by Grant Davis | Business Insurance, Employment Practices Liablity, GDI Insurance, Human Resources
The Importance of Employee Practices Liability Insurance
California business leaders make decisions each day on a range of issues including things like hiring, firing, compensation, promotions and the work environment. Every one of these decisions impacts your employees and, depending on the outcome, could result in a claim related to wrongful employment practices. Protect your business with California employment practices liability insurance.
These claims can disrupt business, hurt morale, damage your reputation and lead to serious financial damages. Thankfully, employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) can provide organizations with protection from the above risks.
Specifically, EPLI insurance provides the following to policyholders:
Coverage for Alleged Acts
EPL insurance not only protects organizations from actual wrongful acts, but alleged acts as well. Specifically, Employment Practices Liability Insurance coverage can safeguard an organization from claims related to discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination.
Timely Response to Lawsuits
Employees suing their employers is common, and organization will want to be prepared. This is especially important when you consider that there is no cap on how much a jury can award that settlements in employment-related cases can easily reach six figures.
Access to Legal Help
Strong EPLI policies provide the insured with access to legal resources. This can prove invaluable if you need advice quickly.
Risk Management Strategies
While employment-related lawsuits can arise at any time, organizations that take the time to implement basic risk controls are better equipped to avoid claims altogether. Many insurance companies provide access to risk management training and human resources consulting. These services can greatly reduce the likelihood that your company is sued by an employee.
Additional Protection for Your Directors and Officers
While directors and officers insurance (D&O) can defend against employment-related lawsuits, dedicated EPLI insurance is necessary for many organizations. Having a policy that provides separate coverage for lawsuits connected to wrongful terminations, discrimination, invasion of privacy and similar employment claims ensures that the limits on your D&O policy aren’t exhausted unnecessarily.
GDI Insurance Agency, Inc is your California EPLI Specialist
Want to Learn More About EPL Insurance? We’ve got more great information on our Research Center.
Claims in California for wrongful employment practices are on the rise and often lead to business interruptions and costly claims. In order to truly protect your organization, it’s critical to get EPLI Insurnace. To learn more contact Grant Davis at 1-888-991-2929. GDI Insurance Agency Inc. can help protect your business from costly employee-related lawsuits.
by Grant Davis | Human Resources, Insurance
Keep Your Employee Handbook Updated
Especially in California, every company, regardless of industry and size, should have an employee handbook to help guide their employees’ behavior and protect them from potential lawsuits such as a wrongful termination. Make sure these important policies are included in every employee handbook. GDI Insurance Agency Inc. has built out extensive Human Resource programs that include employment handbooks, Onboarding Toolkits, and OSHA documentation, that is included for all of our clients at no additional cost.
Make Sure You Include These Items In Your Employee Handbook
- At Will Employment – Employers can destroy the at-will employment relationship through promises made in an employee handbook. Including this policy in handbook reinforces the at-will nature of employment. It should also state that the handbook is not a contract and may change at any time.
- Equal Employment Opportunity– This policy should comply with national (Title VII, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, etc.), state, and local anti-discrimination laws. Include protections based on race, religion, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, military service, and other protected categories such as marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or transgender status.
- Pay and Hours of Work – An employer’s pay practices, including when the workweek begins and ends, payroll periods, and deductions from pay, should be included. The policy should include overtime rules such as when nonexempt employees are entitled to work overtime and any pre-approval procedures that are required.
- Family and Medical Leave – Employers subject to FMLA must inform employees of their eligibility and rights under the act. Include whether employees need to exhaust paid time off before taking FMLA leave, that benefits will continue during leave, and that they may resume the same or equivalent job when they return. Also include other company requirements, such as medical certification or notice requirements, and any applicable state and local leave rules.
- Safety – The safety section of the handbook should affirm the company’s commitment to their employees to provide a safe and healthy work environment. It will vary by industry, but it should align with the OSHA requirements that apply to the company, including health and safety policies, emergency preparedness plans, and equipment safety and use guidelines.
- Attendance and Tardiness – Employers may use a range of procedures for attendance, but it’s important to lay out the company’s guidelines and expectations for how much notice is required, who to report absences or tardiness to, and disciplinary actions that may be taken if procedures are not followed.
- Standard of Conduct – Employees look to the organization to provide them with the “rules of the road” for workplace behavior. Policies should include organizational rules to help employees understand what is expected of them while at work and what behaviors may result in disciplinary action.
- Anti-Harassment – This policy should be comprehensive, effective, and realistic. It should define harassment, set forth avenues for reporting it up through the executive level or board of directors if the boss is the alleged harasser, and offer a degree of confidentiality and support. It also needs to include an anti-retaliation
statement. It’s important this policy reach beyond sexual harassment to include people in every protected category.
- Internet and Electronic Communication – A well-drafted policy reminds employees that company computers and networks exist for business purposes and not for personal activities. It should clearly state that there is no expectation of privacy on work computers and security is not guaranteed.
- Military Leave – This policy should inform employees of their right to unpaid military leave under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, including their right to elect to continue health plan coverage for up to 24 months.
GDI Insurance Agency Inc. Your Trusted Insurance Broker
Learn how you can offer your company the protection of a fully compliant, federal and state handbook. Contact us today at 1-888-991-2929.
by Grant Davis | Insurance
GDI Insurance Agency has Redefined Human Resources and Employee Benefits
GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. includes state of the art Human Resources systems, wellness, traditional employee benefits, from health, dental, life, 401k etc, but has also added employee safety with its OSHA compliance programs.
Additionally GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. has teamed up with the leading provider of enterprise technology for the employee benefits industry, today announced that it will partner with an all-in-one software platform to manage Human Resources and benefits. Together they provide a seamless solution for HR managers and health insurance professionals, streamlining the HR and benefits decision making processes. Combined with a GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. dedicated Group Health Insurance Broker for each client who knows you and your account makes GDI Insurance Agency unbeatable in the Health and HR arena.
Enjoy the Benefits of a Human Resources Portal
Using a cloud-based human resources management software tool, allowing employers to solve transactional HR and benefits challenges with software, and strategic healthcare benefits challenges with the expertise of a dedicated broker advisor just for their company. GDI is featuring an automated paperless system, which simplifies employee onboarding, tracking time off, employee engagement, and off boarding. GDI also included a benefits administration platform, which will run technology to provide live rate and benefit data, real-time modeling to find the right plan and defined contribution strategy, and a census upload feature to help generate quotes in seconds.
GDI has also contracted with CA based HR attorneys their clients can call at no cost to discuss their benefits and HR needs to assure absolute compliance.
“Employers currently are challenged with the complexity of managing their HR and benefits administration, both strategically and tactically. GDI provides the all-in-one solution: A dedicated broker expert for your company, combined with innovative technology,” GDI is very excited to partner with leading industry solution experts to offer smart, dynamic and time-saving technology integrated with the Health platform, HR and payroll processing will be simpler and streamlined for small, midsize and the largest employers who currently struggle to manage these fragmented and manual processes, such as ACA compliance to name just one item that is just handled by GDI’s new program!
GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. has created the perfect match of cutting edge technology so HR departments can have a single sign-on and seamless process for hiring, onboarding, enrolling in benefits and meeting the complex compliance demands of the Affordable Care Act, as well as added the benefit of having both access to attorneys and a dedicated GDI benefits broker to work with. No call centers, no waiting for the next available rep. You call your dedicated broker that knows you, knows your account and handles any issues you need help with.
No broker of new program can come close to GDI’s offer. In addition GDI also offers a portal to help with all your OSHA Safety Compliance and even keep you OSHA 300 log online. GDI offers 3 HR programs as HR isn’t one size fits all. Here is a glimpse:
California’s Leader in Insurance and Risk Management
As one of the fastest growing agencies in California, GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. is able to provide its clients with the latest and greatest of what the insurance industry has to offer and much, much more. With locations across the heart of California’s Central Valley and beyond to provide a local feel to the solutions and services we provide our clients. We pride ourselves on exceeding our client’s expectations in every interaction to make sure that our client’s know how much we value and appreciate their business.
Just call GDI Insurance today 888-991-2929 we will take it from there!
by Matthew Davis MBA, CPCU, AAI | GDI Insurance, Human Resources
Does Your Agency Culture SUPPORT or
UNDERMINE Your Strategy?
I recently posted on Social Media one of the COOLEST and most AMAZING compliments our agency has had…
“Just had one of the greatest compliments to our staff and GDI as a whole!!!
A new client sincerely asked to meet with me to specifically discuss our hiring practices. Our team member was understandably nervous in relaying the message to me, especially since he was in the lobby waiting for me. He looked me in the eye and asked me how we go about hiring.
I asked him why (not knowing if was for a positive or negative reason for his request).
He said that he’s had nothing but great experience with everyone he’s met on our team and that he’d like to do some of what we’re doing as it pertains to hiring in his own business.”
It Has NOT Always Been This Great
I returned to our family’s agency after a 4-year hiatus in May of 2010. I remember vividly walking in about 2 months after my return with my head down and thinking that returning to the insurance industry (specifically the family agency) may well have been the worst career move I could have made. The reason for this thinking was due to the agency’s culture.
To get an idea of the agency culture at the time we need to look at the prior few years that led to the mid-2010 agency I walked in to – in the years leading up to the financial meltdown of 2007/2008 our agency was heavily weighted toward clients in and around the residential construction market. When I went down, so did our revenue and by mid-2010 the agency moral was tapped out and many of the team were on the verge of burnout.
The moral was so bad that I (the owner’s son at the time) didn’t even want to go to work – so how was I supposed to expect our team to be excited about it?
The FIX
I’d love to say that it was by the stroke of intelligence, business savvy, or some other innate quality of mine that we turned our moral (and agency as a whole) around, but honestly it wasn’t my doing.
We started off by having a revolving door of employees for a period of time which luckily led to some really beneficial hires. With these new hires putting their faith in our management we began the arduous task of identifying the “target” for our hiring.
We made the initial mistake of taking too much time filtering and not enough time meeting candidates, once we flipped that over and started meeting them we found the foundation for our winning process.
FIT & ATTITUDE
We then look for qualities and abilities that are aligned with the position we’re looking to fill. And the most important two are ALWAYS: (1) Will they fit with our organization based on their attitude/personality, and (2) are the WILLING to learn?
The BEST Strategy will fall flat without supportive Agency Culture
Our staff now does more than they ever have and routinely surpass the plans we as ownership put forth and base our agency goals upon.
Now that our Agency Culture is aligned with our Strategy, we’re in a winning mode!
I am thankful for our stellar team and am excited to see where we can go from here.
Matthew Davis, MBA, CPCU, AAI
