XL Group Launches Wage & Hour Liability Coverage

XL Group’s Bermuda professional lines unit has launched a new insurance product to specifically address the needs of Fortune 500 companies and other large employers potentially exposed to employee compensation and classification disputes.

As its name suggests, the wage & hour liability insurance product provides coverage for wage & hour defense and indemnity liability.

Since wage & hour claims involve a variety of allegations such as unpaid overtime, employee misclassification and failure to pay minimum wage that can result in wage & hour collective and class actions, costing employers millions of dollars, XL Group’s Bermuda professional lines unit has developed a stand-alone product which offers several features, including:

• Comprehensive coverage for Wage & Hour law violations;
• Coverage tailored to risks of large employers (e.g. companies with more than 10,000 employees); and
• Coverage for earned wages; private litigation and governmental civil actions; liquidated, statutory and punitive damages as well as attorneys’ fees.

Commenting on the value of the new product, Chief Underwriting Officer of XL Group’s Bermuda Professional Lines Unit, Matthew Irvine said: “In recent years the U.S. Department of Labor has been strongly enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the plaintiffs class action bar has also turned its attention to the fertile ground of broad laws and shifting workforce arrangements emerging in these economically challenging times. This landscape has led to a proliferation of large cases involving alleged violations of Wage & Hour laws, making it one of the fastest growing sources of litigation activity in both U.S. federal and state courts. Companies involved in such disputes, whether the disputes are legitimate or not, are often required to invest an increasing amount of time and resources in what are notoriously expensive cases to defend. They also face potential reputational and operational risks. XL has worked hard to create this tailored product which is available to new and existing clients. We believe that our coverage options will help them better manage their risks.”

Source: XL Group