CHAPTER 3
EPLI Checklist
EPLI protects employers against various employee claims from sexual harassment to wrongful termination and retaliation. The average cost for an EPL claim is about $70,000 if it settles and around $217,000 if it goes to court. Don’t put your company in a vulnerable position. An EPLI policy can protect your organization from large and potentially nuclear claims.
Below is a checklist of claims that EPLI covers and brief descriptions of the types of scenarios that would qualify:
Sexual harassment: An employee sues their employer for dismissing repeated complaints of sexual harassment.
Discrimination (based on gender, race, age, or disability): A manager doesn’t promote an employee because she is 60 and promotes a 35-year-old employee instead.
Deprivation of career opportunity: An employer doesn’t allow one of its supervisor employees to enroll in a course that gives helpful advice and tips to managers.
Retaliation: An employee gets a demotion after reporting a beloved manager’s racist comments.
Wrongful discipline: An employee is put on probation because of rumors of alleged misconduct that were not actually true.
Failure to employ or promote: An employer doesn’t hire a candidate after learning she has a disability.
Wrongful termination: An employer fires an employee after she makes a sexual harassment complaint against her co-worker.
Breach of employment contract: An employee sues his employer for breaching his contract and not giving him his due pay.
Negligent evaluation: An employee sues an employer for an employee evaluation that was excessively negative, incorrect, and didn’t accurately reflect his higher level of performance.
Unfair hiring practices: A large tech company doesn’t hire employees that are of a certain faith.
Mismanagement of employee benefit plans: A top financial firm gets sued for breaching their fiduciary duty in managing employee 401k plans.
Defamation among other wrongful employment-related issues: An employee doesn’t get a bonus because of several false rumors her co-workers spread.
Wage and hour (Fair Labor Standards Act) violations: A manager required employees to “work off the clock” in order to avoid paying overtime.
Wrongful infliction of emotional distress: A supervisor continually physically threatens an employee because of their different religious beliefs.