Managing a school entails a massive amount of responsibility. In addition to the well-being of all the school’s students, leadership must ensure that the staff have the support they need, too. All of these responsibilities ultimately translate to liabilities. If administrators do not satisfy all requirements of their job, consequences can be grave. In some instances, those consequences may even involve legal action. Administrators have several protections on their side, including unions, documentation, and district protocol — but the most important protection to have is wrongful acts insurance. School leadership should understand their exposures and take steps to invest in coverage.

Understanding Wrongful Acts

The term wrongful act is used in a general sense to refer to any action by a school leader or administrator that is deemed harmful to a student or employee of the school. Examples might include wrongfully firing a member of the staff, misdiagnosing a student’s learning disorder, or failing to comply with a district’s tenure guidelines. In each of these cases, the target may have verifiable damages that make the district — and the responsible administrator — liable for the error. Wrongful acts insurance generally includes the following coverage.

Directors & Officers Liability

Sometimes, if a wrongful act is perpetrated by a specific individual holding a position of leadership within the school, that individual may be the subject of legal action seeking damages. Directors & officers liability coverage helps to protect that person from losing their own personal assets during litigation. If a former teacher at a school alleges that they were fired by the principal after becoming pregnant, for example, D&O coverage will protect the principal’s assets even if the principal is found guilty of employment discrimination.

Employment Practices Liability

Employment practices are a common cause of lawsuits across every industry, and education is no exception. Many schools don’t think about equal employment opportunity regulations when hiring — they’re mostly concerned with a candidate’s background check and qualifications. However, a simple misstep could result in the appearance of impropriety, and this is enough for litigation to ensue. Employment practices liability coverage can mitigate this risk by shielding schools from accusations of discrimination, sexual harassment, and many other wrongful acts associated with employment and hiring practices.

Errors & Omissions Liability

Errors and omissions coverage is most commonly associated with small businesses offering services to clients. It may not seem like a necessity for a school, but in fact, it is. It can provide protection to a school in the event that it fails to render services properly. This typically refers to claims of financial impact that stem from an alleged breach of duty. In these cases, an E&O policy can mitigate an educational institution’s liability for damages.

About PGUI

Professional Governmental Underwriters, LLC., is a full-service risk management company dedicated to assisting public, educational and non-profit entities in the management of their professional liability exposures including educators liability insurance. We are dedicated to providing state-of-the-art professional underwriting management and loss control advisory services on behalf of our designated carriers. For more information, call us toll-free at (800) 586-6502.