Page 146 - The UnCaptive Agent

TOOLS YOU’LL NEED AND WHEN YOU’LL NEED THEM 119

property insurance. One important area of your prop-
erty coverage to pay attention to if you will be having
employees working from remote locations is property
off premises. You’ll also want to consider your computer
coverage quite carefully, especially if you’re using a lot
of laptops away from the office.
You will, of course, need to purchase workers’ com-
pensation coverage. As mentioned earlier, everyone who
works for your agency must be an employee, and all
employees must be covered under workers’ compensation.
Three policies many startup agencies fail to consider
are Employment Practices Liability Insurance, Directors
and Officers Insurance, and Cyber Liability Insurance.
You should purchase an EPLI policy as soon as you
hire your first employee (other than yourself ). Here
the limit does not necessarily need to be as large as for
your GL or E&O coverage. One of the things you’re
purchasing with EPLI insurance is defense costs. Some
agencies select limits as low as $250,000 or $500,000
rather than $1 million or more.
Many agencies choose to purchase their Directors
and Officers coverage in tandem with their Employment
Practices Liability Insurance because the most frequent
directors’ and officers’ suits are brought as a result of
an employee issue. Remember that there is no absolute
corporate bar of immunity, even if you have a limited
liability company or a corporation operating your busi-
ness. Talented and creative attorneys can pierce the
corporate veil and gain access to your personal assets
in a lawsuit, as well as the assets of your agency. EPLI
and D&O insurance help protect against that.
A rising area of claim activity and economic destruc-
tion are the ways in which creative electronic thieves are
holding businesses for ransom by seizing control of their
computer systems. Also, criminals are hacking into the