Glossary

Employer responsibility coverage is needed if the insured employs workers outside the United States or maintains a physical location in another country. It is also referred to as a foreign voluntary workers compensation (FVWC) policy. This coverage typically covers three categories of workers. US hires or "expats": These are citizens or legal residents of the United States who have been hired to work outside of the United States. Third country nationals (TCNs): These are workers hired in a country outside the United States who are assigned to work in a country other than their country of origin. An example is a French citizen who is assigned to work in the United Kingdom. Local nationals: These are workers hired in a country outside the United States to work in that country. For example, a French citizen assigned to work in France is a local national.

Employment-at-will doctrine holds that absent a contract, both employers and employees are free to terminate the employment relationship at any time, with or without cause or notice. In recent years, however, both courts and legislatures have developed a number of exceptions to this doctrine, a factor largely responsible for a marked increase in claims alleging wrongful termination.

An employment-related practices liability (ERPL) policy covers employment practices liability (EPL) exposures promulgated by Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), and filed in the various states for use by its member insurers. The policy uses a claims-made-and-reported trigger and specifically covers liability arising from discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, coercion, and other workplace torts.

An employment arbitration agreement is a contract between an employer and an employee, sometimes signed prior to employment and in some instances after employment has begun, in which both parties agree to submit any employment-related disputes to arbitration, rather than to the traditional court process. Such agreements benefit both employers and employees because they tend to produce more rapid resolution of claims. They are especially advantageous for employers because arbitration avoids the occasional high-dollar, "runaway jury" verdict. On the other hand, arbitrators have a tendency to "split the baby" so that even when an employee's claim is of questionable merit, an employee will often receive an award. Although there is conflicting case law in various jurisdictions regarding the enforceability of preemployment arbitration agreements, the weight of authority appears to hold that such agreements—if equitably drafted—are in fact, enforceable.

Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) is a type of liability insurance covering wrongful acts arising from the employment process. The most frequent types of claims covered under such policies include: wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation. In addition, the policies cover claims from a variety of other types of inappropriate workplace conduct, including (but not limited to) employment-related: defamation, invasion of privacy, failure to promote, deprivation of a career opportunity, and negligent evaluation. The policies cover directors and officers, management personnel, and employees as insureds. The most common exclusions are for bodily injury (BI), property damage (PD), and intentional/dishonest acts. EPLI policies are written on a claims-made basis. The forms contain "shrinking limits" provisions, meaning that insurer payment of defense costs—which are often a substantial part of a claim—reduce the policy's limits. This approach contrasts with commercial general liability (CGL) policies, in which defense is covered in addition to policy limits. Although EPLI is available as a stand-alone coverage, it is also frequently sold as part of a management liability package policy. In addition to providing directors and officers (D&O) and fiduciary liability insurance, management liability package policies afford the option to cover employment practices liability.

Employment risk is a risk that is inherent in an employee's job or work site.

Encapsulation is the treatment of asbestos-containing material with a liquid, either covering the surface with a protective coating or embedding fibers in an adhesive matrix, to prevent release of the asbestos into the air.

An endangerment assessment is a study to determine the nature and extent of contamination at a site on the National Priorities List (NPL) and the risks posed to public health or the environment. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the state conducts the study when a legal action is to be taken to direct potentially responsible parties to clean up a site or pay for it.

Endemic disease coverage specifies workers compensation and employers liability coverage will apply to injury/death of an employee arising out of a disease that is peculiar to a foreign country, even though the disease is not covered under the workers compensation or occupational disease laws of the designated state.

An endorsement is an insurance policy form that either changes or adds to the provisions included in one or more other forms used to construct the policy. Insurance policy endorsements may serve any number of functions, including broadening the scope of coverage, limiting or restricting the scope of coverage, clarifying the application of coverage to some unique loss exposure, adding other parties as insureds, or adding locations to the policy. They often effect these changes by modifying the existing insuring agreement, policy definitions, exclusions, or conditions in the coverage form or adding additional information, such as insured locations, to the declarations page.