EPLI Limits Sized for the Firm You Used to Be

Employment practices liability insurance responds to claims brought by employees, former employees, and applicants alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, failure to promote, and related employment wrongs. It funds the defense and covered settlements or judgments. For a firm built on people, it is the policy that protects the employer side of the practice.

It depends on the form. Policies define who counts as an insured and who counts as an employee, and partners, of counsel, and contract attorneys can land differently under those definitions. Claims between partners may be treated differently than claims from staff. This is a definitions question that gets answered by reading the policy, and it is one of the first things we check on a law firm review.

Because the exposure is the people. Limits and pricing are set around the firm you were when the policy was written, and every attorney and staff member added since then raises the number of potential claimants and the size of a potential class. A firm that doubled since the policy was first placed is often carrying half the protection it thinks it has, renewed year after year without anyone re reading the number.

Often not, or only partially. Many EPLI forms exclude wage and hour disputes entirely, and others offer only a sublimited defense cost allowance for them. Overtime classification and pay practice claims are a real exposure for firms with staff and paralegals, so where the policy lands on wage and hour is a specific line item in our review, not an assumption.

A clean history is good underwriting news, but the exposure tracks decisions, not luck. Hiring, promotion, compensation, discipline, and termination decisions each carry claim potential, and claims cluster around growth, turnover, and partnership transitions, which are exactly the seasons a successful firm goes through. The policy exists for the decade ahead, not the decade behind.

Third party coverage extends the policy to claims from people outside the firm, such as clients or vendors, alleging harassment or discrimination by your attorneys or staff. For a client facing practice, it closes the gap between what your employees might allege and what the public might. Not every policy includes it by default, so it belongs on the review checklist.

Headcount, turnover, prior claims, and the strength of your employment practices. An updated handbook, documented procedures for discipline and termination, and regular training all move pricing in your favor. We quote across our carrier bench and show you which practices change the number before you commit to anything.

Yes, and that is where we usually start. We read the policy you have today, tie the limits to your current headcount and structure, check the wage and hour treatment and the partner definitions, and tell you plainly if it holds up. About 40 percent of the time we tell clients to stay with their current carrier because that is the right answer.