Employment Related Practices Liability (EPLI) Are You Covered??
This insurance is used to protect against lawsuits by employees alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment or other specified employment related exposures.
EPLI exposures can also be covered under an Umbrella policy or as an endorsement to a D & O Policy. EPLI coverage written as a stand alone policy is usually preferred however since it is often used with a lower deductible that D &O or Umbrella policies and maintains separate limits of liability from other coverages. Most EPL policies are written as scheduled forms that specifically list what types of claims are and are not covered. Take a look at the following questions you may have asked yourself.
- Who wants to make a complaint against my company? I've done nothing wrong! The person you least expect will sue you. All it takes is a motivated employee and a one-page form to file a complaint with the EEOC. And you may be correct when you say you have done nothing wrong. Cases often have no basis in fact, however, you still need competent legal counsel to defend your company. If your company is not able to respond quickly to an employement-related charge or lawsuit, the suit will proceed to court. A company wants to avoid a jury trial at all costs. If the allegation does proceed to a jury trial, the defense costs alone may exceed $250,000 for a lawsuit and may take years to resolve. In addition to the defense costs of a jury trial, juries tend to be pro-plaintiff and unpredictable which can lead to astronomical damages awarded in the hundreds of thousands and even millions.
- I am a small employer, why should I purchase ELPI coverage? Small to midsize companies are particulary at risk because they often don't have the resources available in a larger corporation, such as a human resource director/department or legal counsel versed in employment law. In an increasingly complex employment enviroment, it is difficult to stay current with changes in employment law, let alone develop, implement and maintain procedures to ensure compliance with regulations.
- It is difficult for me to budget for this coverage. Do I really need it? No company bears the risk of fire, theft or customer injury without the protection of insurance. Yet, it is far more likely that a company will face an employee complaint than the devastating effects of a fire. Over seventy-five percent (75%) of all litigations against corporations today involve employee disputes, and the typical expense of such lawsuits exceeds $250,000 in judgments, costs, and attorneys' fees. We consider EPLI to be as necessary as general liability or property coverage.
- I think I have this coverage under my other insurance policies. Typically, general liability policies do not include coverage for allegations of workplace discrimination or wrongful discharge and most now have full-blown exclusions for employment-related lawsuits. Director and Officer (D&O) liability policies may provide some coverage, but most directors and officers policies do not cover the corporation or its employees. Also, the ever-increasing EPL losses under these policies are forcing most carriers to exclude EPL claims under D&O policies. In addition, do you want an employment claim to lead to the cancellation of your D&O policy? Are you willing to share limits with other coverages or be subject to exclusions that could limit your EPLI coverage? For these reasons, risk managers strongly recommend purchasing separate, specialized, stand-alone policies rather than combining coverages.
- This "EPL" Insurance has to be expensive. Right? No, pricing is very competitive. If you have not already received a quote for your company, you should request one immediately. You only need to answer a one-page questionnaire to receive an indication of pricing. You will receive pricing for a quote with various limits, deductibles and coverages that suit your needs and situation. Your premiums are based on the number of employees, location and nature of your business, to name a few of the rating and underwriting criteria.
- If I buy a policy, will I get stuck with the insurance company's legal counsel? Working with someone you know has distinct advantages when a claim arises. We will consider your company's preference for defense counsel as long as they are labor law specialists. However, your insurer will have a team of specialists that work with dedicated labor and employment attorneys who have significant experience in defending the EPL claims. You cannot use general practioners when defending a claim due to the unique laws and techniques needed to amicably resolve an employment claim. Your insurer will also be able to obtain preferred rates with qualified labor counsel, including labor counsel that you may currently retain, which will help in turn keep down the costs of the claim for all parties involved.
Give us a call at 1-888-474-4467 today for a quote. |
|
Your Benefits With Transpo Insurance Agency |
The Transpo Specialty Team brings a combined total of more than 60 years of insurance experience to the transportation industry. We use A.M. Best's A-rated insurance carriers and companies admitted in your state. Our commitment to excellence is reflected by our long term relationships with our clients, our exclusive relationship with the best insurance companies and our commitment to loss control which saves money for our insureds and money for the insurance companies. |
|
Finding the Best Deal on the Necessary Evil: Insurance |
Insurance is a necessary evil for every limousine business. Since insurance is such a large part of an operator's budget, is there a way to save money? There is, and it's really quite simple. The following are five simple tactics? which will allow you to become skilled and capable of buying the right coverage at the best prices.
Use a Professional
An agent typically represents one company while a broker often works independantly and "shops" several companies at once. Don't underestimate the importance of getting professional insurance advice. Everyone knows someone or has a family member in the insurance business. This is not qualification enough to protect your business and your clientele. Public transportation specialitsts know the markets, understand the requirements of your local government, and can relate to your business needs. Interview several brokers or agents and find one that fits your requests and can deliver on promises. Many talk the talk, but you need one who will make it happen.
Know What You Need Before You Sing on the Dotted Line
You should understand the coverage available and how it will fit your company's individual requirements. Sspending money for unnecessary coverage is almost as bad as not buying the coverage you truly call for. Carefully consider the coverage before you sign and start making payments on a policy that doesn't completely 'insure' you. The wrong time to figure this out is after you have a claim and there is no coverage for your specific needs.
Find the Right Option
The insurance marketplace is full of companies. Some have been in business for a long time, some are just getting in, and some are on their way out. Some offer comprehensive package policies, others offer 'special programs' and most offer the basic commercial auto forms which are used by trucking companies and other commercial vehicles. Very few have specific underwriting guidelines designed for public transporation. The responsibility to understand the coverage differences is yours and your broker's (or agent's). Once again, use a professional.
Paint a Pretty Picture
It is critical to provide the insurance company with the best possible impression of your business. Once you have decided on who will represent your business to the insurance companies, you must then prepare your presentation for the insurance company's underwriter. The underwriter making the decision for the insurance company has the responsiblity to protect the company's assets by critical review of the submitted written documentation. The underwriter will not meet you in person. He/she will review the written submission and research information on your company regards to advertising (including your website) public records, and your loss history.
Underwriters are trained to ask specific questions. These questions and the research are used to apply 'debits' and 'credits' to rate your company's risk, where debits are bad answers and credits are good answers that earn you points. If your broker or agent understands these questions, then he/she can answer them before they become a concern. If there are too many unanswered, then the outlook will not be favorable. If the questions are answered upfront and are favorable, then the underwriter will proceed in providing the competitive proposal your broker or agent is looking for. Again, a professional public transportation specialist will understand this industry and the insurance market, and will provide a comfort level for the underwriter to allow your company to get the best coverage for the lowest price.
No Rushing
Start to interview prospective brokers and agents 120-180 days before you need insurance or change insurance providers, especially if your policy is going to expire. Understand that you will need to complete submission to get the best rates from the best companies. Waiting until the last minute only results in frustration, a poor submission, and normally a price war where your coverage becomes less important. Details will be missed, I promise. It does no good to get a cheap price on one shoe. If your decision is price-driven only, that mistake will become apparent when you have a claim situation without coverage.
Some Quick Thoughts to Consider:
A $5,000,000 liability policy typically costs only 14-20 percent more than a $1,000,000 one - in most cases. If you or your company has a net worth in excess of $1,000,000, it may be the best 20 per cent you ever spent.? This is critical to those operating larger vehicles of 8-plus passengers or those who deal with high-end clientele. A professional will help to determine your needs and make recommendations accordingly.
There is an emormous difference in coverage. Specified Cause of Loss is less expensive than Comprehensive, but it also offers less coverage. Make sure you buy what you need, even increasing the deductible to reduce the cost if necessary. Review your current policy with your chosen professional broker or agent.
Review your vehicle lists and get a cost per vehicle for all coverage. Make smart business decisions regarding values and the use of deductibles to control costs. Chauffeurs' driving histories also will affect cost. You must review motor vehicle records and be aware of your potential increases due to a poor driving record or recent accident. If an employee is worth the increased cost (i.e. he/she is an otherwise good employee who is well liked by your clients, etc.) then you can make that decision based on your knowledge. It can be embarrassing for your underwriter to make you aware of this when you are responsible to maintain driver information internally. Plus, you don't want any surprises when you could have easily checked these records before hand.
Have a written employee manual and a formal safety and training program for all your chauffeurs. These are items that underwriters ask about on their application and also items which answer management questions and help paint the picture of your business.
Most businesses have an insurance expense of 6-8 per cent of gross revenue. This is a good rule of thumb to use, but it is also important to make sure you have covered needs such as general liability, workers' compensation, adequate excess liability or umbrella coverage, crime business interruption, directors and officers liability and employment practices liability, to name a few.
I have used the 'professional' throughout this article. A professional will have verifiale references, tenure in the industry, and the ability to offer valuable advice. A professional charges for the advice and is responsible for this advice and is responsible for the advice given. Professional Liability is also a coverage you should consider when picking your broker or agent. A professional will carry a policy to protect clients in case of a mistake, which hopefully you won't have to face. Take your time, shop around, and find someone you trust - it will be worth the effort.
Lee Martinez |
|
Did you know that 'Jack-rabbit' starts and hard breaking may increase fuel consumption by as much as 40%? |
|
The S.T.O.P. program is an interactive loss control program developed in conjunction with insurance company information, risk management information and commonsense experience of our insureds. We offer this program free to our insureds. |
GARAGE LIABILITY INSURANCE
WHO NEEDS IT? - YOU MAY!
GARAGE LIABILITY is an important coverage that is quite often overlooked by towers. If you have a repair facility or body shop you have no choice but to carry garage liability, but what about those of you that do straight towing? If you do not have this coverage you may be leaving yourself open for a lawsuit that your automobile policy will not cover. Let me begin by describing garage liability.
The coverage is as follows:
1. Premises - It provides coverage for your premises should get injured due to your negligence. It also covers the driveways and all entrances to your premises.
2. Operations - It provides coverage for any bodily injury and property damage due to your negligence having to do with your regular operations.
3. Products - It provides coverage for your auto related products sold by you should any of these products result in bodily injury or property damage.
4. Completed Operations - It provides coverage should there be an occurrence at a later date resulting in injury or property damage due to your operations.
5. Non-Owed Auto Coverage - It provides you and your employees with automobile liability while driving your customers' vehicles in your care, custody and control. As you can see, garage liability is an extremely comprehensive form of general liability coverage.?
Let me now give you some specific examples of how these coverages may apply to your operation:
1. Premises -A. An individual slips on oil or ice on your premises (even in your office).
B. An individual breaks into your storage lot to retrieve an impounded vehicle and gets injured in the attempt.
2. Operations -A. You jump-start a car and the battery explodes causing either damage to the auto or injury to a bystander.
B. You are working a recovery in the middle of the night and have a chain lying on the ground. If an onlooker falls over the chain and gets injured, your auto liability will not provide coverage, but your garage liability will.
3. Products -A. You install or sell a master cylinder, it falls, and an injury occurs. You may not be personally liable for either of these, but you will be named in the resulting lawsuit.
4. Completed Operations - A. You do a brake job and the brakes fail (or they say so) and someone is injured.
B. You change a tire on a road call and the tire comes loose and causes an accident.
5. Non-Owned Auto Coverage -A. You take a customer's car for a test drive and cause an accident.
B. You take a car off your flatbed and proceed to drive it unaware of the fact that it has no brakes and injure someone.
Many of you may not be aware of the fact that the liability on a private passenger car does not cover the driver once the car is left in the care, custody and control of an auto repair facility, but it is the case!!
Just stop for a minute and think of the different situations that may arise when you may be exposing yourself to a lawsuit if you do not have garage liability. How many of you have a storage lot? Do you do any roadside repair? Are you involved in any recovery work? In reality, there is probably no one involved in the towing industry that is not leaving themselves exposed to a potential lawsuit without garage liability. Garage liability premium is based on the number of employees on your payroll on a fixed rate with a maximum of $5,200 per year per employee. Theoretically, this means that an operation with 2 employees will pay 1/3 the annual premium for this coverage than an operation with 6 employees. In other words, it may be just as cost effective for a small operation to carry this coverage as a larger operation. As I have said before, you're paying for your insurance, so ask your agent as many questions as possible about the potential situations you may encounter, no matter how unusual, so that you know exactly what your exposure is when you are "on the job".
As always, I welcome your questions and comments.
|
|
Colleen Burns is our new accoutning employee.
Colleen came to us from the mortgage industry. She does all the invoicing, accounts payable and receivables, and she handles all endorsements. If you have any questions feel free to call Colleen she will always be there to assit you with a smile. |
|
Our risk management survey is done at no obligation to our prospective clients. Many use our suggestions to enhance their current coverages and develop such things as:
- A comprehensive safety and training manual for employees.
- Loss control techniques and daily reminders to keep their employees focused.
- A twelve step driver improvement program, delivered weekly in writing and daily via dispatch.
- Driver recognition programs which institute better employee retention.
- Vehicle database of all our client's fleet reductions, thus making available to you quality used equipment for a fraction of the price.
- Use of deductibles, coverage extensions, and self-insured tactics to reduce insurance expense and better manage losses.
We have built our agency on working with great clients and we are still growing. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to work with you! Our strengths are the quality of our clients and our relationships we build with them. We look forward to working with you.
The management and staff of Transpo Insurance |
|
|
30% Insurance Rate Increase |
Get ready for an 30% Insurance Rate Increase. Lee Martinez of Transpo Insurance urges operators to focus on stability before price
Like much of Wall Street, the insurance industry has hit volatile times. Even before AIG, the world's largest insurance company, entered an emergency federal loan to avoid bankruptcy, the insurance industry was planning on raising rates by the end of the year.
Lee Martinez, president of Transpo Insurance, public transportation specialists based in Las Vegas, says limousine operators can expect to see insurance rates increase by about 30% by Janaury 2009. Since the insurance industry is government regulated, rate structuring has to be filed and approved before it can be implemented, but this process is moving forward, he says.
Martinez has been in the insurance business since the 1980s and has seen rate increases happen during other turbulent times, including the savings and loan debacle of the late 1980s, and more recently right before the Septemeber 11, 2001 attacks, when the stock market downfall increased rated by 35%.
Insurance rates have been good for operators this year, with several insurance agencies offering reduced, competitive rates to build up thier business, Martinez says. And although prices will rise, operators should do business with stable, established insurance companies to get through tough times.
"Instead of going to someone who will sell you an insurance policy of $1,200.00 per car, but you don't know who the company is, you need to go to established providers," he says.
Working with Established Insurers
Because of its size (compared to other industries) and the potential cost of collisions, the limousine industry has limited apeal to insurance underwriters, Martinez says.
"The limousine industry doesn't pay a lot of premiums, but has huge liability coverage," he says. Physical damage for a crashed sedan or limousine is clearly covered; the problem is liabililty coverage, which is decided mainly by the number of passengers injured in the collision, which can be quite large, he says.
Martinez advises operators to do business with established insurance providers, which is much more important now than getting a great deal. London American, Lancer Insurance, and Hartford Insurance are major providers to the insurance industry, and there are other insurers that operators also can consider.
"Go with name brand carriers that have been in business more than two years, and build a strong working relationship with them", he says. "You need to stop dating and be married."
Right after the AIG crisis received a great deal of media coverage in September, Martinez sent out an email to operator clients spelling out the significance of the AIG crises, a company with more than $1 trillion in assets that pays more than $73 million per day in claims. "The soft market is going to end as the investments for insurance companies are dwindling - premiums will need to offset this loss of income", he wrote.
Stability should be the number one concern of operators, not price, he says. "Fine tuning your business practices during the coming lean times will be more imperative than than ever," he says. "Schedule a meeting with your agent to discuss coverage and ways to save money now. Trim the fat."
Operators have appreciated spending less on auto insurance recently, but that cost will be increasing soon. The cost of insurance should be about 6% to 8% of a company's gross revenue, but during the recent "soft" market, many operators have had a lower ratio due to decreased premiums, he says.
That percentage is rising, but operators must have auto insurance to stay in business.? When he sent out the client email, Martinez received responses from nearly all of them worried about insurance rates, and for smaller operators, the ability to get coverage.
Be sure you make a careful, wise decision about your provider, he says. "There are still some great, solid, and stable insurance companies doing business in our industry."
By John LeSage
Limousine & Chauffeured Transportation November 2008 |
|
Happy Birthday to all of our June, July, and August Birthdays |
Adam Paul * Adil Elghardgui
Adriana Ruiz * Dallas Allen
Amir Farkhar * Mohamed Asbai
Lee Ayers * Hossein Batooie
Betha Steinberg * Betty Mikou
Bob Yingling * Bonnie Thompson
Bard White * Brian Cross
Janice Carbonell * Carol Longo
Cahrles Zurek * Christy Hogan
Caludia Gay * Dana Winter
Darryl Gariglio * David Reitz
Omid Dolati * Donna Tryon
Dwight Yoder * Ebabu Adane
Kim Fromhart * Nicoli Gabriel
Gino Sapienza * Raymond Gonzales
Gordon Cummins * Mocine Graoui
Hassan Rizvi * Heath Fuehrer
Hermine Bilalyan * Hugh Ward
Kevin Illingworth * Iman Manouchehri
James Terrazas * Carol Jimmerson
Jodylynn Nugent * Joe Davis
John Sidmare * John snyder
Jose Valencia * Keith Petty
John Kloeckner * Lee De Boer
Lori cullen * Luis Airado
Marlin Baer * Neil McKinnon
Melihe Mohammed * Boris Melik Tangiyev
Michael Bitton * Micheljon Wolfe
Mikael Bilalyan * Mike Strack
Mirwais Noorzai * Mouloud Bouchagour
Neal Smith * Mimi Airado
Normajean Fusco * oscar Macias
Sandra Othmain * Pamila Johnson
Pamela Lendi * Patricia McGraw
Pegman Manochehri * Petra Doerr
Ray Cordova * Richard Ortiz
Rick Coffman * Robert Smith
Robert Tanklefsky * Rodolfo Ching
Manuel Romero * Ronnie Steinberg
Ryan Petty * Said Brahimi
Charles Sandlin * Sergio Collmenero
richard McCarty * Sheri Mena
Norman Slauenwhite * Chris Smith
Stephanie Frances * Steve Urioste
Steven Purser * Susan Hallman
Tammy Roberts * Teresa Graham
Thomas Geissler * Virgil Beagles
Will tryon * William Terrazas
If you don't see your name and it is your birthday month it is because we don't have it. Please call the office and ask for Nancy. For those of you who do not want to share your age just give us your month and day, no year. Thank you for allowing us to share your birthday with you in a small way. |
Erica Saccamono
Please call her to congratulate her on a job well done! |
|
