Glossary

Of counsel is an attorney who is not a partner, associate, shareholder, or member of a firm but who is associated with or has some sort of a close and continuing relationship with the firm.

An old line insurance company is a nonfraternal life insurance company that operates on a legal reserve basis. The term grew from the early competition between "new" fraternal life insurance companies and the commercial life insurance companies, which referred to themselves as old line legal reserve companies. Most fraternal life insurance companies now also operate on a legal reserve basis.

Omnibus clause in a standard automobile liability policy embraces within the definition of "insured" certain persons without the necessity of naming them or designating them specifically.

An on-call employee, according to the Department of Labor (DOL), is an employee who is required to remain on call on the employer's premises and is therefore deemed to be "working" on call. An employee who is required to remain on call at home or who is allowed to leave a message where they can be reached is not working (in most cases) while on call. However, additional constraints on the employee's freedom could require this time to be compensated. The terms "working" and "not working" are synonymous with "eligible to be compensated" and "not eligible to be compensated." Therefore, the location of the employee while on call (i.e., whether they are on work premises or at home) is the main consideration that goes into whether compensation can be expected. However, this is not the only consideration. The issue of what constitutes an additional constraint on an employee's freedom is also a critical consideration. If an employee is able to "engage in personal activities" while on call away from premises, the on-call time will likely not be compensated. If, on the other hand, an employee receives so many calls that they cannot "finish a meal, read a story to his or her child or read a newspaper," then there is a good chance the employee will need to be compensated for their on-call responsibilities. Disagreements as to whether an employee is "on call" can result in wage-and-hour liability claims.

An on-demand bond is an unconditional bond or bank guarantee required of many contractors and sellers by overseas buyers to guarantee the tender (the actual form of money exchanged) as security against the value of advance payments under a contract, or to guarantee performance of the contract. Payable "on demand," these bonds and guarantees may be called even when the contract has not been breached or when the breach is caused by circumstances outside the contractor's or seller's control, such as a trading embargo.

Ongoing operations refers to work or other business activity that has not been completed or abandoned. Standard additional insured status under a general liability policy applies only with respect to liability in connection with the named insured's "ongoing operations," preventing coverage from extending to the additional insured's liability for the named insured's completed operations.

The Online Privacy Protection Act is a California law requiring organizations that collect personally identifiable information from residents of California to post privacy policies on their websites. Operators of commercial websites or online services have an obligation to post privacy policies that inform California residents of what becomes of the personally identifiable information that is collected.

An onshore captive is a special purpose insurance company domiciled in the country within which its insured risks are located. There are numerous onshore domiciles actively competing for US source business—for example, Vermont, South Carolina, Hawaii, and Washington, DC. British Columbia is an example of an onshore domicile for Canadian source risks. European countries (with the exception of Dublin and Luxembourg) do not actively promote themselves as captive domiciles—that is, have not passed special purpose legislation to facilitate the formation of captives.

An open enrollment period is the time frame designated by the employer's health or other benefit plan when employees may enroll in new benefit plans or make changes to existing benefit plans. It is also the period of time allowed for Medicare beneficiaries to enroll in or change Medicare Advantage Plans, change prescription drug plans, or return to original Medicare. During Medicare open enrollment, a beneficiary can switch Medicare Advantage plans, switch from Medicare Advantage back to original Medicare, join a Medicare prescription drug plan, or drop Medicare Part D coverage entirely.

Open perils refers to property insurance that insures against loss to covered property from all causes except those that are specifically excluded. This method of identifying covered causes of loss in a property policy has traditionally been referred to as "all risks" coverage. Many industry practitioners continue to use the term "all risks" to describe this approach to defining covered causes of loss in a property insurance policy. However, it is no longer used in insurance policies because of concern that the word "all" suggests coverage that is broader than it actually is. Because of this concern, some industry practitioners have begun to use the term "open perils" or "special perils" instead of "all risks."