PLI, or professional liability insurance, can make the difference between a company with an insurance claim and a company with a bankruptcy claim. For any professional performing in the service industry, such as a doctor, attorney, or accountant, this form of coverage is indispensable. It’s an insurance policy that will respond to a loss that covers insured professionals for perceived or real “negligence” and “errors or omissions” that injure their clients. For Northern Plains architects and structural engineers working on designing multi-million dollar homes or other structures, this type of insurance is everything in the event structural defects are detected. Consultants, sub-contractors, and all professionals performing services should consider this type coverage.

Winter Preparation – English
Points on how to safely walk and drive in winter weather.
Winter Preparation – English

Winter Preparation – Spanish
Points on how to safely walk and drive in winter weather.
Winter_Preparation_-_Spanish

Employers have a legal obligation to their employees to support safety in the workplace. Yet accidents happen even when every reasonable safety precaution has been taken.

To shield employers from litigation resultant of workplace accidents, Northern Plains businesses are required to have workers compensation. This also serves to provide medical care and lost income compensation to employees injured in workplace accidents. Workers compensation insurance, sometimes referred to as workmen’s comp, workers comp, or even work comp, covers employees injured on the job, whether they’re hurt on workplace premises or elsewhere (as in auto accidents) while on business. Work-related illnesses are also covered.

South Dakota workers comp, Nebraska workers comp, Iowa workers comp, Minnesota workers comp, and North Dakota workers comp are invaluable to the process of protecting Midwest employees from harm and shielding their employers from undue burden. They provide payments to injured workers for time lost from work and for medical and rehabilitation services, without regard for who was at fault in the accident. Also provided are death benefits to surviving spouses and dependents.

Each state has different laws governing the amount and duration of lost income benefits, the provision of medical and rehabilitation services and how the system is administered. In most states, there are regulations that address whether the worker or employer can choose the doctor who treats the injuries and how disputes about benefits are resolved.

Workers compensation insurance must be bought as a separate policy. Although home business and business owners’ policies (BOPs) are sold as packages, coverage for workers’ injuries is not included. Utilizing the right workers comp will bolster company morale, minimize expenses, and shield business owners from egregious liability. Is your business properly insured?

Businesses through the Northern Plains need to be covered with EPLI. But what is it? EPLI stands for Employment Practices Liability Insurance. It covers businesses against allegations by employees that their legal rights have been violated.

Some South Dakota insurance companies offer EPLI as an independent coverage, while others provide it as an extension of coverage to their Business Owners Policy.

Some examples of the types of employee litigation against which EPLI protects the insured:

• Discrimination
• Sexual harassment
• Wrongful termination
• Failure to employ or promote
• Breach of employment contract

The expenses associated with EPLI coverage depend on your industry and the number of employees you have, as well as risk factors such as your company’s claims history and written policies. The procedures and limits of the coverage requested are, as always, a factor. Though it may seem like just one more expense, it is absolutely necessary to prevent financial disaster in the face of an incident. It can also help to shield your company’s reputation. The policy covers legal costs, and pays damages to the injured party, if the lawsuit is favorable to the damaged party. The insured’s policy typically reimburses the costs of defending a lawsuit, regardless of whether the suit is won or lost in court.

EPLI is one of several ways a South Dakota insurance provider can help to safeguard your business, and as such should be considered part of a comprehensive protection plan.

We’ve made a concerted effort both to invest in our local community and the environment in many ways. Perhaps the most visible is by establishing our new headquarters in Cherapa Place, one the first LEED certified, or “green,” buildings in South Dakota. Opened in November, 2007, Cherapa represents our commitment to sustainability — in both the place we do businesses and the practices we use there.

“We all need to reduce our negative environmental impacts, whether it’s saying ‘no’ to plastic bags at the grocery store, or riding your bike to work on a nice day,” explains Jeff Scherschligt, President, Howalt+McDowell. “A change takes a much larger effort from all of us.”

“Cherapa” is the name of the magnificent sculpture of a buffalo that welcomes visitors near the entry of the building. In fact, it’s the Crow Indian word for “buffalo,” which also means “reverence.” That seems an appropriate term that hints at the connection the building has to both the land and our regional heritage. Built on a reclaimed brownfield in the heart of downtown Sioux Falls, a choice site on the banks of the Big Sioux River that used to be native prairie, the project recycled 80 percent of its construction waste, including the material from the former Zip Mill elevator that previously occupied the site (the concrete from that building was crushed and used to pave the parking area of the new building).

In its place stands a structure built in concert with nature, with locally sourced materials, recycled materials, and energy efficient design, all integrated with native plants both around and even on top of the building. Annually, buildings consume more than 30 percent of the total energy we use in the U.S., including more than 60 perecent of its total electricity. By using LEED standards to build green, Cherapa makes a difference and points to a future of sustainable business. LEED delivers an immediate and measurable result: dramatic energy savings, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, lower water usage, better indoor air quality, and lower operating costs.

Businesses throughout the Northern Plains are seeking increased growth, profit and improved service. Benefits programs offer a unique vehicle to help in these areas. When deliberating different insurance benefit plans, the first thing you must ask is not “what kind of benefits do I want to offer my staff,” but “what kind of culture do I want to create?” Choices you make for employee benefits are a statement about, and commitment to, the kind of business you plan to grow, and not just for the obvious reasons.

In South Dakota insurance, Minnesota insurance, North Dakota insurance, Iowa insurance, and Nebraska insurance, enlisting experts is the key to making an investment in the human capital that defines an organization in important ways. Naturally, benefits can attract and retain the best and brightest. Yet there is more – through proper utilization they become an entirely new toolset that can actually transform a significant cost into a tool for growth, improved performance and even enhanced customer satisfaction. A customized benefits plan can be utilized to the advantage of both the company and the employees, managing and minimizing risk while enhancing employee productivity.

Welcome to our blog! Howalt+McDowell is an independent insurance agency with deep roots and a long record of accomplishment in the Upper Midwest. Our experts work tirelessly behind the scenes and encompass the most important part of any policy we write.

For more than 60 years, we’ve lived to help our clients grow. Along the way, many of them have developed long-term, often very personal relationships with our team members. That’s the true source of trust that keeps us close. A favorite long-term pledge we’ve made to clients old and new is to deliver “the right people, the right answers.” The key word there is “people.”

Since growing a business requires you to adapt to forces that change one hour to the next, we’ve made sure our team adapts, too. Our agents must hold advanced certifications and stay relentlessly up to date on the issues facing the industries we serve. In South Dakota insurance, Iowa insurance, Minnesota insurance, Nebraska insurance, and North Dakota insurance, we’ll explore the nature of our expertise and the latest insurance issues in this blog. Welcome.

Please see attached for the recent Equipment Alert

GenieLiftsAlert
GenieLiftAlert1

The Fall/Winter Howalt University Schedule is here. And just like in the past, all classes are FREE to everyone!! As a bonus to you, we’ve teamed up with two attorney firms, Davenport Evans and Cutler & Donahoe, LLP, to bring you expert counsel on topics affecting your business. We’re sure you’ll find all of our webinars and live classes extremely valuable.

Ready to get started?

 Check out the latest schedule and sign-up today!

http://howaltmcdowell.com/power-tools/howalt-university/

If you’re in the hospitality industry, these webinars are for you. To register, just click here www.readytalk.com and enter Access Code:  5820191. It’s free and there are no strings attached, promise. All webinars begin at 2:30 pm (CST).

Critical Steps to Managing Contractors and Preventing Liability & Insurer Audit Issues – Tuesday, September 28^th, 2010

OSHA Recordkeeping for Employers in the Hospitality Industry & Trending Losses to Focus Resources and Prevent Incidents and Insurance Costs – Tuesday, October 26^th, 2010

Blood borne Pathogens & Hospitality Industry Hazards; Using Job Hazard Analysis to Prevent Injuries and Illness – Tuesday, November 16^th, 2010

Emergency Action Plan for the Hospitality Industry and Managing Employee Training – Tuesday, December 14^th, 2010