 of bank credit, the surety bond route is often cheaper and leaves your line of credit free. We arrange commercial surety bonds that meet the regulation's wording. Other provinces regulate employment agencies and foreign worker recruiters under their own laws, so check with the employment standards office in each province you recruit in.
Under section 72 of Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, when an employer temporarily lends or hires out a worker to another employer, the first employer is deemed to be the worker's employer while they work for the other. For a temporary help agency, that places the WSIB accident cost record, premiums and return-to-work obligations for assignment workers with the agency, not the client.
The Employment Standards Act adds its own layer. A client can be jointly and severally liable with the agency for certain unpaid wages of assignment workers, which is why client contracts often demand indemnities and proof the agency is in good standing. Agencies are also barred from charging assignment workers fees to be placed and from restricting a client from hiring an assignment worker, though the agency may charge the client a fee if it hires the worker within six months of the start of the first assignment.
Most staffing claims involve something a placed worker did, or a quality the agency said the worker had. A forklift operator damages racking and stock. A temporary accounts clerk diverts a payment. A contract IT worker deletes a production database. A caregiver placed in a home is accused of abuse. In each case the client looks first to the agency, and the client's contract usually says it can.
Screening is both a service you sell and a source of claims. Too little and you face negligent placement allegations from clients. Done carelessly, it produces privacy complaints and human rights applications from candidates, who can claim that criteria, questions or the handling of a criminal record check were discriminatory.
Recruiters hold large volumes of personal information: resumes, identity documents, social insurance numbers for payroll, banking details and, for some placements, criminal record and vulnerable sector checks. Under federal privacy law, an organization must report a breach of security safeguards to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and notify affected individuals where it is reasonable to believe the breach creates a real risk of significant harm, and must record every breach. A cyber policy pays for forensics, legal advice on the harm test, notification and liability to candidates.
Standard commercial crime insurance covers theft of your own money and property by your employees. When your assignment worker steals from a client, that is the client's loss, and it needs third-party or client property coverage, which is not automatic. Many clients, especially in finance, property management and healthcare, require proof of it in the contract.
Staffing agencies also run large weekly payrolls, which makes them a target for funds transfer and social engineering fraud: a fake email from a worker changing direct deposit details, or a spoofed client remittance. Social engineering cover is usually a separate insuring agreement with its own sublimit. Our commercial crime guide explains each insuring agreement, and our post on employee theft covers the controls that prevent it.
Staffing is sold on master service agreements, and the MSA usually sets the insurance program. Large clients and public sector buyers use standard vendor terms that push liability for placed workers to the agency.
Send us the MSA before you sign. We compare its insurance schedule and indemnities against your policies and flag the terms worth pushing back on.
This scenario is invented to show how the coverages respond. It is not a real claim.
| Event | Who claims | Which policy responds |
|---|---|---|
| A temporary warehouse worker strikes a visiting courier with a pallet jack | The courier sues the client and the agency for the injury | The agency's CGL, with the client defended as an additional insured |
| The same worker is injured later that week | The worker claims benefits | WSIB, with the costs on the agency's record as deemed employer |
| The client discovers the worker's forklift certification was never verified | The client claims its costs from the agency for negligent screening | The agency's E&O, if screening is within its professional services |
Staffing insurance is rated mostly on what your workers do, not on what you do. A recruiter placing accountants and an agency supplying general labour to warehouses can have similar revenue and very different premiums.
Good to know
Sources
This page is general information, not insurance or legal advice. Coverage depends on your policy wording and the insurer. Speak with a licensed broker about your situation.
Our insurer partners
We compare our full panel of commercial insurers to build and price your industry package.
Recruitment and Staffing Insurance
Compare 17 insurers, no obligation
Speak with an advisor
A fast, no-obligation quote from Canada's commercial insurance specialists. Real advice, the whole market compared, and someone who picks up the phone.