Can you think of the one thing that all doctors, lawyers, dance teachers, photographers, insurance agents, architects, engineers, and real estate brokers have in common? Well, not everyone knows this, but each of those classes of professionals could benefit from purchasing professional liability insurance—also known as Errors & Omissions (E&O) insurance. There are many other types of business insurance that are available (some required by law) to businesses of all sizes. One even works synergistically with workers’ compensation and is called General Liability (GL) Insurance.

Professional Liability Insurance and the Law.

There are over 100 classes of professionals in the state of Georgia. Professionals range from surgeons to sales people, funeral directors—even expert witnesses are in a class of their own.That’s right, an expert witness faces just as many risks as anyone else working a nine to five. Professional liability insurance is intended to protect the professional of unforeseen events which may arise during the provision of the service. In other words, there will be money there to pay for any errors made. An example would be a surgeon who has a bad day in the OR and uses sutures instead of staples when finishing open-heart surgery. The patient can file a negligence claim against him. This is where the professional liability insurance would kick in and help fix the error and the cost that goes along with it.

In Georgia, E&O insurance is not required by law, however, it is good business practice to have. Because even though it may not be required, many clients often require contractors to maintain E&O insurance to even qualify for a contract. For example, a filmmaker might be required to have professional liability insurance in order to film in building with historical status.

General Liability Insurance

General Liability (GL) Insurance is there to protect businesses from another person who claims:

• Bodily injuries on the business real estate.
• Damage inadvertently caused to somebody’s property.
• Injuries from slander, libel, or trademark infringement

The policy which protects your business against the high price of certain unavoidable obligations. But there is one thing that GL does not cover: worker injuries. GL is considered an essential coverage but does not help employees or injured workers at all.

How Does General Liability Insurance Relate to Workers’ Comp?

General Liability and Workers’ Comp coverage work together to create a strong business. General Liability Policy helps safeguard businesses from extreme costs of unavoidable liabilities. This type of policy guards you from claims when third parties are injured on the company’s property.

Georgia requires that any business who has three or more employees be set up with workers’ comp insurance benefits. Workers’ Comp helps your business maintain compliance with state laws and then protects employees when their work causes them injury or illness.

General Liability does not cover employee injuries. It does cover non-employee damages, lawyer fees, advertising injuries, courts costs, settlements, etc.

Workers’ Compensation is the policy that kicks in anytime an employee gets injured or becomes ill while on the job. It also covers:

• Work-injured employees’ medical and recovery expenses.
• Replacement wages.
• Dependent support payments and funeral expenses
• Liability expenses

To summarize, businesses would greatly benefit if they had both workers’ compensation and GL. If you are an injured worker and are experiencing any difficulty with an insurance policy, contact a workers’ compensation lawyer and schedule a consultation.