Insurance for Businesses Part 3 – The “Employee” Policies

The good news is your business is doing well, despite the economy. Maybe your company is doing so well, in fact, that you are hiring more employees. First of all, congratulations! Second of all, hiring employees may mean that your business needs more insurance than just the “basic” business policies – commercial general liability and automobile liability insurance. If your business hires employees, your business may face claims from your employees due to their injury or illness on the job, due to your administration of employee benefits or due to claims related to your business’ hiring or employment practices. In this article, we focus on insurance that protects your business from claims by employees.

Does your business need workers compensation and employers liability insurance? If your business has employees, you may be required to obtain workers compensation insurance. Each state has its own rules and requirements regarding workers compensation, but generally employers are required to purchase workers compensation insurance. Workers compensation and employers liability insurance covers bodily injury by accident or bodily injury by disease to an employee.

Does your business need employment practices liability insurance? If your business has employees, you’ll want to consider whether you need employment practices liability insurance (“EPL insurance”). EPL insurance provides coverage for certain employment-related practices, such as discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, etc. Therefore, if your business has employees, you should consider whether you need EPL insurance.

Does your business need employee benefits programs errors and omissions coverage? If your business has employees and your business provides employee benefits programs, any error in the administration of an employee benefits program will likely be excluded by any commercial general liability or employers liability policy. Therefore, if your company offers an employee benefits program, such as participation in a 401(k) program, you should consider whether your company needs employee benefit programs errors and omissions insurance.

If your business employs staff, you’ll want to consider protecting your business assets from claims by employees. Therefore, when purchasing insurance for your business, be sure to consider whether your business needs workers compensation and employers liability insurance, employment practices liability insurance or employee benefits programs errors and omissions insurance.