An employee who spills coffee on the laptop provided by the company, water damage that destroys professional files stored in a home office, a fall down the stairs during working hours: each situation involves different insurance contracts. Remote work blurs the line between home insurance and professional insurance, and most home multi-risk contracts were not designed to cover regular professional activity at home.
Professional liability and home insurance: two contracts, two scopes
The multi-risk home insurance (MRH) covers damages related to private life in the home: fire, water damage, theft of personal belongings, private life civil liability. The employer’s professional insurance covers damages suffered or caused in the context of professional activity, including equipment entrusted to the employee.
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The problem arises when a claim occurs at home during remote work. The home insurer may refuse compensation if the damage has a professional cause. The employer’s insurer may contest its coverage if the claim falls under private life. The employee finds themselves caught between two refusals of coverage.
Before signing an amendment or modifying a contract, it is useful to check your insurance coverage for remote work by comparing the clauses of your MRH and those of the insurance taken out by your company.
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Professional equipment damaged at home: who compensates for the loss
The employer remains responsible for the equipment they provide to the employee working remotely. Their professional multi-risk insurance must cover the replacement of a computer, monitor, or phone in case of breakage, theft, or water damage. The employee does not have to use their own MRH for this type of damage.
The difficulty arises in three specific cases:
- The employee uses their own equipment (BYOD) without a written agreement with the employer: no professional insurance covers property that does not belong to the company, and the MRH may exclude regular professional use.
- The professional equipment is damaged by a domestic incident (water leak, electrical surge): the home insurer considers the damage as falling under their water damage or electrical event coverage, but sometimes excludes professional property from compensation.
- A third party (child, pet) breaks the professional equipment: the employee’s private life civil liability may be engaged towards the employer, provided that the MRH contract does not contain an exclusion clause for entrusted property.
The home insurance certificate requested by the employer does not resolve these gray areas. It only confirms the existence of an MRH contract, without guaranteeing that this contract effectively covers professional activity at home.
Professional use clause in the MRH contract: what the insurer checks
The majority of multi-risk home insurance contracts include a declaration of the use of the dwelling. A dwelling declared as a primary residence for exclusively private use does not cover, by default, professional activity carried out regularly.
For occasional employee remote work (a few days a month), most insurers consider that standard MRH is sufficient. Regular or full-time remote work requires a declaration to the insurer, or even an amendment to the contract. This distinction is based on the frequency and nature of the activity, not on the legal status of the employee.
Self-employed and micro-entrepreneurs: a higher risk of exclusion
A self-employed worker who operates from home combines the roles of employee and employer in terms of insurance. Their MRH does not cover their professional civil liability, nor damages caused to a client received at their home, nor the professional equipment used for their activity.
They must take out a separate professional civil liability insurance and check that their home contract allows for the exercise of independent activity at home. Receiving clients at home, for example, exposes them to legal risks that neither private life liability nor standard MRH covers.
Cross-border remote work and home coverage in France
Agreements on cross-border remote work now allow a cross-border employee to regularly work from their home in France for a foreign employer. Home insurance remains subject to French rules, regardless of the country of employment.
This case creates an asymmetry that is rarely anticipated. The professional insurance of the foreign employer may not cover a claim that occurs in France, or may apply compensation conditions different from French law. The cross-border employee must then check that their own MRH accepts professional use of the dwelling and that their employer’s guarantees extend to French territory.
For remote work carried out from another country in the European Economic Area, the A1 certificate is required to establish attachment to the social security system. This document has no direct link to home insurance, but its absence can complicate the handling of a workplace accident that occurs at home.
Claim declaration in remote work: qualifying the damage to avoid refusal
In the event of a claim at home during remote work, the qualification of the damage determines which contract is activated. A bodily injury occurring during working hours is presumed to be a workplace accident, even at home. Material damage, on the other hand, depends on the nature of the affected property and the cause of the claim.
Declaring the claim to both insurers (home and employer) within the contractual deadlines remains the only effective precaution. Waiting for a response from one insurer before contacting the other runs the risk of exceeding the declaration deadline, often set at five working days.
Remote work has not created new material risks. It has shifted professional risks into a space covered by a contract designed for private life. Reviewing the usage clauses of one’s MRH and requesting a statement of professional guarantees from one’s employer takes an hour; a refusal of compensation can take months to contest.