Federal Employees Liability Insurance

You can be sued for negligence. Do you have the finances to deal with lawsuits and legal matters?

Even big conglomerates that have been in the business industry for decades, can take steps- knowingly or unknowingly- that could harm a client. These steps are often part of their own negligence.

Small companies too can make mistakes upon their own negligence which would in turn have clients sue them. Now once you’ve been subpoenaed, you have to go through the legal process and take rounds of courtrooms.

All of this is time consuming and ridiculously expensive. You start by hiring a lawyer by the hour which takes a huge toll on your budget. What if all these expenses were covered by insurance? THAT’S RIGHT! Professional Liability Insurance is your answer!

Who needs Professional Liability Insurance?

Any business that provides professional services must need professional liability insurance to protect their company and their employees from lawsuits and legal fees that come. This is needed in professions that are physically and mentally demanding, where any simple mistake could have a serious effect on your client which enables them to sue you.

There are many professions and employees who need professional liability insurance, as do the following:

  • Federal employees
  • Pharmacists
  • Contractors
  • Social workers
  • Physical therapist
  • Teachers
  • Students

This is just a basic list, there are of course multiple other professions that require liability insurance. We’ll get into each of these in detail later.

Professional Liability Insurance Covers

There are only a certain types of liabilities that are covered under the professional liability insurance such as:

  • Rookie mistakes and errors: If your company has made a rookie mistake and your client ended up losing a huge chunk of money, they could sue you for losses. To counter this lawsuit, the money and assistance you will be needing will be covered under the insurance policy.
  • Undelivered services: If your company had promised to get something done by a certain date, and you failed to do that resulting in major financial troubles, the client could file you with a lawsuit. The insurance will cover all legal costs including hiring a lawyer.
  • Missing deadlines: Deadlines are an important part of the professional world, even a slightest delay in deadlines could create a lot of problems for someone. If an employee from your company fails to do some tax-filings for the client and in turn the client is fined, the client could very well sue you for this, and the professional liability insurance will cover everything for the employee.
  • Negligence on your part: If you’re not careful and you are negligent for even a second, you could be slapped with a lawsuit. Clients can sue you for negligence if your product doesn’t match market standards or there have been any other errors from your side. In such a case you do need an insurance company to protect all costs.

Federal Employees Liability Insurance

Whether through an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint, an accusation of misuse of government funds, or litigation in the form of a civil or criminal lawsuit, federal employees are often targeted by allegations, complaints and investigations.

This is why giving them protection is absolutely important- so that they have peace of mind at their job, and to protect their savings from lawsuits and legal matters.

Planned explicitly for federal employees, liability insurance shields them against allegations and covers the expense of legal defense, even on account of baseless discrimination or provocation allegations, counter cases, or costly liabilities.

Federal Employee Professional Liability Insurance gives the additional insurance and reimbursement inclusion federal employees need to defend themselves, careers and finances. Common covered claim examples include preferential treatment; unjust firing due to race, age or gender; misusing work computers or other equipment; security clearance challenges; using a government vehicle for non-work purposes; LEOSA cases for intelligence and law enforcement management; or using government funds for unintended purposes.

What kind of Insurance do Federal Employees have?

Federal Employee Professional Liability Insurance offers three kinds of assurance against risk: administrative, civil and criminal. Administrative complaints generally incorporate EEO activities, OIG/OSC examinations, informant grievances, or morals examinations. In such cases, Federal Employee Professional Liability Insurance inclusion may provide the worker with lawful counsel and representation.

Civil actions may commonly include constitutional torts, individual limit claims, or Bivens activities. On account of a civil claim, Federal Employee Professional Liability Insurance inclusion offers legitimate types of assistance. On account of criminal allegations, Federal Employee Professional Liability Insurance inclusion gives legal defense. Federal Employee Professional Liability Insurance offers both legal defense coverage and indemnity coverage for administrative, civil and criminal claims.

Professional Liability Insurance Pharmacist

As a pharmacist you have a stressful job; you literally handle people’s lives. In such a case even the slightest mistake can cause a patient to die or get more sick or even paralyzed for life.

We know you did your best, but maybe even the slightest amount of negligence can have the patient or their family sue you for malpractice. This could in turn affect your licensing and practice!

The professional liability insurance can give you the financial support to bounce back from all these losses and legal pressures.

The HPSO Program specializes in giving pharmacists coverage against claims of malpractice. It includes:

  • Coverage for up to $1 million for each claim during the life of the policy
  • License protection of up to $25,000 in annual aggregate
  • Defendant expense benefit of up to $25,000
  • Deposition representation of up to $10,000- this is in case a lawsuit requires your

testimony only

  • Provides defense attorney
  • Assault coverage of up to $25,000- this is if you faced violence during work or on your way to/from work, the insurance will cover medical expenses for you.
  • Personal injury coverage
  • Medical payments
  • Damage to others property of up to $10,000- this is if you unintentionally cause harm to someone else’s property while at work.
  • Sexual harassment of up to $25,000- if you have allegations of sexual abuse against you.

Professional Liability Insurance Physical Therapy

No matter how amazing at the job, a physical therapist can also be charged with a lawsuit of malpractice. A professional liability insurance covers any legal defense costs that come with it.

HPSO provides the same amount of protection to physical therapists as they do to pharmacists: coverage of up to $1 million, license protection, personal liability coverage, provision of a defense attorney etc.

It is important for physical therapists to be protected under this set of insurance because not only will it be costly to detangle out of a lawsuit, but it could also negatively affect your license and practice. To avoid all these complications, you need to hire a lawyer and all of the assistance will be given to you under the professional liability insurance.

Professional Liability Insurance for Social Workers

Social work is one of the most demanding professions, physically and mentally too. Having to interact with a lot of different people of different mindsets is actually very tough. In such a case if a client sues you for malpractice, you need to have a contingency plan in action: professional liability insurance!

You can’t please everyone, and afterall you’re also human, bound to make mistakes. With the help of this coverage you can easily have financial support to get rid of the claims legally, because without this insurance you can spend years defending yourself- and still lose- if you don’t have enough resources.

NASW-Endorsed Professional Liability Insurance Program is a program that specifically handles social workers and their legal rights if they are sued for malpractice.

Professional Liability Insurance for Contractors

Contractors usually purchase this insurance type to avoid legal and financial complications that may be associated with their work. For instance if a building upon construction or the final product has some errors that were made by either the contractor himself, architects, or any other third party persons like vendors, clients could sue them for negligence.

Such mistakes actually cost clients a lot of money so they make sure that their losses are compensated by throwing a lawsuit at you. In such a case not only will you need financial assistance, but also a defense lawyer who can fight your case. And that will be done if you have insurance coverage!

The limit for such an insurance policy is from $2 million to $5 million with annual premiums from $400-$900.

Professional Liability Insurance for Teachers

Teachers can be sued for malpractice: anything that happened under the teacher’s supervision will be counted as negligence! And this could be as severe as serving the teacher with a court order.

Having a professional liability insurance for teachers will help you cover costs. These are incidents of malpractice that will be considered under the insurance:

  • Student injuries under the teacher’s supervision
  • Lack of quality teaching
  • Recruiting unqualified people
  • Physical or sexual abuse
  • Invading students’ privacy

Usually teachers are covered for $1 million dollars and premiums usually start from $99 annually.

Professional Liability Insurance Students

The same way that teachers can be accused of negligence, students can be too. Students can be charged with malpractice for violence within the school, abusing or sexually harassing someone, allegations of abuse or slander can all be piled in a lawsuit and thrown towards a student.

It is possible for students to file for insurance that covers all financial costs related with a legal lawsuit for malpractice. Insurance plans for students are very affordable, a total amount is usually $1,000,000 with premiums as low as $23 a year!

Conclusion

Professional liability insurance is necessary for all mentally and physically demanding professions, where employees have a risk of exposure against lawsuits by the common public. While pharmacists and surgeons and social workers are at a high risk of being sued due to negligence (which is a rookie human error), there are several other professions that are also at a proposed high risk.

Federal employees are often exposed to public lawsuits, because the nature of their job is often government related. It is fairly common for them to be sued on account of their negligence which may cause a loss to a client. This is why federal employees particularly need liability insurance to protect them from civil and criminal lawsuits, and to provide them with financial security.

If a person has professional liability insurance, the insurance company deals with all legal costs: from hiring an attorney to court fees until the final verdict is given. This is a huge relief for employees, especially federal employees that are protected under this insurance, even if the allegation is baseless.

John Otero

John Otero

John Otero is an industry practitioner with more than 15 years of experience in the insurance industry. He has held various senior management roles both in the insurance companies and insurance brokers during this span of time. He began his insurance career in 2004 as an office assistant at an agency in her hometown of Duluth, MN. He got licensed as a producer while working at that agency and progressed to serve as an office manager. Working in the agency is how he fell in love with the industry. He saw firsthand the good that insurance consumers experienced by having the proper protection. John has diverse experience in corporate & consumer insurance services, across a range of vocations. His specialties include Major Corporate risk management and insurance programs, and Financial Lines He has been instrumental in making his firm as one of the leading organizations in the country in generating sustainable rapid growth of the company while maintaining service excellence to clients.