When your Contract template requires contractor insurance, each freelancer must show coverage before the Contract can go live. Worksuite connects to 1099Policy, our insurance partner, so your talent can buy coverage for the Contract inside the onboarding stage, or upload a certificate for your team to review. This guide covers the Contract settings, reviewing certificates from a Contract, finding policies, billing and the most common blocks.

Who can do this: Teammates who create Contracts and review their onboarding stages.

Availability: Available on request: ask your Business Solutions Architect.

Your workspace may use a different name for Contracts (for example, Engagements) or for your freelancers (for example, Talent or Partners). The steps are the same.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

How it works

  • The Contract template sets which coverage is required, under 1099 Insurance Coverage on the template's Contract Workflow tab: General Liability, Workers Compensation, or both.
  • Each Contract sets the 1099 Insurance U.S. State, the 1099 Insurance Job Category and, where your account offers it, the 1099 Insurance Payer.
  • In the insurance stage, your freelancer buys coverage through 1099Policy, reuses an active 1099Policy policy, or uploads a certificate of insurance (COI) for your review.
  • The Contract can't go live until the stage is complete, so your freelancer can't invoice against it yet.
  • Coverage can't be backdated. If the start date has passed, the policy covers dates from the next day onward.

Set the insurance details on a Contract

Contracts that use the insurance stage need fixed start and end dates, a duration of one year or less, and Task amounts that add up to between 1 USD and 1,000,000 USD. Only one worker can be assigned across the Contract's Tasks.

Important: You can't change the 1099 Insurance U.S. State or 1099 Insurance Job Category once the Contract has left draft and your freelancer's onboarding has started. Check both before you make the Contract live.

To set the insurance details:

  1. Go to Contracts → All Contracts, click New Contract and select a template that includes 1099 insurance coverage.
  2. In 1099 Insurance U.S. State, select the state where the work is performed. This is the work location, not where the freelancer lives.
  3. In 1099 Insurance Job Category, select the category that best matches the work.
  4. (Optional) Under 1099 Insurance Payer, tick Pay insurance on behalf of partner if your company pays the premium. Leave it unticked if your freelancer pays.
  5. Finish the rest of the Contract and click Save and make live.

When your freelancer reaches the insurance stage, they see the required coverage types and their options.

Review an uploaded certificate

  1. Open the Contract and go to the Details tab.
  2. In the Contract workflow section, click Review next to the insurance stage. The stage panel opens.
  3. Under each policy, click Preview to open the Proof of insurance.
  4. To accept it, select Approve and enter the date in Confirm policy expiration date. The date can't be in the past.
  5. To decline it, select Reject and enter a Rejection reason. Your freelancer sees this reason.
  6. Click Confirm document status.

Your freelancer sees "All set!" for an approved certificate. For a rejected one, they see "Proof of insurance rejected" and your rejection reason.

Before you approve, check that:

  • The insured is the freelancer or their own business, and matches their profile and tax information. A certificate issued to a payroll provider, an employer of record or an agency doesn't show that the freelancer is covered.
  • The policy dates cover the Contract dates.
  • The limits meet your company's minimums.
  • The document is the right coverage type. A business owner's policy, a health insurance card or a state exemption certificate isn't Workers' Compensation.

After you reject a certificate, the panel shows What can you do next? Click Move to retry to give your freelancer a Retry button, so they can upload a corrected certificate or buy through 1099Policy. Disqualify ends their onboarding and can't be undone. For what each stage status means, see Reviewing 1099 Insurance in Onboarding (1099Policy Stage).

On Agent of Record (AOR) Contracts, only Worksuite can approve or reject these documents. The stage shows a message saying so.

Find certificates and policies

  • On the freelancer's profile: open the Documents tab. Where your account shows insurances, they're listed under Insurances, with their source (Proof of insurance or Insurance from 1099Policy).
  • On the Contract: on the Details tab, click Review next to the insurance stage and open the All data tab.

The stage doesn't show your team the premium amount.

Cost and billing

  • The premium is a rate for every 100 USD of the Contract's wages, plus taxes and fees. The rate depends on the state and job category.
  • There's one premium per Contract, based on the amounts of its Tasks.
  • The 1099 Insurance Payer setting decides who pays: your freelancer or your company. You can change it while the Contract is a draft. To change it after you make the Contract live, contact Worksuite Support.
  • When an accepted change request changes the Contract amount, 1099Policy charges the extra premium or refunds the difference.
  • After the Contract ends, the premium is based on the total of paid invoices, and 1099Policy charges or refunds the difference.

Extensions and renewals

  • When you extend a Contract, a policy bought through 1099Policy is extended to the new end date.
  • If an uploaded certificate expires before the new end date, the Contract shows "The manually uploaded insurance document on this contract expires before the new end date." Ask your freelancer for an updated certificate.
  • A renewed Contract must keep the same 1099 Insurance Coverage as the original.

Agency-managed talent

The insured person is the worker, not their agency. The agency can complete the stage for the worker, but the application must be in the worker's own name, and each worker needs their own profile. 1099Policy blocks a purchase for a second person on an account that already holds a policy for someone else.

Troubleshooting

Your freelancer can't buy coverage

The stage tells you why. The most common causes:

  • "This assignment is set in the past or ends too soon": review the Contract dates.
  • "Invalid wage range": the Task amounts must add up to between 1 USD and 1,000,000 USD.
  • An invalid or unsupported job category, or an invalid onboarding context: contact Worksuite Support.
  • Tax information is missing: ask your freelancer to complete it in Worksuite.
  • The freelancer's address is outside the US: 1099Policy covers work performed in the US. If the freelancer lives in the US, ask them to set the United States and their state in their tax information. If the work happens outside the US, use a Contract template without the insurance stage.
  • Workers' Compensation in North Dakota, Ohio, Washington or Wyoming must come from the state fund, and General Liability isn't available through 1099Policy in Hawaii. Your freelancer uploads their own certificate instead.

The state or job category on the Contract is wrong

You can't edit them once onboarding has started. Contact Worksuite Support. The Contract may need to be recreated.

Your freelancer started a purchase but wants to upload their own certificate

Once a freelancer opts in to buy, they can't switch to uploading for that coverage. Contact Worksuite Support to reset the stage.

The application is waiting on 1099Policy's review

Some applications are screened by 1099Policy before they can be completed. Contact Worksuite Support to follow up.

Why don't I see the insurance settings?

Contractor insurance is available on request. Ask your Business Solutions Architect. If you see the insurance fields but not 1099 Insurance Payer, the payer option isn't turned on for your account.

Support/Resources

Still have questions about contractor insurance on Contracts? Click Support in the bottom-left corner of Worksuite to contact our Support team, or email support@worksuite.com. Including a link to the page you're on and a screenshot helps us answer faster.