Employment Practices Liability Insurance

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.

Large corporations typically have substantial employment practices insurance coverage in place and are prepared to deal with just about any employment lawsuit. However, small or new businesses are often the most vulnerable to employment claims. That’s because they usually lack a legal department or employee handbook detailing the policies and procedures that guide hiring, disciplining or terminating employees.

The cost of insuring your business for EPLI coverage depends on a variety of factors, such as the number of people you employ, if you’ve had prior suits lodged against the company, the percentage of employee turnover, and if you have established rules and practices in place. Depending on the size of the company, EPLI can be offered as an endorsement to a Business Owner’s Policy (BOP), a General Liability Policy (GL), or a specific stand alone policy can be written in conjunction with a BOP policy.

EPLI provides protection against many kinds of employee lawsuits, including claims of:

• Sexual harassment
• Discrimination
• Wrongful termination
• Breach of employment contract
• Negligent evaluation
• Failure to employ or promote
• Wrongful discipline
• Deprivation of career opportunity
• Wrongful infliction of emotional distress
• Mismanagement of employee benefit plans