Business Liability Insurance Options: Customizing Your Policy
Business liability insurance is a crucial component of any insurance portfolio, regardless of your business sector. You can enhance your basic commercial liability insurance policy with additional coverage known as endorsements that meet the specific needs of your business.
Liability endorsements may include:
Directors and Officers (D&O) Liability Insurance
Errors and Omissions Liability Insurance
Employment Related Practices Liability Insurance
Hired and Non-Owned Auto Liability Insurance
Product and Completed Operations Liability Insurance
Fire Legal Liability
Liquor Liability Insurance
Negligent Hiring or Retention
Harassment / Sexual Harassment
Directors and Officers (D&O) Liability Insurance
Provides coverage for situations where a poor decision was made by a company's board of directors or officers resulting in a claim for damage.
Errors and Omissions Liability Insurance
Protects you and your company in the event of a negligent act, error or omission. This coverage is similar to Professional Liability however, it applies to vocations where performance, formal study and licensing standards apply but they are not held to the same very high standard of care required by medical and other professional trades. Coverage can be provided to building trade contractors (negligent act), and printers (errors in printed document).
Employment Related Practices Liability Insurance
Covers wrongful termination, wrongful refusal to employ, invasion of privacy, or defamation claims made by your employee against you, the employer.
Hired and Non-Owned Auto Liability Insurance
Provides auto liability coverage for short- term auto rentals or for employees using their personal auto during the course of business.
Product and Completed Operations Liability Insurance
Provides protection for bodily injury and property damage that occurs away from your premises that are caused by your products or your work. The amount of coverage and the level of risk all depend on the business type.
Fire Legal Liability
Provides coverage for fire damage to the premises you rent or occupy with the landlords permission. You must have been negligent in causing the fire for this coverage to respond.
Liquor Liability Insurance
Will protect you against claims for injury sustained by reason of you selling, serving or furnishing any alcoholic beverage during the course of your business operations.
Negligent Hiring or Retention
Negligent hiring or retention liability, unlike job related misconduct, arises from acts performed by an employee outside the scope of his or her employment. The most common example of this is to hold an employer liable for the criminal conduct of an employee, which is obviously outside the scope of employment. The basis for liability is that the employer acted carelessly in hiring a criminal for a job that the employer should have expected would expose others to harm.
Harassment / Sexual Harassment
Workplace harassment of employees by other employees has become an increasingly problematic source of business liability for employers. Workplace harassment violates federal law if it involves discriminatory treatment based on: race, color, sex (with or without sexual conduct), religion, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or the employee's opposition job discrimination or participation in an investigation or complaint proceeding under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.