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Recent Posts	Why Your Business Needs an Umbrella Liability Policy
Most small businesses need at least a $5 million umbrella policy, while medium-size, large, and high-risk businesses need significantly more.
Posted on Thu, Apr 10	in category: Commercial Insurance	|
Tagged Business Risk Management, Business Umbrella Policies, Long Island Commercial Insurance	|
Employment Practices Liability (EPLI)
EPLI insurance is becoming more and more necessary for both large and small employers. EPLI provides protection against employee lawsuits regarding issues such as discrimination, sexual harassment, failure to employ, and many others. This coverage generally does not pay for punitive damages, but it will pay for the company’s legal costs associated with a covered lawsuit.
Errors & Omissions (E&O) Coverage Also known as malpractice insurance, E&O provides coverage to individuals and firms who provide some form of expertise and/or counseling to their clients. When a professional receives payment in exchange for services, they are held to a high standard by both the client and the legal system. While incidents are not common, those that do occur are very costly. Having the right insurance coverage in place helps to allow the continuity of a practice by transferring potentially huge financial burdens to the insurance company.
This type of insurance policy covers environmental liabilities excluded by standard General Liability insurance. Specifically, this coverage helps to protect contractors in the event of pollution incidents, such as contaminated soil disposal or the accidental release of fuel oil, chemicals, or toxic gases from broken pipelines, utilities, or stationary or mobile fuel tanks.
Even a business that does not own any vehicles should not neglect getting Auto Liability. If an incident occurs during working hours and the injured employee was using his or her personal vehicle for business use, the business may be named as a party to legal action on any injury or property damage that may result. If the business uses personal vehicles on the job full time, it is probably best to have those vehicles insured through the company to make sure the company has coverage against legal action due to an automobile incident.
This type of coverage, which covers injuries on the job, is required by state law for businesses with employees, and employers can be fined for not carrying it. It also protects you from being legally liable should an injury occur.
This type of coverage is often, but not always, included under a General Liability policy. If it is excluded and you manufacture or sell products, you will not be covered unless you have a separate Products Liability policy. The significance of this coverage is that if a product originates from your business – regardless of whether you are the manufacturer, retailer or anyone in between – you will probably be named in the event of a lawsuit regarding that product. Products Liability does not cover recalls, but it does cover property damage or injuries caused by a product.
Posted on Tue, Apr 8	in category: Commercial Insurance	|
Tagged Business Risk Management, Commercial Insurance Policies, Important Business Insurance Policies to Have, Insurance Gaps	|
Industry underwriters set workers compensation premiums using a process similar to how most companies price group health insurance: They look at the actual claims experience for similar workers in your area, and if there is a history of claims, at your company specifically.
Where there is insufficient local claims experience to look at, underwriters turn to the National Council on Compensation Insurance, a clearing house of workers injury and compensation data. Generally, underwriters will take your payroll and multiply it by an average claim factor for that type of worker. This produces a baseline average of the total number of expected claims, which they subdivide as claims per $100,000 of payroll, claims per year, or claims per time unit. The frequency of claims is considered to be a close proxy for the safety culture of the individual business. They then account for the average severity of claims for that type of worker in your industry and combine the two to arrive at a baseline prediction for expected losses. Underwriters must then try to assess your business and answer the following question: Given the policies and procedures in place at your business and your claims history, is your company likely to produce losses that are higher than the industry baseline or lower?
Over time, underwriters have discovered that the most likely future claims predictor is a past history of claims at your company.
Therefore, to save money on workers compensation premiums, it behooves the company to invest aggressively in preserving the safety of the work environment, both in terms of resources and management focus. Your workers compensation agent and underwriting team will assign your company an insurance rating, with 1 deemed equal to the average claims experience in your industry for the area. Any rating higher than 1 indicates a worse-than-average risk for workers compensation claims. If your rating comes out higher than 1, you may be able to qualify for lower rates in future years by reviewing your safety program and the types of losses your company has incurred. Identify any patterns and recurring themes. You may benefit from bringing in a risk management consultant for an outside set of eyeballs. Some investment in equipment or improved training may be needed, or you may need to be more vigilant for workers compensation fraud in a few cases.
• Invest in training your workers in all aspects of safety relevant for their jobs.
• Appoint a senior manager with clout to monitor your safety and OSHA compliance, and empower him or her to enforce it throughout the company.
• Empower any worker to halt work activities if he or she becomes aware of an unsafe work condition, until that condition can be corrected.
Posted on Tue, Jan 21	in category: Commercial Insurance	|
Posted on Mon, Jan 20	in category: Commercial Insurance	|
“…employment practices liability insurance
is not something all businesses have enough of.
This coverage keeps employers from having to pay
out of pocket for expensive legal fees and substantial judgments.
Having insufficient coverage could result in the need
to come up with millions of dollars or close the business.
EMPLI covers judgments, court costs and legal representation.”
In the following case, employers thought they were terminating a worker for not appearing on the job, but the jury decided otherwise. A truck driver filed a lawsuit against his employer after refusing to return to work while a severe thunderstorm was in effect. The employer did not acknowledge any wrongdoing in firing the truck driver for his refusal and claimed the employee was only embellishing details to avoid work. The plaintiff worked as a hazardous materials tanker truck driver, delivering gasoline and diesel to many commercial businesses in California and Nevada. His duties included filling generators and vehicles from the tanker.
On the day the incident happened, there was a severe thunderstorm in the area where the truck driver was working. During the storm, the driver made several deliveries. However, he also contacted dispatch multiple times to complain about the hazardous weather. He requested to return back to base, and he had to work for eight hours before being allowed to clock out and leave. Three hours after leaving, he was contacted by representatives from his workplace who said he had to return to work.
Reiterating the threat of inclement weather, the driver refused. He also said that he had been drinking after work, so returning to the job to drive was dangerous. On the following morning, the driver was fired after 13 years of employment. He filed a lawsuit citing violations of his rights and asking for damages. Before the trial, an offer of $100,000 was made. During the trial, there were several witnesses and experts called in to analyze the severe weather conditions described by the truck driver.
The company that fired the driver argued that it was right to dismiss him, and representatives claimed that he fabricated events to prevent himself from returning to work to do his job during the storm. They also claimed that he made unreasonable complaints about his driving route and did not believe he had really been drinking after work.
Although the company claimed the driver did not complete his deliveries, they failed to show documentation to back their claim. Within one month of the worker’s termination, personnel had destroyed a considerable portion of his records. One record did show that the plaintiff called and stated he had been drinking. In the end, the jury decided unanimously that the company was at fault for wrongful termination. The plaintiff was awarded over $160,000 for past damages and $2.5 million for mental suffering and non-economic damages. On the following day, the jury returned and awarded the driver well over $3.5 million in punitive damages. The total verdict was more than $6.2 million and included all fees and awards.
Posted on Mon, Jan 13	in category: Uncategorized	|