The recent Supreme Court ruling that barred restrictions put on religious services in New York put in place to combat the spread of coronavirus may effect houses of worship everywhere.
The United States Supreme Court said in this most recent ruling that the Constitution does not take a holiday during the pandemic; in some ways, those rights are more important and more necessary than ever,” said legal analyst Dan Eaton.
This ruling gives new hope to all churches hoping to be able to meet indoors with no limitations. Legal experts say the new ruling doesn’t mean churches can do whatever they want. They will still have to follow local public health guidelines, but it might make politicians ease up on restrictions on houses of worship to avoid legal challenges.
We are not providing any legal opinion; we recommend you work with your attorney before any action is taken. This is to be considered informational only.
2020 and COVID-19 have changed the way we think about remote working. Most businesses are having employees work from home, and even if there is a vaccine, the work from home trend is likely to continue well into 2021. A PWC survey on US remote working found that 55% of executives believe that most of their employees will continue working remotely at least one day a week post-pandemic.
A Remote Work Policy Might Include:
- Work hours
- Equipment used
- Time management
- Define the scope of work
- Designated work area
- Proof of presence in the work area
How Does Worker’ Compensation Apply To Remote Workers?
In general, employees are covered for work-related injuries that occur outside the office or other workplaces. Generally, employers are still responsible for injuries that occur during a detour, such as when an employee physically departs from his or her job duties that is considered minor activity, getting coffee, etc.
Some questions that will determine whether an injury is a work-related include:
- Was the employer benefiting from the employee’s actions when the injury occurred?
- Did the employer require the employee to engage in the injury-causing activity?
- Did the employer approve the off-site activity in advance?
While employers cannot completely eliminate safety hazards in a home office setting, just as they cannot in the traditional office setting, employers should enforce good risk management practices to ensure those home office workplaces are as safe as possible.
Finding and buying the insurance that meets the unique needs of your business can be easy when you work with the experienced team at our agency. We understand that your business is one of a kind and needs specific protection.
Call us to speak with one of our agents or complete our online quote form. Please have your current policies available when you call.
Jan 21
22
2021 Business Insurance Planning
Part of your business planning for 2021 should include an annual business insurance review. Your business changes, and so do your exposures. After you review some of these items, call our office, and we will be happy to discuss these and more with you.
It’s never been more important to partner with a broker that specializes in your business, understanding your unique exposures, with risk services capabilities and strong carrier relationships.
Why Complete a Business Insurance Review?
- Your exposures may have changed.
- COVID-19 has created the need to evaluate everything you do.
- Laws and regulations may have created new liabilities.
- Your policy may have had small changes that require consideration and adjustment.
- You may have too much coverage or to little coverage.
COVID-19 Planning
- Do you have remote work policies and procedures?
- Make sure you have a cleaning protocol in place.
- Check your business interruption coverage; it may need to be adjusted and increased.
- Make sure your business follows OSHA guidelines.
- During an infectious disease outbreak, such as the current outbreak of COVID-19, small business owners must prepare for disruption in their business as well as prepare to protect their employees’ health and safety in the workplace.
- Do you have the right kind of insurance to cover business equipment off-premises?
Items to Consider When Completing a Business Insurance Review
- Review sales and revenue- Have your company’s annual sales increased or decreased? The more business you do, the greater the potential liability you face.
- Property Values- Have you added any new equipment, purchased or leased a new building?
- Did you purchase any new vehicles?
- Do you sell any of your products in foreign countries?
- Is your safety and loss control program up to date?
- When was the last time someone reviewed your SIC codes for accuracy?
- Are you serving any new industries? This might increase your liability.
Have you added any new partners? There might be a need for life insurance.
As a business owner, you can ensure that your company is protected by keeping your general liability insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, and commercial auto policies updated to reflect changes in your business.
Jan 21
12
Property Insurance For Your Church
Property Insurance
When your ministry’s property is damaged, destroyed, lost, or stolen, your ministry suffers financially and in other ways. Brotherhood Mutual’s property insurance offers protection for physical items—from songbooks to steeples.
Liability Insurance
Liability insurance fills the gaps and protects your ministry’s people and finances. Brotherhood Mutual offers a wide variety of liability coverage options to help safeguard your organization from the unique risks Christian ministries face.
Excess Liability Insurance
Churches and related ministries aren’t immune to legal action, or the millions of dollars in damages that courts are known to award. That’s why Brotherhood Mutual offers optional excess liability coverage to provide an ‘umbrella’ of protection over your ministry’s primary liability coverages—general, vehicle, and employers’ liability coverage.
Save Money with Deductible Reduction
Get rewarded for ministry safety. If you’ve operated your ministry without a payable claim for two years or more, we reduce your deductible on a future covered claim. The longer the loss-free period, the higher the reduction—up to $500. Ask your agent for details.
Your Brotherhood Mutual agent can walk you through various coverage options and limits, and create the right insurance protection for your ministry.
While these are responses from large corporations, we take away many applications for medium and small businesses. Here are some of the risk issues for 2021. According to a recent AMEX survey, 92% of businesses pivoted last year, and 76% of small businesses believe they will need to pivot again in 2021. The 2021 pivot may have a different nature, however. 2020 pivots were mainly adjustments to shock changes in customer demands due to safety measures.
- Cyber Liability– Cyber liability and data theft is one of the hottest topics for businesses, risk managers, and insurance companies.
- Employee Safety– Making sure your business follows all COIVD compliance protocols will be a top priority.
- Remote workers– In 2021, remote working and safety measures should become more routine. How businesses recruit, onboard, train, and terminate employees has changed, some say permanently. How businesses are dealing with employee burnout, talent management, and allocating will need to be addressed.
- IT security– Remote workers will require new IT protocols.
- Slow economic recovery– Businesses will need to do planning to manage the recovery in 2021.
- Government mandates and regulations – There continues to be increased oversight from the government in healthcare and financial reporting that creates new risk and liability for businesses.
- Political and Civil Issues – As seen in 2020, political and civil issues have a direct impact on many small businesses. Having the right kind of business insurance is important to protect your business in the event of civil riots.
- Business Interruption – If your business has a loss and you are unable to operate for a period of time, you will need financial resources in order to get back in operation. You may even need to continue payroll for a period of time. Business interruption insurance can provide these resources.
- Class actions and COVID-19 cases- This year has also seen the first class-action lawsuits directly related to COVID-19. Examples include lawsuits against cruise lines that suffered coronavirus outbreaks, as well as suits regarding the business impact of COVID-19 on companies’ financial performance or operations and misrepresentations about COVID-19-related therapies.
Sources: Forbes, Insurance business
Dec 20
10
2021 Business Insurance Planning
Part of your business planning for 2021 should include an annual business insurance review. Your business changes, and so do your exposures. After you review some of these items, call our office, and we will be happy to discuss these and more with you.
It’s never been more important to partner with a broker that specializes in your business, understanding your unique exposures, with risk services capabilities and strong carrier relationships.
Why Complete a Business Insurance Review?
- Your exposures may have changed.
- COVID-19 has created the need to evaluate everything you do.
- Laws and regulations may have created new liabilities.
- Your policy may have had small changes that require consideration and adjustment.
- You may have too much coverage or to little coverage.
COVID-19 Planning
- Do you have remote work policies and procedures?
- Make sure you have a cleaning protocol in place.
- Check your business interruption coverage; it may need to be adjusted and increased.
- Make sure your business follows OSHA guidelines.
- During an infectious disease outbreak, such as the current outbreak of COVID-19, small business owners must prepare for disruption in their business as well as prepare to protect their employees’ health and safety in the workplace.
- Do you have the right kind of insurance to cover business equipment off-premises?
Items to Consider When Completing a Business Insurance Review
- Review sales and revenue- Have your company’s annual sales increased or decreased? The more business you do, the greater the potential liability you face.
- Property Values- Have you added any new equipment, purchased or leased a new building?
- Have you considered the following coverage?
- Cyber Liability
- Directors & Officers Liability
- Employment Liability
- Earthquake, Flood, or Wind Insurance
- Business Income
- Workers Compensation
- Equipment Breakdown
- Umbrella or Excess Liability
- Did you purchase any new vehicles?
- Do you sell any of your products in foreign countries?
- Is your safety and loss control program up to date?
- When was the last time someone reviewed your SIC codes for accuracy?
- Are you serving any new industries? This might increase your liability.
Have you added any new partners? There might be a need for life insurance.
As a business owner, you can ensure that your company is protected by keeping your general liability insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, and commercial auto policies updated to reflect changes in your business.
Dec 20
4
Web Meeting Tips
Many businesses are now holding web meetings as part of their everyday business process. However, for many, this is a somewhat confusing new kind of activity. We thought it might be beneficial to provide a few tips from our own experience.
Location
Use an inside location that has good lighting for your meeting. Make sure your face is not blocked in some way.
Appearance
Dress in a manner that is similar to how you would dress if you were in the office.
Background
Use a simple, clutter-free background to avoid distractions, if possible. Some web hosting platforms offer backgrounds, but these can give you a computerized look.
Perspective
Do not use a wide-angle face setting. Step back from the camera.
Host
Most web users understand muting etiquette, but in large meetings, there is usually at least one person who forgets to hit that mute button and ends up broadcasting a private conversation, or background noise. What many hosts do not realize is that they have the power to mute these rogue talkers.
Equipment
Believe it or not, many people opt to do conference calls via their smartphones because the apps tend to be very convenient to use. However, this may not be the best idea. It is better to use your laptop or desktop computer to make the call, as it allows you to easily take notes and have a stable image—which is nearly impossible if you’re holding your phone or trying to balance it on your desk
Other Tips
- Turn off notifications while in the web meeting
- Avoid doing other work while in the web meeting
- Have a good microphone
- Test everything before the meeting
Nov 20
29
Church Insurance 101
Property Insurance
When your ministry’s property is damaged, destroyed, lost, or stolen, your ministry suffers financially and in other ways. Brotherhood Mutual’s property insurance offers protection for physical items—from songbooks to steeples.
Liability Insurance
Liability insurance fills the gaps and protects your ministry’s people and finances. Brotherhood Mutual offers a wide variety of liability coverage options to help safeguard your organization from the unique risks Christian ministries face.
Excess Liability Insurance
Churches and related ministries aren’t immune to legal action, or the millions of dollars in damages that courts are known to award. That’s why Brotherhood Mutual offers optional excess liability coverage to provide an ‘umbrella’ of protection over your ministry’s primary liability coverages—general, vehicle, and employers’ liability coverage.
Save Money with Deductible Reduction
Get rewarded for ministry safety. If you’ve operated your ministry without a payable claim for two years or more, we reduce your deductible on a future covered claim. The longer the loss-free period, the higher the reduction—up to $500. Ask your agent for details.
Your Brotherhood Mutual agent can walk you through various coverage options and limits, and create the right insurance protection for your ministry.
Nov 20
24
Cyber Liability
Brotherhood Mutual’s cyber liability coverages protect your ministry against claims of:
- Unauthorized computer use that causes damage to another’s computer-related property.
- Computer-related activity that accidentally damages another individual, organization, or enterprise.
- Financial losses of others from unintentional transmission of computer viruses or other harmful files.
- Data breach liability for improperly using, failing to properly protect, or losing electronic personal information.
- Errors caused by specified IT contractors working on your behalf.
And reimburses you for expenses related to:
- A data breach, which may include the cost to send required notifications, the fees associated with credit monitoring services, or the fees paid to a public relations firm to protect your reputation.
- Data retrieval associated with litigation.
- Special defense coverage for responding to subpoenas, regulatory actions, or non-compensatory lawsuits related to computer use or electronic data.
Nov 20
9
Leasing Facilities Ads Risk
Keep your church in safe condition. Work with an attorney to create a written agreement for the use of the facility.
A written agreement should :
- Describe what parts of the facility will be used, the times and days of usage, and the purposes for which the facility will be used.
- Contain detailed insurance requirements for the group using your facility.
- Include a hold-harmless, indemnity and defense clause for any liability claim.
In addition, we recommend that insurance requirements should:
- Include at least a $1 million limit of liability coverage in a commercial liability policy.
- Require that your church be listed as an additional insured for liability damages that are a result of the group’s activities on your premises.
- Mandate that the other party provides your church with a certificate of insurance as proof of coverage.
Recommended Resources
If you found this information helpful, you might be interested in these other resources from Brotherhood Mutual:
- Read more about how to make groups assume liability in our article Lending Church Facilities: Facilities Use Agreements.
- Learn what questions to ask about the group’s activities in our article Lending Church Facilities: Guidelines.
- Download our sample form Facilities Use Agreement.
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