Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) is a type of insurance that you may not have considered as being an essential part of your Oklahoma business insurance coverage package. It’s easy to understand why coverage for losses, fire, or employee injuries is necessary, but you may wonder exactly what Employment Practices Liability insurance covers. Employees, contractors or customers can file suit alleging all kinds of offenses on your part including:
- Wrongful Termination
- Sexual Harassment
- Failure to Promote
- Religious Discrimination
- Failure to provide ADA accommodations
- Privacy violations on your part
Don’t assume that only big companies are subject to such complaints. Regardless of whether these suits have merit, the expense is real and the time and attention taken away from your business can also be costly.
There are a few things you can do to decrease the likelihood of such suits ever being filed by your employees:
- Have an employee handbook with policies that address these types of issues, as well as all other employee matters such as vacation policies, sick leave, work hours, etc.
- Always follow proper procedures when dealing with employees, whether for disciplinary issues, promotions, hiring, or any other situation.
- Be sure you know and understand all the applicable laws and practices so you run less of risk of unintentionally discriminating.
EPLI will pay for your legal costs of defending the suit, and often the judgements, claims or settlements of the case. Contact The Insurance Center Agency to ensure you have complete coverage to protect your business.