Employment practices liability insurance, known in the trade as EPL insurance or EPLI, provides coverage to employers against claims made by employees alleging discrimination (based on sex, race, age or disability, for example), wrongful termination, harassment and other employment-related issues, such as failure to promote.
If you watch the News each day there are more and more claims being brought about of Harassment every day. Larger businesses with many employees typically have this coverage in their insurance program to protect them. Many small businesses tend not to have this coverage, because of not having an employee handbook detailing the policies and procedures that guide hiring, disciplining or terminating employees.
Business owners are at risk from the time they interview a prospective employee to the time that they fire an employee. A business needs to look at these areas to help reduce the risk of having an EPLI claim:
- Review with your agent potential loss exposures and purchase adequate EPLI insurance.
- Develop an employee handbook with workplace policies and procedures.
- Create job descriptions for each position.
- Conduct background checks on all possible candidates.
- Conduct performance reviews.
- Zero Tolerance policy regarding discrimination, substance abuse and harassment.
- Effective record keeping system to document employee issues as they arise.
Business owners should take action now to protect yourself and your business. Talk with your agent about EPLI or call our FBinsure, LLC Risk Advisors today.
