Fiduciary liability insurance protects individuals or entities who oversee employee benefit plans from claims they mismanaged those plans in breach of their fiduciary duty.

When choosing which company they want to work for, employees tend to favor companies that offer a wider variety of benefits. Health insurance, stock options, and 401(k)s are just a few of the things that can be attractive to a potential employee.

If your company offers these types of benefits, then you most likely have a department of people that oversees them. But did you know that if one of them makes a mistake your company could be held liable?

Fiduciary liability insurance is the best form of risk management for protecting the interests of your company and your employees in these types of situations. Fiduciary liability insurance is designed to protect the business from claims of mismanagement and the legal liability arising out of their role as fiduciaries. A fiduciary liability policy covers associated legal costs to defend against claims of errors and a breach of fiduciary duty. One of the reasons why some businesses don’t know much about fiduciary liability is the fact that the ERISA does not legally require it.

There are many different types of employer liability coverages, but only fiduciary liability insurance will protect both the company and the individuals against fiduciary-related claims of negligence, mismanagement, or actions that are not in the best interest of the plan participants.

Small businesses that provide retirement plans or other types of employee benefits are subject to a federal regulation called the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). This rule imposes what it calls the “highest duty known to law” (i.e., a fiduciary duty) on those who manage retirement savings and other benefit plans.

Why is this significant for small business owners? ERISA explicitly imposes liability on any person or entity that violates fiduciary duty. This means the plan fiduciary may be held responsible to reimburse employee financial losses.

ERISA does not allow pension or health and welfare plans to reimburse plan fiduciaries for their legal expenses, settlements, or judgments. As a result, fiduciaries involved with employer plans bear a tremendous amount of personal liability for their mistakes.

For this reason, fiduciary liability insurance is a crucial form of risk mitigation for plan fiduciaries. It protects them from going personally bankrupt after their professional mistake financially harms plan participants.

If you’re a solopreneur or have only a few employees for whom you don’t provide employee benefits, you probably don’t need fiduciary insurance.

However, if you have a significant number of employees and provide them with benefits, then you should consider protecting yourself with a fiduciary insurance policy.

The main reason businesses invest in fiduciary liability insurance is the fact that claims are almost always very costly. Not only are the costs of going to court and defending yourself high, but the chances of losing or having to settle with the plaintiff are significantly high as well. If you’re a growing business, one fiduciary liability claim can cripple your business financially.

Also, as mentioned earlier, employee benefit plans are generally very complex and mistakes can be made at any time, even if you have an entire team working on them. If the fiduciary does not follow the benefits plan exactly as it is laid out, they could be sued.

Furthermore, even if you’re hiring outside vendors to run your employee benefit plans, your employees with fiduciary responsibility or oversight of employee retirement plans will more than likely be named alongside the vendor in an employee’s complaint.

The scope of fiduciary liability insurance has broadened over the years as claims activity has increased. Talk to us to know more!

It might be time to switch insurers whenever the service that your existing insurer provides doesn’t meet your needs. For example, if you have a poor claims experience or an unexplained rate increase, it might be time to consider other options

If you cancel a previous policy before a new policy is effective, you could run into some serious financial problems.

Contact us today to help you with multiple options to choose from.