A client wants to be additional insured on my workers comp. What do they actually need?
Usually a waiver of subrogation, or an alternate employer endorsement if your workers take direction from the client. Workers comp has no additional insured in the general liability sense: it pays your employees’ injuries, and the client is not your employee. Ask the client which of the two meets the requirement and get the answer in writing before the certificate is issued.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What the client is really asking for
Additional insured on all policies
- What it usually means
- AI on general liability, auto and umbrella; comp cannot add one
- The endorsement
- None on comp; offer the waiver
- Who it fits
- Vendors, contractors, consultants
Waive subrogation on workers comp
- What it usually means
- Your comp carrier will not sue the client after paying your injured worker
- The endorsement
- WC 00 03 13, blanket or specific
- Who it fits
- Anyone working on a client’s site
Alternate employer, borrowed servant, special employer
- What it usually means
- Your comp covers your workers while the client directs them
- The endorsement
- Alternate employer endorsement (WC 00 03 01)
- Who it fits
- Staffing agencies, PEOs, labor contractors
Additional insured on workers comp, from a staffing client
- What it usually means
- Almost always the alternate employer endorsement
- The endorsement
- Alternate employer endorsement
- Who it fits
- Staffing agencies
Form numbers and titles as listed by the Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau. States with their own forms or a state fund may differ.
The detail
WC 00 03 01 A is the Alternate Employer Endorsement and WC 00 03 13 is the Waiver of Our Right to Recover From Others Endorsement, both on the standard workers compensation endorsement list.
Under Part One of the alternate employer endorsement the insurer reimburses the named alternate employer for the workers compensation benefits owed to your employees injured while working for it, and Part Two extends employers liability to it.
NCCI Alternate Employer Endorsement WC 00 03 01 (operative wording not yet read in full)
Clients that direct temporary workers commonly require an alternate employer endorsement naming them, and vendors are more often asked for a waiver of subrogation.
Kevin Kelsey, agency placement experience
What this means for you
- Translate before you sign. A contract that says "additional insured on all policies" will be rejected by a reviewer who knows comp cannot add one, unless it says "except workers compensation". Ask for that carve-out, or for the waiver in its place.
- Staffing is the special case. When your worker takes daily direction from the client, the client can be treated as an employer of that worker. The alternate employer endorsement is what extends your comp to that relationship.
- Name the states. Both endorsements sit on a state-by-state policy, and a state with its own comp fund may handle them differently. Tell your agent where the work is.
- Expect a charge. Carriers often price a blanket waiver as a percentage of the comp price, and some charge per alternate employer.
Related questions
- Can you add an additional insured to workers comp?
Not in the way general liability adds one. Workers comp pays benefits to your own injured employees under state law, so there is nothing for a client to be insured for. The endorsements that answer the request are the waiver of subrogation and, for staffing, the alternate employer endorsement.
- What is the difference between a waiver of subrogation and an alternate employer endorsement?
The waiver stops your comp carrier from suing the client to recover what it paid your injured employee. The alternate employer endorsement goes further: it extends your comp and employer’s liability to the client as if it were the employer, which matters when the client directs your workers.
- WC 00 03 13, the comp waiver
- I have no employees. What do I send?
Ask the client whether it accepts an exemption or requires a policy anyway. Some states let an owner buy a policy covering only themselves, and many clients will not accept an exemption certificate whatever the state allows.
- Workers comp with no employees
- Can you check the insurance requirements I was sent?
Yes. Paste them into our free COI Requirements Decoder, pick your type of business, and it explains each requirement, flags what is often missing and lists the lines to quote, without the text leaving your browser. One button then asks a licensed agent to quote what it found.
- Open the COI Requirements Decoder
Need this handled?
Reading about it and having it handled are different jobs, and the second one is ours. We place the accounts other brokers decline — claims history, a cancellation, an unusual operation, a business nobody wants to underwrite twice — and we will tell you when the policy you already have is the right one. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.
Written by Kevin Kelsey, founder and principal agent, CA License #6011822, at Boring Insurance. Last updated 2026-10-05. See all guides.