Employment practices liability insurance

There were nearly a quarter of a million employment tribunal claims in 2009/2010. Businesses which had employment law insurance kept their costs to a minimum. Those which didn’t faced legal defence costs running into thousands of pounds. Recent research showed that the average cost of hiring a law firm to defend a tribunal was around £8,500. Businesses which lost at tribunal or which settled the cases before the hearing also had to pay out substantial sums in awards and compensation.

How Employment Practices Liability Insurance Works

The insurance arranged by Law At Work (IS) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Law At Work (Holdings) Ltd, is provided by Chartis Insurance UK Ltd.

It can only be purchased by businesses which also purchase Law At Work’s employment law advisory services, and it is a condition of the cover that the insured company takes and follows Law At Work’s employment law advice from the earliest possible opportunity.

Provided this condition is satisfied, when a business is faced with an employment tribunal claim, the insurance will step in to meet the legal defence costs and any awards or settlements.

Although all legal defence costs are covered, the insurance doesn’t cover contractual awards, including, for example, redundancy payments and unpaid wages. The good news is that, unlike many other schemes in the market, it covers all compensation awards for claims such as unfair dismissal, constructive dismissal, and discrimination on grounds of sex, race, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment and religion or belief.

Who represents me?

We keep employment tribunal representation in-house. That usually means that the specialist adviser who has supported you in the run up to the event which triggered the claim will also be assigned to defend you at the tribunal. That way you can be certain that your representative knows as much about the background to the case as you do.

We’re proud of our record in defending tribunal claims. Of the claims we have dealt with since 2007, we have lost only 2% at tribunal.

While we try to keep you on the right side of the law, our advice is not cautious.  We work with you to find pragmatic and commercial solutions that suit your business.

So what does employment law insurance cost?

The insurance arranged by Law At Work (IS) Ltd is subject to a bespoke quote, and depends on your annual payroll and claims history. You’ll probably be surprised at how little it costs relative to the potential sums at stake. That’s because the insurer knows that over the last nine years our employment law specialists have delivered an outstanding tribunal defence record.

Find out today what we could do for your business.