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Austin Insurance Done Right!

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Whether you are looking for business insurance, home or car insurance you need to have a trusted resource to help you navigate the maize of options in the market today. You can’t turnaround without being bombarded with ads about how a Gecko or Caveman or groovy waitress-looking chicks are telling you that all you have to do is call them and you will save $487. Or switch to xyz insurance company and save 15%. Are all of these ads right? Are they all the lowest cost solutions? How can this be? Who can I believe? Something just isn’t adding up!

Take a peak here to get an insider’s look at the insurance industry Insurance companies price their policies on a multitude of factors ranging from their overall underwriting profit (or combined ratio), their expense ratios, returns on their investment income and the competitive landscape.

It has been our experience in the Austin insurance market that carriers go through cycles in their pricing structure. A big reason for this is their loss history for a given market segment as well as the company overall. If an insurance company experiences lower than normal claims and makes more of an underwriting profit, they typically get more aggressive in the insurance discounts they offer.

One of the keys to managing your business and home insurance programs is to test the waters with other insurance companies at least every other year to make sure you are taking advantage of the carriers who are in an aggressive rate cycle. Yes this sounds like a very time consuming and frustrating process, but if you get with a knowledgeable and reputable independent insurance agent they can do most of the work for you and typically save you significant dollars.

Up-front premiums, however are only one part of the equation in securing an optimal insurance program. Today there are so many different types of carriers and types of insurance coverages that it is literally a full time job understanding all of the issues involved. Don’t assume that since an agent is merely licensed that they are truly qualified.

Make sure your insurance agent has advanced certifications such as a Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) or a Certified Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU). A Certified Insurance Counselor can not only help you find the optimal price, can help you diagnose and then prescribe the proper coverage. Having a lower premium becomes quickly irrelevant if you have an uncovered claim!

Here Is A Brief Synopsis Of Some Of The Types Of Coverage You Need To Evaluate For Your Austin Business Insurance:

Austin General Liability Insurance

A broad commercial policy that covers liability exposures of a business that are not specifically excluded. Coverage typically includes product liability, completed operations, premises and operations, and personal and advertising injury. It is recommended that all businesses operating have general liability coverage in place.

Business Owners Policy

An Austin business insurance policy that combines property, liability and business interruption coverages for small to medium-sized businesses. Coverage is generally cheaper than if purchased through separate insurance policies. A Business Owners policy is typically available to businesses and industries that are typically viewed as having relatively low liability exposures.

Austin Workers Comp & Employers Liability

This coverage pays for medical care and physical rehabilitation of employees injured at work and helps to replace lost wages while they are unable to work. Additionally this coverage protects an employer from being sued by an injured worker in most cases. A commonly overlooked exposure for companies who employ mostly office workers is the potential injury to employees while driving their own vehicles on company business. This could be as simple as an employee driving to a sales call, the bank or office supply store. If you have employees it is critical that you secure this important coverage.

Professional Liability Insurance Austin

E&O insurance covers professionals for negligence and errors or omissions that injure their clients. In addition to covering licensed professionals such as accountants, attorneys, insurance agents, architect and engineers to name a few, technology companies frequently have a professional liability exposure. This typically arises from the fact that the general liability policy excludes damage to data. Technology E&O can protect your company in the event that your negligence, error, or omission causes damage to a third party’s data. It is recommended that all professional and technology companies have E&O coverage. Contact an Agent today for more information business insurance.

Austin Umbrella Insurance

This Cedar Park business insurance policy provides coverage for losses above the limit of an underlying policy or policies such as General Liability, Employers Liability and Automobile Liability. While it applies to losses over the dollar amount in the underlying policies, terms of coverage are sometimes broader than those of underlying policies. Due to the unpredictable nature of jury awards, it is recommended that your business insurance program have this coverage.

Austin Employment Practices Liability Insurance

Employment Practices Liability Insurance for employers that covers employment related liabilities other than on the job injuries. EPLI will cover legal fees and damages for suits such as wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, and other alleged violations of employees’ legal rights. Although only three percent of Employment Practices lawsuits go in favor of the plaintiff, the average cost to defend yourself in one of these is well over $200,000.

Austin Commercial Auto Policy

This Texas business insurance policy provides coverage for bodily injury liability and property damage, for injuries/damage the policyholder causes to someone else. Medical payments or Personal Injury Protection (PIP) for treatment of injuries to the driver and passengers of the policyholder’s car are also offered. Optional property coverages for damage to the insureds vehicles are also available in the form of collision, for damage to the policyholder’s car from a collision and comprehensive, for damage to the policyholder’s car not involving a collision with another car (including damage from fire, explosions, earthquakes, floods, and riots), and theft. Uninsured motorists’ coverage, for costs resulting from an accident involving a hit-and-run driver or a driver who does not have insurance is also recommended.

These are just a few of the Cedar Park Insurance coverages for businesses. If you have questions, feel free to contact Inspire Insurance solutions, your one-stop solution for all your Austin Insurance needs.

How To Change An Existing Employment Contract

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If you want to change an employee’s terms and conditions of employment, you will need to get their agreement first. Otherwise, the employee may be entitled to sue for breach of contract, or resign and claim constructive dismissal. You must tell the employee in writing about any changes no later than one month after you have made the change. Do changes have to be in writing? Agreed changes don’t necessarily have to be in writing. However if they alter the terms in your ‘written statement of employment particulars’,

Your employer must give you another written statement showing what has changed within a month of the change. Employee Enforcement of the Right Employees have certain rights. These rights are enforceable by law: The right of fair treatment regardless of age, race, religion, gender, disabilities, or sexual preferences The right to equal treatment, also with regard to wages The right no be dismissed without proper cause and the correct procedures The right not to get fired for giving birth to a child Employees also have the right to a proper written notice time for termination of their work agreement in relation to the period employed Employees have the right for compensation when they are retrenched Safe workplace Terminating the Employment ContractBoth employer and employee can terminate the employment contract according to the terms contained within it. Either side can make a complaint against the other.

Breach-of-Contract Claims Both employers and employees can be in breach of a contract of employment. A breach of contract happens when either employee or your employer breaks one of the terms. If an employee continues to work under these changes without objecting, they may be regarded as having accepted the changes. Not all the terms of a contract are written down. A breach may be of a verbally agreed term, a written term, or an ‘implied’ term of a contract. Employer would normally use a county court for a breach of contract claim. The only way an employer would be able to make an application to an Employment Tribunal is in response to a breach of contract claim that an employee has made. The most common breaches of contract by an employee are when they quit without giving (or working) proper notice, or when they go to work for a competitor when their contract doesn’t allow it. Our Employment Law DocumentsAvailable documents include employment contract templates, as well as a director contract template and a range of employment policies. Our documents are designed for use in England and Wales. Our Contract of Employment Template is easy to customize to your business’ requirements.

They provide comprehensive legal protection, whilst avoiding excessive legal jargon. They have been designed with ease-of-use in mind. To this end, they include guidance notes. They are excellent value and available for immediate download. All the templates have been drafted by a team of Solicitors and Barristers who are expert in the field of employment.

If you want to change an employee’s terms and conditions of employment, you will need to get their agreement first. Otherwise, the employee may be entitled to sue for breach of contract, or resign and claim constructive dismissal. You must tell the employee in writing about any changes no later than one month after you have made the change. Do changes have to be in writing? Agreed changes don’t necessarily have to be in writing. However if they alter the terms in your ‘written statement of employment particulars’,

Your employer must give you another written statement showing what has changed within a month of the change. Employee Enforcement of the Right Employees have certain rights. These rights are enforceable by law: The right of fair treatment regardless of age, race, religion, gender, disabilities, or sexual preferences The right to equal treatment, also with regard to wages The right no be dismissed without proper cause and the correct procedures The right not to get fired for giving birth to a child Employees also have the right to a proper written notice time for termination of their work agreement in relation to the period employed Employees have the right for compensation when they are retrenched Safe workplace Terminating the Employment ContractBoth employer and employee can terminate the employment contract according to the terms contained within it. Either side can make a complaint against the other.

Breach-of-Contract Claims Both employers and employees can be in breach of a contract of employment. A breach of contract happens when either employee or your employer breaks one of the terms. If an employee continues to work under these changes without objecting, they may be regarded as having accepted the changes. Not all the terms of a contract are written down. A breach may be of a verbally agreed term, a written term, or an ‘implied’ term of a contract. Employer would normally use a county court for a breach of contract claim. The only way an employer would be able to make an application to an Employment Tribunal is in response to a breach of contract claim that an employee has made. The most common breaches of contract by an employee are when they quit without giving (or working) proper notice, or when they go to work for a competitor when their contract doesn’t allow it. Our Employment Law DocumentsAvailable documents include employment contract templates, as well as a director contract template and a range of employment policies.

Vehicle Tracking And Employee Rights.

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Many companies operating fleet who introduce a vehicle tracking system for the first time would, of course, be concerned in the impact on their employees when installing mobile workforce tracking or a GPS vehicle tracking across their entire operation.

The rise of commercial vehicle tracking across the relevant industries dependent on running the most cost-effective and efficient fleet they possibly can has meant many changes of working practice, not least for the vehicle drivers.

Introducing change of an employees working conditions, obviously requires great care to be taken, not least from a legal point of view and how it affects their individual contracts of employment.

Essentially, there are two key differences to be determined when instigating mobile workforce solutions:

Business use only or – Business and Personal use.

Business Use …

Fitting a vehicle tracker into a vehicle to be used only for day-to-day, strictly work related business, e.g. delivery van, it is recommended that employees driving the vehicle should be informed not only that the system will be fitted, but also why it is being fitted, how it works and exactly the nature of the data to be collected and what its use will be and how it is intended to benefit everyone at the company.

It is important that employees fully understand and appreciate all the objective reasons for wishing to obtain the information that will be provided from the system and why it is needed to help with business efficiency and improvement. Concerns and objections raised by employees obviously need to be discussed to reach agreement on fitting the system but legal advice should be sought if agreement cannot be reached.

Business and Personal use…

Essentially, the same considerations as in business use only but with the addition of taking into account that the system will provide data on the vehicles movements outside working time. Concern may be raised by employees that this data could be used to obtain information about their private lives and if so, could be seen as an infringement of their human rights.

Once again, it is strongly advised and to be made absolutely clear that the data collected by the system will only be accessed for data relating to working hours only, unless the vehicle is stolen or in an accident. Employees need to know as to who will have access to the data and its use for business.

Company contracts of employment should be redrawn so there should be clause which allows for the fitting and/or use of the system in any vehicles provide for company/personal use.

The Basic Features Of Asiabiz Services Singapore Employment Act

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In Singapore, the procedure for incorporating a company is generally simple and straightforward, and requires only a few legal steps and obligations compared to other countries around the world. In Singapore, companies are governed by the Singapore Companies Act of 1963. The necessary steps and structure for forming a company in Singapore are covered by this Act. All companies must abide by the regulations of this Act in order to legally incorporate a company within Singapore. Employees, on the other hand, are covered by the employment act, except for the following positions: Managerial, executive and confidential positions, (However, provisions for salary protection extend to managers and executives earning S$2,500 basic monthly salary and below. All other provisions are not applicable to them.), domestic workers, seamen, any person employed by a Statutory Board or the Government.

Through this guide, you will be informed of the statutory requirements under the Singapore Employment Act and the common practices applied to employment contracts, wages, and benefits when hiring employees in Singapore. However, this guide does not discuss about specialized industries involving manual labour and blue collar workforce.

An effective compensation and employee benefit plan rewards and recognizes the best company employees. Through successful employee benefits strategies, productivity is raised, employee retention is increased, and creates a positive impact on the bottom line. It is often difficult for small-to-mid-size companies (SMEs) in Singapore to match the benefits package of bigger companies. It is imperative that a small company offers a benefits package that meets employee needs and is competitive with what other SME companies offer.

The relationship between employer and employee in Singapore is regulated largely by the contract of employment between them. Subject only to the Employment Act and certain limits, parties can freely enter into contracts of employment. Not all employees are covered by the Singapore Employment Act. Only those employees specified under the Act are covered.

The Act defines Managerial & Confidential Positions as those a person who has direct authority or influence in the hiring, firing, promotion, transfer, reward or discipline of other employees; or the main duties involve management and running of the business; or the employee has access to classified information relating to terms of employment of other employees, or financial positions, business operations/trade secrets of employer.

Moreover, Part IV of the Employment Act provides additional protection (concerning Rest Day, Hours of Work and Overtime, Public Holidays, Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Retrenchment Benefits, Retirement Benefits, Annual Wage Supplement and other variable payment) for employees earning below SGD 2000/month.

Using FMLA law as an Weapon against Employment Discrimination Charge

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It has been a long time describing such a typical case of FMLA laws in Ohio. It is an employment issue with an employee who had been out of the office for the treatment of cancer. After the person gets well and wiling to be back on job, the employer is not in a position to take back the employee to his company. There can be a serious allegation against Ohio employee rights violation.

So, how to tackle the situation? Will it be termed as employment discrimination under the law of FMLA act? Is it the employer who seems to be guilty for not retaining the employee after his/her recovery?

Know the employers view point:

Before we start analyzing the way outs let’s view the genuine constraints for the employer. Yes, it is a deliberate confession. The employer is running a small company with the strength of only 15 employees. While the employee was out on leave, the economy was shattering leaving out lots of lay offs and salary cuts on work. Under such circumstances of slow business the employer can’t afford the employee now.

Apprehension for legal penalties:

But again there is always a possibility of legal intervention that may sue the employer for not allowing the employee to continue with the job. Of course, it’s a true confession by the employer that he would retake the employee once the things get fine. But how certain and safe is the position of the employer against law? The concern finally ended up with the petition to an Ohio FMLA lawyer.

What best can be done to protect the employer?

Fortunately being a small company, the employer can take advantage of the loopholes of FMLA law. Employment discrimination rules under FMLA act apply for the companies having 50-75 workers only. So it seems the employer is too small to be covered under the federal law. Moreover Ohio does not have any family law at the state level.

Employer’s job:

However there is the rapidity required for the employer’s point of view also. During last salary cuts or lay offs the employer should have eliminated the employee position and informed him/her about the decision at that time only. By doing this it would be easier to avoid being appeared that the employer is not illegally discriminating the employee by using FMLA laws.

Concluding the whole discussion the final solution could be like this- First allow the employee to join the office and let him/her work for 2 weeks. Then eliminate the employee position. The reason is that while making the internal changes the employer didn’t lay off the employee. But now in this current situation the employer can do it and it wouldn’t be regarded as discrimination too.

In this context one shouldn’t forget that companies with strong employee strength can’t escape the loopholes as discussed. In such case personal attention from an attorney on employer-employee rights is the priority all the times. Consulting resourceful online legal directories for attorney search can also be an apt solution in most of the cases.