General Liability Insurance

The foundation every business needs.

If a customer slips in your store, if your contractor damages a client's property, or if your product causes an injury, General Liability is the policy that pays. Without it, those claims come out of the business checking account, or the owner's personal savings.

General Liability (GL) is the baseline insurance every business should carry. Almost every other commercial coverage sits on top of it.

What GL actually covers

• Bodily injury to third parties. A customer trips on a loose rug and breaks a wrist. GL pays the medical bills and, if they sue, legal defense plus settlement.
• Property damage to third parties. A plumber leaves a fitting loose and floods a client's basement. GL pays for floors, drywall, and contents.
• Personal and advertising injury. Slander, libel, copyright infringement in your advertising, false arrest. Often overlooked, and increasingly relevant in the social media era.
• Medical payments. Small goodwill payments (usually $5,000 to $10,000) for minor injuries on your premises, regardless of fault.

What GL doesn't cover

• Employee injuries. That's workers' compensation.
• Your own property damage. That's commercial property insurance.
• Auto accidents in business vehicles. That's commercial auto.
• Professional errors or advice. That's professional liability (E&O).
• Cyber incidents and data breaches. That's cyber liability.
• Employment-related lawsuits. That's EPLI.

GL is the foundation. The other coverages sit on top.

What it costs

• Low-risk office business: $400 to $800 per year for $1M/$2M limits.
• Retail or restaurant: $1,000 to $2,500 per year.
• Contractors (general, plumbing, HVAC): $1,500 to $5,000 per year depending on trade.
• Higher-risk trades (roofers, tree service, demolition): $4,000 to $15,000 per year.

Limits to understand

Most GL policies offer a per-occurrence limit (the maximum paid per incident, often $1M) and an aggregate limit (the maximum paid total in a policy year, often $2M). A contractor who causes two $800,000 claims in one year would max out a $1M/$2M policy quickly. Higher-risk businesses often carry $2M/$4M or buy a commercial umbrella policy to layer on top.

Certificate of Insurance (COI)

Almost every commercial contract, leases, client contracts, subcontractor agreements, requires proof of GL. Your insurer issues a Certificate of Insurance (COI) listing your coverage and naming specific parties as "additional insureds" when required. COIs are a routine part of doing business, not a one-time document.

GL in a BOP

A Business Owner's Policy bundles GL with commercial property for small-to-mid-size businesses at a discount. For eligible businesses, a BOP is usually the right starting point. Our post on how BOPs work covers when to use one versus standalone GL.

Our business insurance page covers GL alongside BOP, professional liability, and cyber.

Workers' Compensation

The coverage almost every business must carry.

Workers' compensation pays medical bills and lost wages when an employee is injured or becomes ill because of their job. It's required by law in nearly every state, it applies to almost every business with employees, and going without it creates some of the biggest penalties in all of business insurance.

What it covers

• Medical care for work-related injuries and illnesses, hospital bills, surgery, medications, physical therapy.
• Lost wage replacement, typically 60 to 70% of the employee's wages while they can't work.
• Permanent disability benefits if the injury causes lasting impairment.
• Death benefits to the family if a work injury is fatal.
• Employer liability coverage, defense if an employee sues the business outside the workers' comp system (rare, but possible).

It's mandatory (almost everywhere)

Across OnePoint's 18 states, every state except TX requires most employers to carry workers' comp. TX is the only state where workers' comp is optional, but opting out creates significant liability exposure, and most TX employers still carry it. FL, GA, NY, NJ, MD, VA, IL, MI, MO, OH, TN, NC, SC, LA, MS, AL, AZ all require it for most employers with 1 to 5 or more employees, with varying thresholds.

Sole proprietors, partners, and certain LLC members can usually exclude themselves. Independent contractors aren't employees and don't require coverage, but misclassification is one of the top audit triggers in the industry.

What it costs

Workers' comp premiums are based on class code (the type of work each employee performs), payroll (premium is calculated per $100 of payroll), and the experience modifier (your claim history compared to similar businesses).

Example rates per $100 of payroll:

• Clerical or office worker: $0.15 to $0.40.
• Retail clerk: $1.00 to $2.50.
• Electrician: $2.50 to $6.00.
• Roofer: $15.00 to $40.00.

A small office with $200,000 in payroll might pay $600 to $1,200 per year. A small roofing company with the same payroll might pay $30,000 or more.

The experience modifier

After about 3 years in business, your claim history affects your premium through the experience modifier (X-Mod). An X-Mod of 1.00 is average for your class. Below 1.00 is a credit, you pay less. Above 1.00 is a debit, you pay more. An X-Mod of 1.25 means you pay 25% more than average. Safe workplaces save serious money.

State-run vs. private markets

Monopolistic states (none in OnePoint's footprint) require workers' comp to be bought from the state fund. Competitive states (all OnePoint states) sell workers' comp through private insurers, sometimes alongside a state fund as the insurer of last resort.

Ghost policies for sole proprietors

In states like FL, many contractors carry a ghost policy, a workers' comp policy with $0 payroll that lets them provide certificates of insurance when required by general contractors, without paying premium for employees they don't have. Legal, common, and industry-standard in the trades.

Our business insurance page covers workers' comp alongside GL and BOP.

Commercial Auto Insurance

Why your personal policy won't cover business driving.

If you drive for work, even in your personal vehicle, your personal auto insurance may not cover you. A claim while "using the vehicle for business" can be denied, and the business can be held liable for damages. Commercial auto insurance closes that gap.

Who needs commercial auto

• Vehicles owned by the business. Always require commercial coverage.
• Personal vehicles used regularly for business. Sales reps, real estate agents, contractors, delivery drivers. Personal policies often exclude commercial use beyond "driving to a single workplace."
• Employees driving their own cars for work. Requires hired and non-owned auto coverage (HNOA) on your commercial policy.
• Fleet vehicles. Any business with multiple trucks, vans, or cars.

What it covers (similar to personal auto, at higher limits)

• Liability for bodily injury and property damage to others.
• Collision and comprehensive for the business vehicle.
• Uninsured and underinsured motorist protection.
• Medical payments for driver and passengers.

Hired and Non-Owned Auto (HNOA)

HNOA covers the business when employees use their own cars for work errands. If they cause an accident and their personal insurance denies coverage, HNOA defends and pays on behalf of the business. It also provides liability coverage on rental cars booked for business use. HNOA is cheap ($100 to $400 per year added to a GL or BOP) and catches a surprising number of claims.

Personal auto policy "business use" exclusions

Most personal auto policies cover commuting to and from a single workplace, plus occasional business errands. Most personal auto policies exclude:

• Delivery driving (food, packages, goods).
• Driving with passengers for hire (rideshare without an endorsement).
• Transporting business property or equipment regularly.
• Driving to multiple job sites as part of a trade.

A roofer hauling a ladder and materials to job sites all day in his personal truck is almost certainly not covered by his personal auto policy during work.

What it costs

• Small business with 1 light vehicle: $1,200 to $2,500 per year.
• Contractor with work truck: $1,500 to $3,500 per year.
• Delivery van: $2,000 to $4,500 per year.
• Fleet of 5 vehicles: $6,000 to $15,000 per year depending on type.

Rates vary dramatically by radius of operation (local, regional, long-haul), cargo type (hazardous materials, valuables, general freight), driving records of named drivers, and state. NJ, NY, LA, and FL typically run higher than OH, TN, and MO.

DOT-regulated vehicles

Large trucks and buses with federal DOT numbers have specific commercial auto requirements, often $750,000 to $5 million in liability minimums, and need specialized trucking policies, not standard commercial auto.

Our business insurance page covers commercial auto alongside GL, workers' comp, and BOP.

Cyber Liability Insurance

The fastest-growing risk most small businesses ignore.

Cyber attacks used to target large corporations. That's changed. Today, small businesses are the primary target, precisely because they're underprotected. Ransomware, phishing, and data breaches routinely cost small businesses $50,000 to $500,000 per incident. Cyber liability insurance is how you survive one.

What cyber liability covers

First-party coverage (your own business losses):

• Ransomware payments and negotiation.
• Data restoration, rebuilding corrupted or encrypted systems.
• Business interruption, lost income while systems are down.
• Forensic investigation, identifying what happened and how.
• Notification costs, legally required customer notifications after a breach.
• Credit monitoring offered to affected customers.
• Crisis management and PR.

Third-party coverage (claims against your business):

• Customer lawsuits from exposed data.
• Regulatory fines (HIPAA, state privacy laws, PCI).
• Media liability, defamation, copyright infringement, privacy violations on your website or social.
• Defense costs.

Why small businesses are targets

• Weaker security than enterprise companies.
• Valuable data (customer info, credit cards, health records).
• Often connected to larger companies (vendors, suppliers).
• Limited resources to investigate and remediate.

The average cost of a small business data breach in 2024: $120,000 to $250,000. Median ransomware demand: $400,000 or more.

What it costs

• Small office, $1M coverage, basic data handling: $700 to $1,800 per year.
• E-commerce business with credit card processing: $1,500 to $4,000 per year.
• Healthcare provider with PHI: $2,500 to $7,500 per year.
• Financial services with PII: $3,000 to $10,000 per year.

Underwriting questions that matter

Insurers now require specific security controls before they'll write coverage:

• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) on email, remote access, and admin accounts.
• Offline backups tested regularly.
• Endpoint detection software.
• Security awareness training for employees.
• Incident response plan.

Not having these can mean declines, massive premium increases, or coverage restrictions (like ransomware sublimits).

Common exclusions

• War and state-sponsored attacks. Expanded exclusions after recent geopolitical events.
• Unpatched known vulnerabilities, if the exploit used a patch available for more than 30 days.
• Social engineering, fake wire transfer requests, may need a separate rider.
• Prior acts, incidents that started before the policy began.

State regulatory exposure

All 50 states have breach notification laws. OnePoint's footprint includes states with particularly strict rules. NY SHIELD Act requires reasonable safeguards and breach notifications. IL Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) carries massive fines for biometric data mishandling. TX, FL, VA, and others have specific breach notification and credit freeze rules. Federal regulations matter too: HIPAA for healthcare, GLBA for finance, and FTC rules on data.

Our business insurance page covers cyber alongside GL, E&O, and BOP.

Professional Liability / E&O

When a client sues because of bad advice or a mistake.

General liability covers bodily injury and property damage. But if you give bad advice, make a professional mistake, or fail to deliver as promised, and a client sues, GL doesn't pay. That's what Professional Liability Insurance (also called Errors and Omissions, or E&O) is for.

Who needs E&O

• Licensed professionals, attorneys, accountants, engineers, architects, real estate agents, insurance agents.
• Consultants of any type: management, IT, marketing, HR.
• Healthcare providers, though usually under the name "malpractice" insurance.
• Tech companies, software developers, SaaS businesses, IT services.
• Creative services, designers, marketers, advertising agencies, media producers.
• Any professional service firm billing clients for expertise.

What E&O covers

• Defense costs when a client sues for financial harm caused by your professional services.
• Judgments and settlements for covered claims.
• Mistakes, errors, and omissions in your professional work.
• Negligence claims in how you performed services.
• Failure to deliver promised results (sometimes limited).

What it doesn't cover

• Bodily injury and property damage, that's GL.
• Intentional wrongdoing, fraud, or criminal acts.
• Known prior claims (claims you knew about before the policy started).
• Work for which you weren't properly licensed.

Claims-made vs. occurrence

E&O policies are almost always claims-made, meaning the policy must be in force when the claim is made, not when the alleged error occurred. When you switch insurers or cancel, you need tail coverage (an extended reporting period) to cover claims that come in later for past work. Tail coverage typically costs 100 to 300% of annual premium as a one-time fee and can extend reporting 3 years, 5 years, or unlimited.

What it costs

• Real estate agent, solo: $400 to $800 per year for $1M coverage.
• Small accounting firm: $800 to $2,500 per year.
• Small law firm (3 attorneys): $2,500 to $8,000 per year depending on practice area.
• IT consulting firm: $1,500 to $5,000 per year.
• Management consultant: $1,000 to $3,500 per year.

Rates depend heavily on specialty. Estate planning attorneys pay less than plaintiff's attorneys. Tax CPAs pay less than audit CPAs.

Industry-specific versions

• Medical malpractice, doctors, dentists, nurses.
• Legal malpractice, attorneys.
• Agent E&O, insurance and real estate agents.
• Architect and engineer E&O, A&E firms with specific design risks.
• Tech E&O with cyber combined, often sold together for software and IT firms.

Contract requirements

Many commercial clients require E&O as a contract precondition, with specific language: minimum limits (often $1M or $2M), carrier rating (A.M. Best A-rated or better), additional insured or waiver of subrogation clauses, and specific retroactive dates or tail requirements.

Our business insurance page covers E&O alongside GL, cyber, and D&O.

Directors & Officers (D&O)

Protecting the people who run the company.

D&O insurance protects the personal assets of directors and officers, and the company itself, when decisions made in leadership roles result in lawsuits. It applies to small and mid-sized businesses, not just public corporations, and it's one of the most overlooked coverages in private company insurance.

What D&O covers

Three sides, usually labeled A, B, and C:

• Side A protects directors and officers personally when the company can't indemnify them (bankruptcy, regulatory prohibition).
• Side B reimburses the company when it indemnifies directors and officers for covered claims.
• Side C protects the company itself (entity coverage) when it's named in the lawsuit. Common for public companies, sometimes added for private companies.

Who sues directors and officers

• Shareholders (even small private companies can have minority shareholder disputes).
• Employees (claims overlapping with EPLI).
• Creditors and bankruptcy trustees.
• Regulators (SEC, state attorneys general, industry regulators).
• Customers (breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentation).
• Vendors and competitors (tortious interference, antitrust).

Private company D&O

Most private company D&O claims come from:

• Employment-related claims (overlap with EPLI).
• Creditor disputes, especially after business failures.
• Shareholder or member disputes in LLCs, partnerships, or closely held corporations.
• Regulatory actions.
• M&A disputes, post-acquisition lawsuits.

Who should have it

• Nonprofits, board members have significant fiduciary responsibility and often serve voluntarily. D&O is nearly universal for nonprofits.
• Private companies with outside investors, any VC-backed or PE-backed company typically requires it.
• Companies with independent directors.
• Any company with shareholders or members beyond owner-operators.
• M&A candidates, buyers expect to see a D&O policy.

What it costs

• Small nonprofit (under $1M revenue): $600 to $1,500 per year for $1M coverage.
• Small private company: $1,200 to $3,500 per year.
• Mid-size private company (with EPLI combined): $5,000 to $25,000 per year.
• Venture-backed startup: $3,000 to $15,000 per year, scaling with valuation and funding stage.

The "insured vs. insured" exclusion

Traditional D&O excludes claims between insured parties, meaning the company can't sue its own directors and recover from the policy. Modern policies often have exceptions for derivative suits, but read the language carefully.

Tail coverage at M&A

When a company is sold, the buyer typically requires the seller to buy tail coverage on the D&O policy, usually 6 years. This ensures post-closing claims against the former directors and officers are covered.

Our business insurance page covers D&O alongside EPLI and E&O.

Employment Practices Liability (EPLI)

When an employee sues.

EPLI protects a business from lawsuits brought by employees, former employees, and job applicants. Discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and retaliation claims account for a growing share of business lawsuits, and the legal fees alone to defend one can destroy a small company.

What EPLI covers

• Discrimination claims (race, sex, age, religion, disability, pregnancy, national origin, sexual orientation).
• Sexual harassment (quid pro quo and hostile work environment).
• Wrongful termination.
• Retaliation (firing or demoting someone for filing a complaint).
• Failure to promote.
• Hostile work environment.
• Wage and hour claims (sometimes, often with sublimits).
• Third-party harassment, claims by customers, vendors, or contractors alleging harassment by employees.

What it doesn't cover

• Wages actually owed. Back wages in a wage-and-hour judgment generally aren't covered, only defense costs and certain damages.
• Intentional violations of labor law.
• Workers' compensation claims, those go through the comp policy.
• ERISA claims, those typically require fiduciary liability insurance.

Why every business needs it

EEOC charge stats in recent years: roughly 60,000 to 70,000 workplace discrimination charges per year. Average cost of a defended EPLI claim: $125,000 or more before settlement or judgment. Even dismissed claims require defense. Attorneys' fees for a "we won" case often exceed $30,000.

The small business problem

Small businesses are more vulnerable to EPLI claims than large ones:

• Less formal HR infrastructure.
• No in-house legal team.
• Less robust training.
• Tighter cash flow that can't absorb legal fees.

What it costs

• Small business (under 25 employees): $1,000 to $3,500 per year for $1M coverage.
• Mid-size business (25 to 100 employees): $3,000 to $10,000 per year.
• Larger businesses or high-risk industries: $10,000 or more.

Industries with higher EPLI premiums include healthcare (patient-facing plus shift work), hospitality and restaurants (high turnover, tip disputes), and staffing firms (complex employer and employee relationships).

State-specific considerations

Some states in OnePoint's footprint have particularly active employment litigation environments. NY, NJ, IL have strong state-level employment protections and higher claim frequency. CA (outside OnePoint's footprint, but worth noting for remote workers) is the most litigious environment nationally. GA, TN, VA, NC, SC have relatively lower claim frequency, but trends are rising.

Risk management that lowers premiums

Insurers often require or reward:

• Written employment policies and handbook.
• Regular harassment and discrimination training.
• Documented performance management process.
• HR hotline for employees to report concerns.
• Legal review of terminations above a certain level.

Our business insurance page covers EPLI alongside D&O, E&O, and BOP.

Business Interruption Insurance

The coverage that keeps you alive after a disaster.

When fire, hurricane, water damage, or another covered event forces a business to shut down, commercial property insurance pays to rebuild. Business interruption insurance pays to keep the business alive during the shutdown, covering lost profits, continuing expenses, and the cost of operating from a temporary location.

What business interruption covers

• Lost net income that the business would have earned during the shutdown.
• Ongoing operating expenses, rent, utilities, loan payments, payroll for retained employees.
• Temporary relocation costs, rent on a temporary space, moving costs.
• Extra expenses, rush-shipping replacement equipment, working overtime to catch up.
• Civil authority coverage, lost income when a government order prevents access to your property (within limits).

When it kicks in

• Only after a covered property loss. The business shutdown must be caused by a peril that would be covered by your commercial property or BOP policy (fire, wind, water damage, and so on).
• After the waiting period, typically 72 hours, after which coverage begins.
• Payments continue through the period of restoration, the time reasonably required to restore the business, usually up to a 12-month limit (extendable).

Common exclusions

• Pandemics and communicable disease. Nearly all policies exclude this, cemented after COVID-19 litigation.
• Losses from perils not covered by the underlying property policy. If your property policy excludes flood, business interruption doesn't pay for flood-related shutdowns.
• Gradual or long-tail events, slowly declining business, bad weather that didn't cause direct property damage.
• Utility service interruption, often requires a specific endorsement.

Dependent Business Interruption (Contingent BI)

What if your business is fine but your key supplier burns down, or your largest customer is forced to shut? Contingent Business Interruption covers lost income from covered losses to third parties you depend on: suppliers, customers, anchor tenants.

Extra Expense coverage

Similar to business interruption but pays extra costs you incur to avoid or minimize a shutdown: renting temporary equipment to keep running, expedited shipping for replacement inventory, renting a temporary office across the street.

What it costs

Business interruption is usually part of your commercial property policy or BOP. Adding it or raising limits typically costs:

• Small retail or office: $200 to $600 per year for $100,000 to $250,000 of BI coverage.
• Restaurant: $500 to $1,500 per year. Restaurants have high BI exposure because of inventory spoilage and rent.
• Manufacturer or contractor: $1,000 to $5,000 per year depending on revenue and operation complexity.

Sizing the coverage right

The most common mistake is underinsuring BI. Most businesses need 12 months of lost profits plus continuing expenses to really survive a catastrophic loss, because rebuilding often takes longer than anyone expects. Work backwards from this question: if our location burned to the ground tomorrow and took 8 months to rebuild, what would we need in cash to stay in business and pay our people?

Our commercial property post and BOP post cover how BI fits into business coverage. Our business insurance page covers standalone BI for larger operations.