If a volunteer is injured while providing services for your organization, the first thing you need to know is that your workers’ compensation policy won’t provide benefits. Texas law doesn’t permit workers’ comp coverage on volunteers, other than those who work for government and emergency service organizations.

If a volunteer is injured while providing services at your location, your commercial general liability policy provides some coverage for his or her medical bills. The limit of coverage is very small – typically only $5,000. If the volunteer believes the organization or one of its employees is legally responsible for the injury, your insurance company will investigate the accident and offer payment if it agrees, or defend you and pay any resulting judgment if the volunteer sues, subject to the liability coverage limit.

If a volunteer is injured in an automobile accident while using a vehicle owned or leased by your organization, your business auto policy provides some coverage for medical bills and other benefits if you have purchased Medical Payments, Personal Injury Protection and/or Uninsured Motorists coverages, up to the limits purchased for those coverages. If the volunteer believes the organization or one of its employees is legally responsible for the injury, your auto insurance company will investigate the accident and offer payment if it agrees, or defend you and pay any resulting judgment if the volunteer sues, subject to the liability coverage limit.

If a volunteer is injured in an automobile accident while using his or her own vehicle, your policies won’t provide any coverage for medical bills. It might be a good idea to inform your volunteers of this fact and encourage them to review their own auto insurance policies with their agents to be sure they are adequately covered.

As you see from the information provided so far, covering medical bills incurred by volunteers while working for your organization is a hit-or-miss proposition. The best way to provide medical and other benefits to your volunteers is to purchase a special policy known as “Volunteer Accident Insurance.” This type of policy typically provides a wide range of benefits, including accidental death, accidental dismemberment, accident medical expense and occupational disability payments. High limits of coverage are available from most insurance companies offering this type of policy. Ask your agent for more information and a proposal.

Injuries to Others Caused by Volunteers

Your general and automobile liability policies cover the organization if a volunteer injures someone or damages property of others while working for you. If the accident involves an automobile owned by the volunteer, special coverage is needed, so ask your agent to be sure you have the appropriate coverage.

Your policies may or may not provide the same liability protection for the volunteer should they be sued individually for injury or damage caused by the volunteer. These policies usually provide the coverage unless the accident involves the volunteer’s own vehicle. Of course the volunteer should be able to rely on his or her own auto liability policy for this protection. It might be a good idea to encourage volunteers to review their own auto insurance policies with their agents to be sure they are adequately covered, especially if they are using their vehicles to transport clients of your organization. Special coverage is available to cover volunteers on your auto liability policy – excess over their own policies or primary if their policies don’t provide coverage for some reason. 

This article was prepared and made available to your agent by the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas, which is solely responsible for its content. Please read your insurance policy. If there is any conflict between the information in this article and the actual terms and conditions of your policy, the terms and conditions of your policy will apply. The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas is a non-profit association of more than 1,500 insurance agencies in Texas, dedicated to helping its members succeed, in part by providing technical resources that explain insurance policies sold to their customers.