Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI)
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At a Glance
Employment Practices Liability Insurance provides protection for your entity from claims and suits alleging sexual harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, and other defined employment-related allegations.
Employment Practices Liability Insurance, often referred to as EPLI coverage, has evolved over the past decade and more employers are aware of its importance simply through high-profile court cases that have awarded millions of dollars to employees. In 1991, the United States Congress passed the Civil Rights Amendments, which contained several provisions. One key provision among them was the requirement of a jury trial for most alleged types of work-related discrimination, if desired by the plaintiff employee. This set the tone for the expansion of Employment Practices Liability Insurance.
Employment Practices Liability Insurance, often referred to as EPLI coverage, has evolved over the past decade and more employers are aware of its importance simply through high-profile court cases that have awarded millions of dollars to employees. In 1991, the United States Congress passed the Civil Rights Amendments, which contained several provisions. One key provision among them was the requirement of a jury trial for most alleged types of work-related discrimination, if desired by the plaintiff employee. This set the tone for the expansion of Employment Practices Liability Insurance.
Types of EPLI available
In the 1990s, several insurance companies developed Employment Practices Liability insurance policies as a stand-alone product or by endorsement to a Directors & Officers policy. Simply adding the EPLI coverage to the D&O policy proved to be fairly ineffective. EPLI is more "claims frequency" oriented while D&O is more "severity" oriented with less claims frequency. Both exposures are subject to the policy limits therefore, if you have 3 or 4 small EPLI claims and a substantial D&O claim in the same policy period, you may not have enough of your original limit of liability available to you. Also insurance carriers monitor the EPLI experience and it can jeopardize a D&O renewal offer if they are covered on the same policy. Generally, the deductible on a stand- alone EPLI policy is lower than the deductible carried on a D&O policy which could save your entity thousands of dollars if you sustain more than one claim in a policy period.
Examples of large EPLI settlements
- $157 million awarded to 800 female employees of a large domestic insurance company for "failure to promote" and "opportunity denial"
- $134 million awarded to customers/patrons of a family restaurant chain for "race discrimination"
- $107 million awarded to 20,000 female employees of a convenience store chain for "sex discrimination"
How to Apply
Please click here to download the Employment Practices Liability Insurance Application. You may fax your completed application to 1-202-367-5020, or you may mail it to our office at the address below. You can also find a link to the application under Forms & Links on this page.
AR Ins. Lic. #245544
CA Ins. Lic. #0633005
d/b/a in CA Seabury & Smith Insurance Program Management
AR Ins. Lic. #245544
CA Ins. Lic. #0633005
d/b/a in CA Seabury & Smith Insurance Program Management
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