If you have employees, you probably have taken out Employers Liability Insurance in the past but so many businesses neglect to fully protect themselves against a whole host of Liability claims that can brought against them by their employees.

Many businesses think that buying Employers Liability Insurance will protect them against claims brought by employees, however employers liability insurance will only cover you for certain events, here is a brief explanation of what Employers Liability covers and how to get cover for the things it will not protect you against.

Whats covered by Employers’ Liability Insurance?

This insurance covers the cost of defending or negotiating an employee’s claim that they have suffered bodily injury or disease due to the work they do for you. It can also cover the cost of defending a related criminal prosecution if the accident or disease happened due to a law or regulation had been broken.

Who needs Employers’ Liability Insurance?

In order to protect all employees in the UK, it’s a legal requirement for most businesses with employees to have at least £5 million of cover in place. If you’re self-employed and have employed one or more people, then you will also need to be covered.

It is a good idea to be covered, for most business with employees, it’s a legal requirement to have at least £5 million of cover in place – if you are not covered you could be facing some expensive fines.

Claims example

A small electrical company hired an apprentice, who forgets to earth an electrical circuit they are working on. This then caused them to receive an electrical shock, causing injury.

The apprentice takes time off of work and makes a liability claim against the employer who disagrees the claim, implying it was the apprentices fault for not following safety precautions.

The claim made it to court and the employer was ordered to pay compensation of £18,000.

The employer was not covered by Employers Liability Insurance. As the employer thought they didn’t need it as they were such a small company. So this means that the employer had to pay the compensation out of his own pocket. Which could’ve been avoided if they took out Employers Liability Insurance

What you may be missing – Employment Practice Liability

This cover is essential for any employer but you will find that it is not always provided as standard. It will cover your company and your employees against defense costs and awards of employment claims arising, for example:

• from allegations of sexual harassment or wrongful dismissal by employees
• from allegations of incorrect selection for redundancy

Claims Example

Unfair Dismissal – An IT consultancy faced a claim from a former employee who had been made redundant. The
employee claimed he should not have been selected for redundancy as he had taken a salary sacrifice in the last year.

The legal fees in successfully defending the case were more than £8,500.

Contact us for a quote

Be sure that you discuss what options you have with an experienced professional, before making any final decisions.

We are regularly arranging Employment Practice and Employers Liability Insurance for Employers – contact us today for a no obligation quote – Call us on 01708 289 525 or Chat with us Live using the Live Chat button.

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