Public Liability Insurance – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

What can go wrong when it comes to public liability insurance for recruiters?

This video, a part of a series filmed at Recruitment Agency Expo, explains claims that can be made for public liability insurance related to recruitment agencies - and how a good claims service responds to them.

A slightly modified transcript of the video:

Chloe Hawley (Recruitment Lead): You've got various factors to consider. For instance, if you're working from home, do you have your laptops with you? In that case, you might need to think about material damage cover. If you have a physical office, are you leasing the premises? It's important to assess your specific operation and function.

Beyond liability, it's crucial to consider your own material damage cover, whether that pertains to buildings, contents, or, as I mentioned, laptops. James, perhaps you could provide an example.

James Morris (Claims Relationship Manager) - Absolutely. Contents cover is a common one. While it's less common these days for laptops to remain solely on premises, as many people take them home, some companies do insist on them staying at the office. We've seen instances where premises have been leased, and access gained through forced violent entry, leading to theft. In one particular case, 19 laptops were stolen, which would have resulted in a significant windfall for the perpetrators, likely sold on the black market, possibly for organised crime. So, as Chloe mentioned, your contents are very important, whether it's equipment you carry for work like a mobile phone, laptop, or film equipment.

Employment practices liability is another key area. I recently handled an ACAS claim where, due to a complex contractual chain involving five or six companies, our client simply passed on the information that an individual hadn't got the job. Despite this minimal involvement, our client incurred £14,000 in defence costs because the individual sued every single company in that chain. Something as simple as merely relaying information can lead to substantial legal expenses. Initially, the individual had secured the job, but background checks revealed their association with a political organisation, which led the government department to decide against hiring them. While that was their choice, the recruiter became the bearer of bad news and, consequently, was sued. Although they shouldn't have been, until we managed to extricate them from the claim, we were looking at approximately £24,000 in defence costs. So, employment practices liability is a very important area.

This type of cover can also be crucial when a claim does directly involve your company. The policy will provide legal defence and respond to issues like employee grievances or tribunals, which occur frequently. We live in a litigious society where, if something goes wrong, there's often a tendency to assign blame and seek financial compensation. This is precisely why EPL, as it's known in the industry, is a very important cover to have, and we do encounter these types of claims regularly.