I'm all for freelancers having coverage if they need it and can afford it, so thanks for the link. But my back goes up the instant a company requires it of freelancers. I don't blame you for not falling in line with what the F500 client wanted. The status of the job wouldn't pay the bills. 🙂

I think it's as you say – new law firm. And either the law firm or the company itself has no idea how to work with contractors. Or maybe they see the word "contractor" and run to the Internet for the standard contract language covering construction workers. If that's the case, fire that law firm.

Paula, I remember that! It was strange given the public facility itself. VERY strange!

Kim, I've never been asked to sign anything like this, either. And I wouldn't.

Susan, good for you! I wouldn't have agreed to that, either. My taking on risk – or covering it with insurance – is my business entirely. Not theirs. I get that there are people who would sue over a hangnail that developed in the company's parking lot, but the law already dictates enough rules to separate staff from contractors.

These are people who shouldn't be doing business with contractors.

Once you're established as an independent contractor the workers comp stuff is utter nonsense.

And as an independent contractor if you want to hire me or your favorite job to help with the assignment that is also none of their business.

Preprinted invoices and letterheads are also none of their business… your business name and address and your ein or ss number if you're in the US are, particularly if they plan on paying you more than $600 a year.

And an affidavit? No clue about that really, but they've already struck out on so many things I wouldn't do that either… unless it was a simple affidavit that I was an independent contractor… and I probably wouldn't go that far.

Bet they've hired a new law firm.

I'm with Devon, push back, hard.

Not that I have an opinion or anything 😉

if devon were a lawyer, i'd want to have her on retainer.

I'd push back, and if it didn't work, I'd walk.

That said, for peace of family mind, I personally spend about $350 a year for a basic disability policy. I imagine that would be a way of meeting the requirement.

With other client names and numbers, I'd simply state that the best you can do, due to confidentiality agreements, is supply the links as you've done in the past.

A few years back, one of my partner-designers had us close to an advertising deal with a Fortune 500 company. The liability insurance they wanted us to have would have cost a good chunk of the "trial" project revenues, with no guarantee whatsoever that we were going to get a second job. Um, no thanks.

But I've come across outrageous requirements like this in the past and it's really frustrating. If it in fact this in one of many clients, how the heck are you supposed to find time to jump through all these ridiculous hoops?

I had a contract that required me to purchase $2M in liability insurance and I pushed back, saying it wasn't relevant to the type of work I do. The editor told me none of the other writers had a problem with it. I told her, "based on how much you're paying, I wouldn't be able to cover a policy of that scope and still make a profit on this project, so I'd be curious how your other writers do it." She told me she didn't know, to which I said those writers are probably signing the contract without reading it. Then someone in legal emailed me to say, "we're willing to compromise with a $1M policy." Again, not relevant to the work I do, so I continued to push back and eventually they dropped that clause.

It is BS, Devon. These companies don't have the right to require such things from freelancers. We're business entities, contractors. We're not pseudo-employees dying to jump through hoops. I'm okay with signing a waiver so they feel their asses are covered, but I would refuse their application process and their insurance requirement. And they'll be hard pressed to find ANY writer who can afford WC insurance. It's not necessary for our line of work.

Krista, that's crazy! Why did they need to know all that? I wouldn't have signed it, either.