Employers Liability Insurance – A Necessary Employer and Employee Protection Scheme

Employers liability insurance gives protection to the business owner (employer) and the worker (employee) alike. It is effective in three cases. First, in case your employee falls ill, second, he suffers an injury and third, in case of an employee’s death. Acquiring employers liability insurance is a legal obligation for every business. There is no escaping it. However, if you are your only employee or you don’t hire anyone outside your family, only then can you make an exception.

USA, Britain and many other countries force a policy of mandatory employers liability insurance acquisition.

The protection employers liability insurance offers is great. In the event of an accident, and your employee(s) decide to sue you, the legal and medical fee will be covered by your insurance provider.

What the claims bring about will depend upon whose negligence caused the accident in the first place. If the employee was at fault, the extent of his fault will determine as to whether your costs are cut down or they completely vanish.

The punishment for not purchasing employers liability insurance is very severe. Your business will be fined heavily each day you do not have liability insurance for your employees. Furthermore, your business may be shut down entirely by health and safety regulators, in addition to heavy fines, if you fail to purchase employer liability insurance.

Make sure your insurance certificate is viewable by your employee(s). Put up a copy of it on notice boards in your office, and perhaps also on the company website.

Employers liability insurance will only cover your employees. For people outside of the organization, you will need a Public liability insurance policy. This is meant to cover the case of a visitor suffering an accident inside your organization’s premises.

Employers liability insurance doesn’t cover claims such as wrongful termination of an employee or sexual harassment or sex discrimination etc.

The insurance provider you get insurance coverage from must be authorized. Otherwise, you are breaching the law anyway. Make sure you take out the time to compare the costs of various insurance providers before signing up with any particular one.

The beauty of EL insurance is that it protects you from having to directly pay costs in the event an employee is injured on the job. It protects both you, by being able to cover any costs without going out of business, and the employee, who may be unable to work temporarily.

About the author: Ben Ashfalk is passionate about public and employers liability insurance and liability insurance.