Employee Benefits Liability Insurance Coverage

An organization should insure its employees against liability incurred while on duty. This is covered under a general liability policy. However, this does not cover against liability caused by negligence related to employee benefits. This is where employee benefits liability insurance comes in. In most cases, the coverage is included as an endorsement to the general liability policy.

Many organizations provide benefits to their employees such as health insurance, life plan, retirement plans, all in an attempt to provide the best package. However, omissions and errors can arise during the administration of these benefits, in which case an employee can claim damages.

Employee benefits liability insurance insures the employer in case there are claims due to negligence in the administration of benefits. For instance, a company may erroneously fail to enroll an employee in a health plan or failure to give an employee proper advice about some benefits. In turn, the employee may claim damages from the employer. Any organization, which provides employee benefits and has many employees, should get benefits liability insurance coverage.

What is covered by the employee benefits liability insurance?

Employee benefits liability insurance covers damages claimed from the insured due to negligence in the management of staff benefits such as insurance, social security benefits, pension plans and maternity leave. Acts, omissions and errors covered include:

Providing information about a plan and its eligibility rules. For example, a benefits manager may give incorrect information to the employee about the coverage of a health plan only the employee to find out later that the information was wrong. In this case, the employee may sue the company and the employee responsible.

Enrolling employees and their beneficiaries in benefits plans. The insurance covers instances where an employee is erroneously not enrolled in a benefit plan. For instance, a recipient may not be included in a health policy or a life insurance plan. Maintenance of benefits records. The policy covers instances an employee benefits file may be misplaced or electronic file may be erased.

what is not covered by the benefits liability insurance

The employee benefits liability insurance does not provide coverage in case there are claims due to the following circumstances:

In case an employee is given poor advice on plans. For instance, if an employee is given poor performance prediction on a retirement plan, the insurance cannot pay damages if there is a claim. Other instances that are not covered by the insurance include cases of fraud, practices related to employment such as discrimination and unfair termination, lack of enough funds and other jobs that are not related to employee benefits.

Apply these supervisory skills so that you can become a great and effective supervisor.

Supervisors do interact directly with their subordinates. Hence, it is important for them to have particular skills to ensure that the interaction is productive. What are the crucial supervisory skills should any supervisor uphold? Here is a list of a few skills that are needed for effective supervision:

Planning

One of the roles that one must take when they are appointed as supervisors is planning. There are various aspects of planning. Therefore, a supervisor should have skills in the following areas to ensure effective planning. They include:

Scheduling- Timekeeping is the mandate of any leader. A supervisor should be able to drive the subordinates to work within sustainable timelines
Budgeting- Often, organizations work within fixed budgets. Hence, sound planning is needed to make sure finances are located appropriately
Tasking- It is the duty of the supervisor to plan tasks and match them to appropriate individuals
Creating goals and objectives
Policymaking
Predicting the future

Leading

The key role of a supervisor is to lead others but not without specific skills. Here are a few of the leading skills:

Decision making- While it is important to consult others, the supervisor need to be the sole decision maker
Communicating- They must be able to communicate well with their subordinates
Motivating- Besides, the supervisor should be in a position to persuade the employees towards goal achievement
Developing individuals- It is the duty of the supervisor to see to the growth of the subordinates
Appointing people- Supervisors are also responsible for selecting people whom they think are suited for various tasks
Conflict resolution- Leaders act as mediators in conflicts that arise among the employees

Organizing

Supervisors also need organization skills such as;

Defining tasks- It is the responsibility of a supervisor to explain work to the employees
Grouping assignments- Supervisors are also mandated to group related tasks for effective implementation
Assigning tasks- They are also responsible for delegating duties to the subordinates based on the skill level of the individuals
Integrating work

Controlling

Lastly, a supervisor needs to have control over his/her subjects. They require skills in:

Creating standards- For effective evaluation, developing standards is inherent
Assessing performance- Supervisors should measure the performance of their subordinates
Evaluation of performance- The supervisors should evaluate the performance results critically to point out areas of improvement
Correcting performance- Where an employee performs averagely or poorly in their tasks, the supervisor should encourage and support them to improve their performance.