If someone sues for Employment Discrimination, it can be because of an actual event or even an alleged event.
A company we insured terminated an employee because the guy stole from them, and instead of filing a complaint with the police department, the company made the decision to just fire him.
Looking for work, this former employee then goes to a competitor and applies for a job. Of course, he puts down his previous employment, and the new employer then calls the former employer asking about this former employee.
The previous employer doesn’t tell the new potential employer that the employee in question stole from him. He simply says he doesn’t give references to former employees. Then, unfortunately, he answers the next question. The next question was, “Would you hire him back?” He answers, “No.” Based on that, the new potential employer did not hire the employee. Apparently, the employee asked him why, and they must have mentioned his former employer because he came back and sued them.
Here’s where it gets interesting. The suit had nothing to do with the stolen property or the reference. What this employee alleged was that he was denied employment because he was gay, and the case blew up.
As you can imagine, this came as quite a shock to our client because nothing like that had ever come up in any conversation. But it didn’t matter because Employment Discrimination covers any actual or alleged event, and this was the unfounded strategy of the lawsuit which, unfortunately, was successful…
Employment Practices Liability coverage is very important in this post-pandemic world.