The “Action Over Coverage” Insurance Problem for Small Contractors in New York

The issue of “action over coverage” has become a significant concern for small- to medium-sized contractors in New York, and it does not appear there will be any easy solutions any time soon.    

The issue generally arises when a contractor is hired for a renovation or construction project in a building and one of the contractor’s employees gets injured or accidentally injures someone else while working on the job. He can put in a claim for Workers’ Compensation, but he may also try to sue the property owner of the building he was working in, if his injuries were due to negligence on the part of building maintenance. The property owner will defend himself by claiming that he is also covered as an additionally insured party under the contractor’s insurance policy.

What Happens If You Under Insure Your Space?

Though the odds of a total loss may be small, it could happen.

That is the reason insurance companies do not want you to under insure a building because you think you can’t afford whatever amount the insurance is.

If you have a $10 million building and decide you can’t afford to pay for $10 million worth of insurance, so you only insure it for half a million dollars, the insurance company will likely penalize you for insufficient insurance if there is a claim. 

Commercial Property Insurance: Basic, Broad or Special

Seeing an insurance broker as opposed to an agent has many advantages, especially when shopping for commercial property insurance.

There are three types of commercial property insurance, referred to as Basic Form, Broad Form and Special Form. These policies differ in the items that are covered, so achieving the best outcome takes experience and practical knowledge.

Speaking broadly, the three types of commercial property insurance are:

Do You Know the Difference Between Flooding and Seepage?

Water damage is among the most frustrating kinds of losses to deal with because there is so much confusion about what is covered and what is not.

The first thing to remember about flood insurance is that where the water came from makes all the difference.

Young People Have Options under the ACA

One of the goals of the Affordable Care Act is to get more young people insured. It attempts to do so on two different fronts: By making it easier for grown children to stay covered on their parents’ plan, and by making it more affordable for young adults to afford coverage in their twenties.

Parents’ Plan

Under the law, insurance companies are required to insure adult children on their parents’ plan until the age of 29 at the latest:

Must-Know Facts Regarding the Affordable Care Act

There have been significant challenges with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. With many different factors to consider for individuals, families and business owners, it’s no wonder people have questions and concerns.

Background

Health insurance rates began to increase in earnest during the 1990s. Since then, insurance companies have struggled to keep their premiums as low as possible. To do that, they began to offer plans with deductibles for certain services. When rates again started to climb, insurance carriers started experimenting with some novel ideas geared at keeping costs down for the employer.

3 Important Insurance Benefits You Can Offer Your Employees at Minimal Cost to Your Business

Companies looking to attract the best and the brightest need to offer incentives to increase the quality of their prospective employees. One way to do this is to offer higher salaries than competitors or propose additional benefits. Of course, many benefits, like health insurance, can be prohibitively expensive, especially for a small or medium-size business. Here are 3 benefits you can offer your employees that will give them broad and appreciated benefits at a relatively low cost to your business:

• Dental Insurance: Most dental plans will only cost an employer about 10% of a full health insurance plan. The reason for this is that these dental plans have a maximum benefit, usually between $1000-$2000 a year, as opposed to general  health insurance plans which offer unlimited benefits. Still, this is a nice bonus that will sound good to those considering joining your company.

Are You Covered for Defective Work Performed on Your Home or Business?

Don’t assume that simply because you pay for liability and property insurance every month, you’re covered in all instances of damage. Policies vary, but many have exclusions that will not allow you to receive compensation under certain circumstances.

Most people assume that when they pay for coverage under an insurance policy, they should be taken care of in the event of virtually any problem. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Sometimes even insured individuals and businesses suffer damages which are not covered by their particular policies.

A recent example I came across involved a contractor who performs cleaning and maintenance services for homes and businesses. There was an accident in which a part of the property being worked on was damaged, and a claim was filed with the property owner’s liability insurance carrier to cover the costs of repair.

Is Your Business Covered Against Employee Theft?

Don’t assume that it can never happen to you.

As the owner of a business and an employer, you have to be careful to safeguard what you’ve worked so hard to build, not just from those members of the public that might like to take advantage, but from your own employees as well. While surely most of your workers are honest and would never steal from you, all it takes is one bad apple to potentially bankrupt your company. And it’s often the one you never suspected that proves to be the culprit.

Employee theft is on the rise and it currently costs American businesses an estimated $40 billion a year. This is why it is a good idea to consider purchasing employee dishonesty insurance.

Many companies have no protection at all against this type of harm, and of those that do, a high percentage are woefully underfunded. Many policies will only cover up to $50,000  in damages, while the average claim filed for this type of loss is almost $1 million.  A nonessential employee who steals a small amount of petty cash is unlikely to cause a claim to be filed anyway – it is the trusted higher-level managers who can loot the business that you as an owner need to be particularly worried about.

How Cyber Liability Insurance Can Protect Your Business

Many business owners seem to be under the impression that their general liability insurance policies will cover them in the event that their websites are compromised and client/customer information is stolen. Unfortunately, they are mistaken, and the result could be crippling lawsuits against them and their businesses if confidential information is exposed to hackers.

Because most standard business liability policies do not cover this type of problem, more and more companies are stepping up and obtaining cyber liability insurance coverage. Any company that sells products on the web or keeps customer records online should seriously consider getting the protection that comes with a good cyber liability policy.