Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) has become an important insurance component for all types of businesses. Simply stated, EPLI covers employers who may find themselves facing lawsuits from past, present and potential employees. Risks for employers include subjects like wrongful termination, hiring discrimination, sexual harassment (#metoo), workplace retaliation and other work related accusations.
Company Size is Irrelevant
Nearly 75% of all legal complaints against businesses are over employment related disputes. Think about that; not over contract disputes or debt collection… but lawsuits related to the myriad of rules employers must follow. Over 40% of these suits are against businesses that have less than one hundred employees.
Why EPLI is critical
- Since 1998, employment related lawsuits have increased over four hundred percent.
- Basic general liability insurance does not cover employment related risks
- The EEOC division of the Department of Labor files more than 90,000 charges each year and the plaintiffs win 70% of jury trials.
- The average lawsuit settlement is around $200,000 and the cost to defend the claim is nearly $150,000.
- Businesses with 15-250 employees are sued more often than larger businesses.
EPLI should be considered to protect your company from the crippling costs of employment related lawsuits.
How a PEO can help
Many PEOs offer EPLI coverage as part of their insurance related suit of services to their clients. Some PEOs may include the cost of EPLI in their standard plan pricing while others offer it on an a la carte basis. In addition hiring a PEO brings an HR expert on to your company team that will help your company implement HR / employment practices that make your company a great place to work and also mitigate employment related risks. Have a question about EPLI offerings in the PEO marketplace? Call us, we will talk you through it.
