XL Catlin adds employment practices, cyber options to professional liability for architects, engineers

XL Catlin announced Monday that its employment practices liability (EPL) coverage, for Canadian architects and engineers, would include lawsuits filed by non-employees – such as suppliers and customers –while its cyber insurance could cover liability for breach of proprietary drawings, designs, customer requirements and specifications.

Hamilton, Bermuda-based XL Group Ltd. said Monday it has added two optional coverages – cyber and EPL – to its professional liability insurance for architects, engineers and other design businesses in Canada.

Its EPL has “dedicated” limits “separate from design professional liability limits” and includes third-party coverage for claims from non-employees. This could cover claims from clients, customers and vendors, an XL Catlin spokesperson told Canadian Underwriter.

XL Catlin said its EPL policy also includes a “broad definition” of wrongful act, such as failure to enforce employment-related policies and procedures relating to any employment practices wrongful act. It would also include “employment related defamation (including libel and slander), infliction of emotional distress or mental anguish, humiliation, false imprisonment, or invasion of privacy which arise from the terminating, disciplining, promoting or demoting of an employee,” among others, the XL Catlin spokesperson noted.

Meanwhile, the cyber coverage includes liability insurance against “loss of or failure to protect personal information and confidential business information such as proprietary drawings, designs, customer requirements and specifications,’ XL Catlin said in a release. It also covers liability from a “violation of any privacy or data breach reporting laws/regulations,” from “wrongful acts of rogue employees” and from “transmission of malware to third-parties.”

“These optional coverages are tailored to stave off the financial and reputation consequences of two of the fastest growing risks for design professionals,” stated Wilma Schreuders, regional leader for XL Catlin, Canada Design Professional insurance, stated in a release.

XL Catlin’s cyber coverage for Canadian architects and engineers also includes, among other things, voluntary notification to breach victims and forensic investigations, extortion incident costs and payments as well as providing credit and identity protection and restoration services.