Specialist insurer Beazley has launched a new consortium at Lloyd’s to provide increased capacity for wage & hour risks and to expand the range of choices available to U.S organisations.
The Concorde Consortium will underwrite risks on a surplus lines basis, building on Beazley’s existing expertise in employment practices liability (EPL), as well as its 2015 standalone wage & hour product, Workplace Protect.
Underwriting on both a primary and excess basis, the consortium will provide limits up to $25 million for the costs of defending and indemnifying U.S organisations that are alleged to have violated their obligations under wage & hour law, such as non-payment of wage or misclassification of employment status.
Beazley said that the coverage will focus specifically on claims made under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which are excluded from most EPL policies, and will be most suitable for organisations with 10,000 or more employees.
Additionally, companies will be given the option to select either stand-alone wage & hour cover or to incorporate it into their EPL policy.
Hiscox is the other member of the Concorde Consortium, with additional capacity being provided by Beazley special purpose syndicate 5623, although the consortium will be led by Beazley, whose underwriters will quote and bind 100% of all risks.
“A wide range of US organisations, whether they are operating through a traditional business model or in the new gig economy, are at risk of wage & hour law suits,” said Wayne Imrie, Employment Practices Liability Underwriter at Beazley.
“It’s becoming more difficult to navigate employment legislation as the demarcation between employees and non-employees is increasingly blurred and the legislation itself is in a state of flux.”
He continued: “Demand for wage & hour coverage has been the fastest-growing area of EPL. Building on Beazley’s market-leading expertise in this field, we’ve responded by creating the Consortium and designing coverage that plugs the gaps that other coverages fail to offer. By offering additional capacity for the largest risks, we expect to attract more of this business into the London market.”
