These policies protect against claims tied to advice, management decisions, employment practices, and board service. We match the right coverage to the work.
They are often sold together and are frequently confused with one another.
Responds when a client alleges your professional work or advice caused them financial harm. Consultants, agencies, technology firms, accountants, architects, and anyone paid partly for expertise. General liability explicitly will not answer these claims.
Protects the personal assets of directors and officers when their governance decisions are challenged — by investors, members, regulators, or employees. Nonprofit and association boards need this as much as companies do, and volunteer directors are frequently unaware of their personal exposure.
Wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wage-and-hour allegations. This is the most frequently triggered of the three for most small employers, and defense costs dominate even when the employer ultimately prevails.
Coverage responds to claims made while the policy is in force, not to when the act occurred. That makes the retroactive date critical, and it means letting a policy lapse or switching carriers carelessly can leave years of past work uncovered. Tail coverage exists to close that gap when a business is sold or closed.
The structure matters more here than in almost any other line.
The claims-made structure is behind most of it.
Switching carriers and accepting a fresh retroactive date leaves everything before it uncovered. It is a one-line item on a quote and one of the most consequential terms in the policy.
When defense erodes the limit, a long dispute consumes the money meant to settle it. Whether defense sits inside or outside the limit is a real difference between quotes that appear comparable.
Directors of congregations, schools, and nonprofits often assume the organization's general liability protects them personally. It does not. D&O does.
Claims-made coverage ends when the policy does. Without tail coverage, a claim arriving after closing has no policy to respond to it.
The distinctions that matter most.
General liability covers bodily injury and property damage — physical harm. E&O covers financial harm caused by your professional work or advice. A client who slips in your office is general liability; a client who loses money because your advice was wrong is E&O.
Yes, and arguably more than a company does. Volunteer directors have personal exposure for governance decisions, and D&O is frequently what allows an organization to recruit qualified board members at all. Employment claims against nonprofits are common.
Because a claims-made policy only covers acts that occurred after that date. Preserving your original retroactive date when you change carriers is one of the most important things we do at renewal, and it is easy to lose by accident.
Small employers are not exempt from employment claims, and defense costs do not scale down with headcount. A single wrongful-termination allegation can cost more to defend than years of premium.
Send us what you have and we will map the retroactive dates and the defense provisions.
