International Employee Protection
Workers'-comp-style protection for employees you send to work outside the United States.
This is an estimate, not a bound policy — a licensed VAB producer confirms final terms before coverage starts. Sgt. Savings can answer questions but can't quote, bind, or guarantee coverage.
US workers' compensation stops at the border, but the risk of an employee getting hurt doesn't. International Employee Protection pays benefits comparable to what workers' comp would pay in the employee's home state, covers employer liability if a lawsuit follows, and adds repatriation, emergency evacuation, and regionally-endemic disease protection — for the specific employees and countries scheduled on your policy. It's explicitly not a substitute for actual statutory workers' comp inside the US.
Who This Is Really For
The ideal buyer.
The ideal buyer is a business, contractor, or nonprofit that's just won or ramped up an assignment requiring employees to work outside the US for weeks or months at a stretch, and has realized — often when a client, lender, or their own HR team asks about it — that US workers' comp simply stops applying the moment an employee crosses the border. Many have already checked whether their domestic workers' comp policy extends internationally and found out it doesn't, which is what sends them looking for a dedicated solution before deployment rather than after. What makes this the right fit over just hoping the domestic policy stretches to cover it is that it's purpose-built around the specific employees and countries actually scheduled, with repatriation and evacuation built in for the reality of getting someone home from a remote assignment gone wrong.
- Companies sending named employees on international assignment for project work
- Contractors with employees working an overseas job site
- Nonprofits and NGOs with staff posted abroad
- Any business with even a small number of employees who regularly travel internationally for extended work stints
What It Covers
Coverage, broken down.
Coverage A — Voluntary Compensation
Pays benefits calculated as though your hiring state's workers'-comp law applied, capped at that law's benefit level, for an injury sustained abroad.
Coverage B — Employers Liability
Damages if the injured employee, or their family, brings a lawsuit over the injury.
Repatriation & Emergency Evacuation
Costs to get an injured or gravely ill employee home, or to adequate medical care, from wherever they're working.
Endemic Disease Extension
Illness that's common to the specific region where the employee is working, beyond what a standard policy would treat as a workplace injury.
Illustrative Scenario — How This Coverage Responds
Illustrative scenario — an employee is injured on an overseas project
Imagine an employee posted overseas on a project assignment is injured on the job site. Coverage A — Voluntary Compensation — pays benefits calculated as though the employee's home-state workers'-comp law applied, capped at that law's benefit level. If a lawsuit follows seeking damages beyond that, Coverage B — Employers Liability — responds to the legal exposure. This is a walkthrough to illustrate how the coverage responds, not a description of an actual claim or a promised payout.
Illustrative example for education only — not a claim outcome or a promise of payment. Every claim depends on the actual policy issued and its terms.
More Than One Way In
More scenarios.
Real coverage doesn't fit one story. Here's who else this shows up for.
A government contractor project requiring Defense Base Act coverage
Picture a contractor awarded a US government project requiring staff overseas, who assumes this policy already covers everything needed. Because Defense Base Act work is excluded unless specifically endorsed, the contract itself becomes the trigger to get that endorsement added before deployment, not after.
An NGO worker falls ill in a region with an endemic disease risk
Consider an NGO employee posted to a region with a regionally common illness well beyond typical workplace injury. The Endemic Disease Extension is built specifically for that kind of region-specific health exposure that a standard policy wouldn't otherwise treat as a covered injury.
A project expands into a country that isn't yet scheduled
Think of a company whose overseas project unexpectedly extends into a neighboring country not on the original policy schedule. Getting that country added before travel begins is what keeps the coverage aligned with where employees are actually working.
Know The Gaps
What this doesn't cover.
Every policy has limits. Knowing them before you buy is how you avoid a denied claim later.
Work covered under the Defense Base Act, Longshore Act, or War Hazards Compensation Act, unless specifically endorsed
Contractors on US government overseas contracts almost always need a specific endorsement added for this — don't assume it's already built in.
War
Employees working in or near an active conflict zone need to have that exposure specifically discussed and addressed before deployment, not assumed to be covered.
Maritime or aviation crew members
Crew subject to specialized laws like the Jones Act need coverage built for that specific legal framework, not this general international employee form.
A lawsuit brought outside the US, its territories, Canada, or the specific countries scheduled on your policy
If real litigation risk exists in a country that isn't on your schedule, get it added before travel begins, not after an incident happens.
Behind The Quote
What goes into the decision.
What actually moves your price and your approval — no black box.
Which countries are actually scheduled on the policy
Coverage is defined by the specific countries listed, not by where the business generally operates — every destination an employee is actually sent to needs to be on that list before travel.
Whether the work involves a US government contract
Defense Base Act, Longshore Act, and War Hazards Compensation Act work is excluded unless specifically endorsed, so government-contract work needs that conversation up front, not assumed to be automatically included.
Number of employees and length of assignment
How many people are posted abroad and for how long shapes the real exposure this policy is standing behind — a short single-employee trip looks very different from an ongoing multi-employee deployment.
Regional risk factors like endemic disease or active conflict
War is excluded outright, and endemic disease needs the specific extension — flagging the actual conditions of the destination region lets VAB confirm what's realistically covered before anyone deploys.
Let's get you covered.
Tell us what you need on International Employee Protection — a licensed VAB advisor follows up personally. No bots, no runaround.
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Availability
The policy is available to US businesses nationwide; coverage under it applies to your scheduled employees while they're working in the specific countries listed on your policy.
Questions, answered straight
No jargon on international employee protection — just what you're actually asking.
No — it's a different mechanism, but it's built to pay benefits comparable to what workers' comp would pay, and only for the specific employees and scheduled countries on your policy.
Get the country added to your schedule before travel — coverage is defined by what's actually listed, not by where your business happens to operate generally.
Yes, unless it's specifically added by endorsement to this policy — assume you need it separately unless VAB confirms otherwise for your specific contract.
Foreign statutory workers'-comp requirements vary by country. This coverage fills the financial gap US workers' comp leaves behind — it doesn't automatically satisfy a specific country's mandatory local requirement if one genuinely applies.
This coverage is built around the scheduled employee — confirm at quote exactly what, if anything, extends to accompanying family.
Beyond This Coverage
What people in your situation also need.
Business Banking
A business managing payroll and expenses for employees working internationally benefits from business banking built to handle that complexity.
ExploreGroup Benefits
Employees on international assignment are still part of the broader benefits picture a business needs to keep coordinated across its workforce.
ExploreHR & Payroll (PEO)
Managing an internationally deployed workforce's HR and payroll needs is a natural pairing with the protection covering their time abroad.
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Learn moreReady to talk it through?
Get a quote in minutes, or ask Sgt. Savings a straight question first — no pressure, no runaround.
Insurance products described on this page are marketed by The Veteran Alliance, a licensed insurance producer, and underwritten by one or more separately licensed insurance companies, which may include Corgi Insurance Company and its affiliates. The insurer that actually underwrites your policy, its licensing status in your state, and any state-required notices will be identified in your quote and policy documents. Coverage, limits, eligibility, and pricing are determined by the underwriting insurer, may vary by state, and may change. Nothing on this page is a quote, an offer of insurance, a binder, or a guarantee of coverage — coverage takes effect only when a policy is issued.