What is a Liability Insurance Endorsement?
If your business has even a few employees, you cannot entirely avoid the risk of a lawsuit charging you with some type of employment discrimination, whether based on sex, race, age or any one of a number of other characteristics.
This is typically one of those exposures—much like the exposure to theft by trusted insiders—that employers tend to think “won’t happen here.”
Unfortunately, even if you have an excellent risk management program, an employment practices lawsuit can happen in any business. For example, you may fire a worker for poor job performance only to find he or she files a lawsuit charging that the real reason for the termination was race, religion, age or some other protected characteristic.
Regardless of whether the employee can ultimately prove the charges, you may be tied up in a legal defense for a long time. Even if you think you’ve done nothing wrong, you could be found liable for discrimination and responsible for the payment of a large damage award.
The Employment Practices Liability Endorsement provides coverage for violations of seven different federal anti-discrimination statutes named in the endorsement, as well as for violations of similar state and local statutes.
You must choose a supplemental limit and deductible for this coverage that is separate from any of your policy's other limits.
As part of the contract, you give the insurer the right to defend against any claim. The insurer may offer to settle a claim. If you do not consent to the settlement, the most the insurer will pay on the claim is the amount it offered in settlement.
For more information on adding endorsements to your liability coverage, call our office at 239.542.7101 and speak to an insurance professional or you can email us your questions and an agent will reply promptly.