No employer would consider going without General Liability or Property Insurance, yet it is more likely an employer will have an Employment claim than a General Liability or Property claim. • It is estimated six out of ten companies have been named in a discrimination or sexual harassment lawsuit in the past five years. • 94% of jurors believe the employer should be held responsible even if evidence shows no knowledge of alleged discrimination.

Claim Examples:

Internet/Email Liability: An employee who desired to e-mail a pornographic joke to only a single recipient accidentally pressed the wrong button, sending the off-color joke to the company’s entire workforce. The employer made the employee send a follow-up email apologizing to the workforce. Two months later, during a company downsizing, an employee sued for a hostile work environment and used the e-mail as evidence.

A group of employees would end their day by gathering around a fellow employees desk to look at the latest daily swimsuit model at a new website featuring bikini styles. A female employee stopped by during one of these gatherings and noticed the pictures. She then returned to her cubicle on the other side of the room. Although she never saw the photos after that day, she would see the employees gather around the desk each day and hear off-color remarks in relation to the photos. She later sued the company for a hostile work environment.

Spousal Liability: The president of a company was being threatened with a sexual harassment suit by one of his employees. The president decided to transfer most of his assets into his wife’s name in order to avoid being personally sued and subjecting his personal assets to any possible claim settlement against him. The employee later sued the president for sexual harassment. The suit named both the president and the president’s wife because of her ownership interest in the president’s assets. These assets were later subjected to the settlement provisions.