Employment Practices Liability Insurance for Missouri Home Care Agencies
Employee claims for discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation and wage and hour violations are at an all-time high. A Missouri home care insurance program should be built with them in mind.
Five reasons Missouri agencies carry EPLI
- More than 40% of EPL claims are filed against firms with fewer than 100 employees.
- Three out of five employers are sued by a former employee each year.
- Without EPL coverage, a claim could cripple a small firm that has no budget for defense costs, let alone a settlement or judgment.
- The median compensatory award to plaintiffs is $325,000.
- EPL covers alleged acts, not only proven ones: discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination and similar claims.
Costs like these could put an agency out of business.
Employment law changes constantly, and few small or midsize businesses can track every new law and regulation.
More claims now come from "tangible adverse employment actions": layoffs, frozen pay, reduced hours or benefits, failure to hire or promote, careless evaluations and unfair discipline. Employers often struggle to win these cases because their documentation falls short.
Many disputes come down to one person's word against another's. As a result, nearly all of them settle out of court.
What EPLI really provides is the money to defend and settle the claim, so the owner does not pay it from company cash.
Missouri agencies serving MO HealthNet clients face one more exposure. Program rules bar a provider from harassing, dismissing or retaliating against a caregiver who declines to serve a participant because of a reasonable belief that the household poses a danger. A termination that looks like retaliation could become a claim.
The three parts of an EPLI policy
Choosing EPLI for a home care agency starts with knowing a policy has distinct parts.
- First-party coverage: responds when an employee brings an EPL claim against the agency.
- Third-party coverage: responds when a client or consumer brings a claim over a caregiver's conduct, such as discrimination against the client. Caregiving is stressful work, and an unintended remark could become a claim.
- Wage and hour defense coverage: most home care agencies pay caregivers by the hour, and errors in tracking time or calculating overtime could lead to fines, penalties and damage claims.
Missouri agencies should look closely at wage and hour risk. Overtime, travel time between client homes and on-call hours are common sources of payroll errors, and one mistake repeated across a caregiver roster could become a claim on behalf of every employee.
Some EPL policies include DEFENSE COVERAGE for wage and labor lawsuits. The policy pays attorney fees, but not back wages if payroll errors are proven.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why would a Missouri home care agency need EPLI?
More than 40% of EPL claims involve firms with fewer than 100 employees, three of five employers are sued by former employees each year, and the median compensatory award is $325,000. Most Missouri home care agencies fall right in that size range.
Who can bring a claim under EPLI?
Employees, under first-party coverage, and clients or participants, under third-party coverage. Both cover actual and alleged discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination.
Will EPLI pay for overtime mistakes?
Some policies include defense coverage for wage and hour lawsuits. They pay attorney fees but not back wages if payroll errors are proven.