Why Would I Need This Coverage?
Have you ever had a situation with an employee or job applicant that went sideways on you despite your best efforts to be reasonable and accommodating?  For instance, have you ever heard rumours that an employee may have an addiction problem?  What do you do - fire them?  Confront the employee to see if it's true?  Suggest they get professional help?  Do nothing and hope the issue resolves itself?  If you make the wrong decision, it can cost thousands of dollars and countless distractions from your business.
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1. Discrimination (race, colour, religion, age, sex, disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, national origin);
2. Harassment (must be based on a category prohibited by law, like sex, race, age, disability etc); or
3. Wrongful termination (actual or constructive termination alleged to be against the law or a breach of good faith and fair dealing in the employment contract). 

 However, an Employment Practices Liability policy is not designed to cover: 

• Violations of workers compensation laws, employment standards acts, occupational health & safety acts, disability benefits or unemployment compensation law, CPP benefits or other employee benefit laws. Essentially, if you did something violating employment-related laws, you will not have coverage.
• Failure to provide reasonable notice to an employee (ie. improper pay in lieu of notice)
• Severance payments
• Downsizing/restructuring that results in the termination or change in employment terms for more than 10% of your total number of employees (as of the inception of the policy) or 5 employees, whichever is greater. However, this does not apply if prior to the downsizing/restructuring you consulted with and followed the recommendations of legal counsel experienced in employment law.

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Legal Defence Costs are Covered
The policy covers the legal fees to defend you, however keep in mind that defence costs reduce the insurance limit available to pay any judgment.  For example, if you have a $250,000 policy limit and $100,000 is spent in legal fees to defend you, there will only be $150,000 left to pay any judgment awarded by the court.  You want to select a limit of insurance that will be high enough to cover legal fees and still have enough left over to pay a court award.


Employment Practices Liability policies typically also include the following value added benefits:

1. Access to a free hotline for human resources, personnel and claims related questions - rather then guess at the right course of action, you can pick up the phone and get immediate professional advice on the best course of action to follow. 
2. A Human Resources Handbook template that you can use to formalize HR procedures and practices for your business.  Rather than build an employee handbook from scratch, you can simply tailor the template to suit your own needs, saving you hours of work.

Premiums for this coverage are very reasonable, usually starting around $600 depending on how many employees you have and your preferred limit.  You can submit an application to us to confirm your premium, or call us for more information.

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*The policy coverages, exclusions and benefits listed here are a summary of the EmPLoyrite insurance policy provided by Creechurch International Underwriters.  It is not intended to provide an exhaustive list of all coverages, conditions and exclusions.  If coverage is required from another underwriter, different policy conditions and benefits may apply.  Our brokers are available to personally discuss any differences or details so you are comfortable with what you are buying.