Employment Practices Liability
The number of employment related claims are steadily increasing. This means a rising potential for financial risk that could be devastating to your business. Therefore, the need for adequate employment practices liability insurance should not be overlooked.
The necessary defense for a discrimination or wrongful termination claim, even if you are not found to be guilty of the charges against you, could be rather expensive. Even if the claims are fraudulent or without ground, you will still have to pay mounting legal fees. In addition, the potential exposure for money damages awards will threaten the financial resources of your business.
With such an increased risk that you face running a business in today’s litigious world, you need to make absolutely certain that the insurance coverage that you hold will protect you against employment related claims. The majority of comprehensive general liability insurance will not include such claims. In some cases, a directors and officers policy will provide a limited amount of coverage, but this coverage will not extend to the business entity. In fact, there is a long list of claims that your general business insurance may not cover if you do not have EPLI, such as:
• Breach of Contract
• Disabilities
• Discrimination
• Drug Testing
• Emotional Distress
• Hiring Negligence
• Invasion of Privacy
• Libel
• Loss of Consortium
• Mental Anguish
• Promotional Negligence
• Retention Negligence
• Sexual Harassment
• Slander
• Supervisory Negligence
• Statute Violation
• Wage Disputes
• Wrongful Termination
In response to the escalating number of employment related claims and the financial risk that companies are facing due to such claims, California Southwest Insurance...
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...the best, customized service as well as quick, expert handling of claims in the industry, but we also take the time to guide you through the entire process to make sure that you understand all of the intricate details of your EPLI policy.
In order for your business to really thrive, you will need to hire a team of employees. As your business becomes more and more successful, you will need to expand and hire even more employees. With each employee that you hire, you are faced with additional risk exposure.
You do have to waste your time worrying about when one of these employees will feel that they have been wronged in some way and decide to take legal action. You need to spend your time focused on growing and maintaining the business that you have worked so hard to build. Complete the no-obligation quote form to quickly find out how affordable peace of mind can be.
(5 points) Based on the facts of the case you have selected, is it possible the employer can also be held criminally liable? Explain your answer.
In 1980, a precedent was set in a Michigan court case involving a man named Charles Toussaint who was suing his employer, BlueCross Blue Shield, for wrongful termination based on the guidelines set in the employee manual (Alfred and Bertsche 33). The manual stated that employees would only be terminated for just cause, and the court decided that Blue Cross had violated the agreements in the employee manual (34). The court also ruled that even with Blue Cross’s efforts to provide a document that “issued non-binding guidelines” the employee manual was a contract and Toussiant was wrongfully terminated (34). After the precedent set by this case many employers and employees for that matter were reviewing their employee manuals for the type of ambiguous language that could allow them to get sued or sue. Consequently, a slew of wrongful termination lawsuits followed this one, which is why it is now important for employers to draft their manuals with experienced legal staff. Even with the best legal team and the perfect wording there is still no definite assurance that an employer will be completely protected from such lawsuits, but taking these preventive measures helps in the long run.
...s. Any business, regardless of industry, would love to have a workforce that is dedicated to its profession and strives to continually improve.
If the plaintiff can prove prima facie the burden shifts to the employer. The employer must provide evidence that they fired the plaintiff for reasons other than discrimination. If the employer can prove this, the burden shifts back to the employee. The employee must then prove that the reasons the employer gave for termination are a pretext for discrimination. If the plaintiff can prove pretext, the court will find that the employer discriminated under disparate
It is important for business management to develop and promote sound health and safety policies and to consider, not only the legal requirements and the possibility of prosecution, but also the possibility of an employee personal injury claim.
Ask the employee how the issue can be resolved so it does escalate to termination of employment.
Insurance is a factor in the health of Americans. Most companies are required to offer insur...
It is essential for organization to hire the right mix of people for their organization to run efficiently and effectively. All positions hold the key; even though every position is not that of an executive or manager. According to Silzer and Dowell (2010), whether a company succeeds or fails is determined by its talent. This writer believes with the global and technological expansion of the 21st century talented people will always be in demand. …“Collins (2001) suggests that having the right people comes before having the right strategies” (p. 3); as a result, this writer believes that organization will remain competitive with their internal and external quest for talent.
The employment Insurance Commission has five parts that highlight the specific instructions to complete the jobs of the Employment Insurance Commission. Part one of the Employment Insurance Act focuses on income support benefits for people who are temporarily out of work. For part two it focuses on active employment benefits and supports measures to enable unemployed reasons to return to work. Under part three of the Employment Insurance Act, the Commission yearly looks over and is able to make any adjustment, to the premium rates of insured workers and employers. Part four of the Act is under the obligation of the Minister of National Revenue. The Minister of National Revenue is in charge of making, “the decisions on insurability of employment and on the amount of both insurable earnings and premiums payable with respect to insurable employment. All debates in this area are referred to the Tax Court of Canada” (CITE). Lastly, part five deals with the appeal system and the formation of the Board of Referees. (http://www.aeei.gc.ca/eng/board/handbook/handbook_6.shtml) Therefore, for each of the parts, every person is in charge of a different task to fully ensure a successful employment insurance program. However, if one part of the department does not do their assigned tasks, the department will fall behind and may be in serious trouble.
Health insurance is very important in life. It is for this reason that insurance companies have designed different types of insurance as a strategy to provide services to all categories of people. Before purchasing insurance for an organization, there are considerations that should be put in place in deciding the best insurance for the employees. One of the most important factors is the number of employees. The mode of employment also matters, such as whether employees are full time or part time.
...though discrimination policies have come a long way, but it still happens today. A lot of employers have strict no tolerance policies to prevent those types of law suits. Also if discrimination does occur, the employee has one hundred and eighty days to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. If the employee does file a complaint through their employer first this does not affect the EEOC timing requirement (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2012).
Harassment and discrimination can affect a business in many ways. Having a history of harassment and discrimination claims can damage a business’ reputation and affect its bottom line. It can cost the business current and future clients as well as investors and employees. Depending on the gravity of the claim(s), the process of settling the claim(s) can take anywhere from months to years. Meanwhile, the cost of the settlement and other fees continue to add up. A business might have to compensate the affected parties besides paying court fees and lawyers. The EEOC has seen a rise in monetary rewards from 7.5 million to 24.3 million (Glazer, 1996) However, all of these can be avoided by properly educating employers and employees about their rights and what harassment and discrimination entails.
Although workplace accidents are very common, the majority of them can be prevented. As a company, you are obliged by the law to protect your employees, so it is important to take the necessary actions that will minimize the risk of accidents (Intelligent HQ, 2015).
Staying ahead of the competition and increasing profits are the fundamental objectives for every organization. However, many firms today continue to invest extensively in business development activities and less on employee productivity. This mindset ignores the firm’s chief asset and its core foundation, its workforce.
Businesses recruit staff to expand the business objectives and change job roles within the business due to new skills and new