BOP - Business Owners Policy

A BOP is a package policy typically combining General Liability and Property Insurance, along with other optional coverage,small to medium-sized businesses in lower risk businesses classes. A BOP may be available depending on the type of business, annual sales, number of employees and other factors.

A BOP typically includes General Liability to cover your commercial liability and property insurance for physical assets, such as contents, that are leased or owned. The package insurance policy may also cover loss of business income and extra expense resulting from a covered loss.

The General Liability insurance coverage of a BOP is comparable to a typical Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy, providing protection against claims of bodily injury or property damage for which your business may be liable.

The General Liability portion typically provides liability insurance for the cost of defending lawsuits stemming from:

• Accidents that cause bodily injury and/or property damage.
• Claims such as libel and slander.
• False advertising

*General Liability insurance does not cover errors or negligence from professional services.
A BOP policy may include, or you may be able to select as an option;

• Outdoor Sign Insurance
• Money and Securities Insurance
• Employee Dishonesty Insurance
• Water Back Up Insurance

Not all businesses are eligible for a BOP policy. If your business has any of the following characteristics you may not be eligible for a BOP. Characteristics typically not eligible for a BOP policy include:

• Large premises operations
• High risk or highly specialized operations
• Majority of business conducted off-premise
• Requires liability limits higher than offered with a BOP

Property and Liability Insurance

Property Insurance

Property insurance can cover the buildings that you own and/or business property and inventory against physical loss or damage.

If you don't own your building, you'll still need contents coverage. In the most policies, property insurance for business contents covers furniture, fixtures, inventory, office equipment and other supplies stored at your facility or off-premises. You may insure those items for replacement cost or for actual cash value (ACV), which pays only for the depreciated value of the property.

Replacement cost policies have higher premiums, however they can help your business recover from a loss faster, since you can replace all of the lost or damaged property with new items. If you lease some of the equipment at your business, the leasing company may require that you insure the property at replacement value.

Liability Insurance

Liability insurance is designed to protect the business against losses even if they are negligent or liable for damage, injury or loss to another's property, reputation, or health. Typically, damages, legal defense fees and settlement charges are paid by the insuring company when a claim is filed against the business.

Bodily Injury - Liability coverage may pay the affected person or firm for the cost of care, the loss of services and restitution for death that results from an injury.

Property Damage - In the event your business causes damage to, or causes the loss of use of someone else's property, property damage coverage may pay for the value of the physical damage to the property; or the loss of use of that property.

Products and Completed Operations

A policy may provide coverage for your company's completed products or services. If an injury occurs due to the use of your products or services provided, the policy would pay for the resulting damages and any legal expenses up to the policy limits.

Contractual Liability

General Liability coverage extends to any liability you may assume by entering into a variety of different types of contracts such as a building lease.

Liquor Liability

If you're not in the business of manufacturing, distributing, selling, serving or furnishing alcoholic beverages, the policy may protect you in case someone claims you are legally liable for a liquor-related accident.

Hired Auto & Non-Owned Auto

Hired Auto & Non-Owned Auto coverage if requested is typically added as an endorsement on a policy. If there are no vehicles owned by the company this coverage will meet the contract requirement for Commercial Auto coverage.

Hired Auto coverage replaces or augments the liability coverage offered by auto rental agencies for example

Non-Owned Auto coverage protects your company in the event that your company is sued as a result of an auto accident that you or one of your employees has in a personal vehicle while on company business.

Medical Payments

If someone is injured by you or at your business site, the policy may pay for medical and funeral expenses incurred, up to policy limits, within one year of the accident. For example, if a customer tripped and fell on your premises and had to be hospitalized.

Personal Injury

Most General Liability policies provide coverage if you are accused of:

• Publishing inaccurate information that slanders or libels a person or organization;
• Publishing material that violates a person's right of privacy;
• Falsely arresting, detaining or imprisoning someone;
• Maliciously prosecuting someone;
• Wrongfully evicting someone.

Advertising Injury

In the course of advertising your company's own goods, products or services, this policy will provide valuable liability protection against advertising injuries resulting from:

• Publishing inaccurate information that slanders or libels a person or organization
• Publishing material that violates a person's right of privacy
• Copying some other company's advertising ideas or style of doing business
• Infringing on another company's copyright, title or slogan
  

Specialty Liability Insurance

Professional Liability

General Liability insurance does not protect your business against claims of professional negligence, or for failure to perform your professional duties. For this type of coverage, the business will need a separate Professional Liability policy.

Professional Liability Insurance protects your business against loss from a claim of alleged negligent acts, errors or omissions in the performance of your professional services.

The policy normally pays for any resulting judgments against you, including court costs, up to the coverage limits on your policy.

Employment Practices Liability

Employment Practices Liability coverage protects an employer against an employee's claims such as:

• Wrongful Termination; Sexual or Workplace Harassment; Wrongful Discipline; Age Discrimination; Violation of Employment Discrimination Laws; Violation of Americans with Disabilities Act; Wrongful Failure to Employ or Promote; Wrongful Deprivation of a Career Opportunity; Breach of Employment Contract; Employment Related Misrepresentation; Failure to Adopt Adequate Workplace Employment Policies & Procedures, Illegal Retaliatory Treatment Invasion of Privacy; Negligent Evaluation.
• Employment Related Wrongful Infliction of Emotional Distress

The purpose of this insurance is to protect the corporation, directors, officers and employees from alleged employment-related wrongful acts. Some features to having this policy are Coverage for front/back pay, attorneys’ fees and compensatory damages, for punitive damages where insurable by law, for actual or alleged retaliatory treatment, varying retention's for class action suits or other claims, for emotional distress or mental anguish, no purposeful or intentional acts exclusion or reductions in force or mass layoffs exclusion.*

*Coverage varies from company to company.

Directors and Officers Liability

Directors and officers liability coverage protects directors and officers against claims alleging negligence, errors and omissions, misstatements, misleading statements and misrepresentations.

Most organizations have a general liability policy that protects its directors and officers against negligent acts that result in bodily injury or property damage. However, general liability does not protect against alleged wrongful acts or omissions, including breach of duty, which do not result in bodily injury.

Directors and officers coverage protects your executives from potential lawsuits resulting from key decisions or management practices-lawsuits that may target their personal assets.

A comprehensive Directors and Officers Liability policy can provide the following:

Insured's include

• Directors Officers Committee Members Volunteers
• Trustees or Employees

Comprehensive D&O Insurance can:

• Defend Prior Acts Defend Non-Monetary Damages Provide Duty to Defend Coverage Defend Libel, Slander and Defamation of Character
• Defend Discrimination, Sexual Harassment and Wrongful Discharge

Crime coverage can extend to those who may have access to your companies funds:

• Employee Dishonesty Money and Securities
• Forgery and Depository

Workers Compensation Insurance

Workers Compensation protects your employees should an injury occur during the course of employment. Payments are made to the injured party and can consist of medical payments, loss of wages or therapy.

All states require all employers to carry Workers' Compensation insurance and each state has individual laws that must be met.

At the very minimum, Workers' Compensation insurance policies will cover an employee's medical expenses and reimburse him or her for some percentage of lost wages.

Almost all states are "open market", which means the coverage is underwritten by private insurers; and some states are "closed" or "monopolistic" - the coverage is underwritten by a state-sponsored fund (ND, OH, WA, WV, and WY). In states that are open, rates can vary between insurance carriers depending on the type of business the carrier is attempting to attract. In an open market, the rates for workers' compensation are competitive.

Employers with one or more employees are subject to the provisions of their states Disability Benefits Law. This law provides benefits to employees who may be become disabled because of injuries/sickness off the job or that may arise from other conditions such as pregnancy. Payments for these types of benefits are only allocated for the payment of wages unlike that of workers’ compensation which provides payment for medical costs.

Commercial Vehicle Insurance

Commercial auto liability coverage provides protection for any business-owned or leased commercial vehicle. Policies usually include collision and damage coverage as well as coverage for property and personal damage to others.

Just like you need auto insurance for your own car, you need business auto insurance to cover your business-owned or leased vehicles. If you or any of your employees have an accident in your business's automobile, you may be liable for bodily injuries, lost wages or any damage caused.

Typical coverage includes:

Bodily Injury Liability - Coverage for damages that involve bodily injury to others for which you become responsible under law.

Property Damage Liability - Coverage for damage to property of others for which you become responsible under law.

Medical Payments - Coverage for reasonable and necessary medical expenses and funeral services for those who are accidentally injured while in your automobile or while getting into or out of your automobile.

Personal Injury Protection - Coverage for medical, hospital, rehabilitation, loss of wages or loss of services costs resulting from injury to you or any resident family member. In case of death to the insured or a resident family member, death benefits and survivor benefits, if applicable, will be provided.

Other coverage that may be obtained include:

Comprehensive - Protection for the loss of or damage to your vehicle and its equipment from all causes except collision, subject to the deductible on the policy.

Collision - Protection for the collision damage to your automobile and its equipment, subject to the deductible on the policy.

Uninsured Motorist - Coverage allows you to recover bodily injury damages due to an accident where the other party does not have insurance, and is found legally liable.

Underinsured Motorist - Coverage allows you to recover bodily injury damages due to an accident where the other party is found legally liable and does not have adequate liability limits.

Additional Expense - Coverage for necessary additional expenses incurred as a result of a loss for which you are protected under comprehensive or collision coverage. These expenses include rental cars, food, lodging and other incidental expenses.

Hired Auto Liability Coverage - Covers liability for automobiles hired under contract on behalf of or loaned to the named insured.

Hired Auto Physical Damage - Coverage for an automobile of any type, hired, borrowed or leased on a short term basis for use in the insured's business.

Employer's Non-Ownership Liability - Coverage for a private-passenger automobile used in the business of the named insured by any person, or the occasional and infrequent use of a commercial automobile in the business by any of your employees.