Employee Driven Lawsuits
Employee Driven Lawsuits & Employment Practice Liability Insurance
October 21, 2021
Written by Bill Butler CIC, CISR, CWCA
Employee Driven Lawsuits
These can come at any time even if you didn’t do anything wrong but they can also have these occur if you don’t take action like the practice in Oregon.
Pet hospital to pay $43K to settle sex harassment suit
Settlements average $40,000 – $50,000 but if you go to court and there is a jury award those can be much much more!
Having protection in place is key to cover your practice.
Employment Practice Liability Insurance
Employment Practice Liability Insurance or EPLI can protect you from employee driven lawsuits. Sometimes this coverage can be added to your current business insurance policy but often times the coverage limits are lower and or limited. By purchasing a stand alone EPLI policy you can purchase higher limits of coverage usually starting at $1,000,000 and they go up from there.
Many stand alone EPLI policies also provide coverage for the following:
- Any actual or alleged act of “harassment”
- Any actual or alleged act of “discrimination”
- Any actual or alleged wrongful dismissal, discharge, or termination (either actual or constructive of employment)
- Any actual or alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (wage and hour)
- Employment-related misrepresentation
- Employment-related libel, slander, humiliation, defamation, or invasion of privacy
- Wrongful failure to employ or promote
- Wrongful deprivation of career opportunity, wrongful demotion, or negligent evaluation
- Wrongful discipline
- Vicarious liability for intentional acts
- Punitive damages
- Coercion or humiliation as a consequence of race, marital status, gender, age, physical and/or mental impairments, pregnancy, sexual orientation, or any other protected class or characteristic stablished by any applicable federal, state, or local statute
An added benefit of purchasing Employment Practice Liability Insurance are tools to prevent a claim from occurring and often you can access legal advice in the event of potential claim to assist you in handling the situation properly.
To protect your practice from Employee Driven Lawsuits contact the insurance agents at Butler Vet Insurance for more information on purchasing an EPLI Policy.
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