Category Archive for : ‘Business Risk’

Of all the things business owners have to plan and deal with, key man insurance is one of the most overlooked and important items. Getting key man insurance will never be a top of mind, urgent issue until, unfortunately, it is too late. That is why it is so critical to take a few minutes and establish a policy for yourself, and other vital employees, to protect the financial well-being of your business.

What is Key Man Insurance?

Key man insurance is life insurance on the owner, founder or other key employee

If you’re like me, your kids are constantly filling your heads with the latest vernacular. You watch them. You listen to them. You pick up on their terminology. Have you heard, “Don’t be soft”? This is the statement used when one of my kids doesn’t want to take out the trash because it is raining. The others chime in with, “Don’t be soft”.

I bring this up to set the table for this blog – you can be soft in the hard market. If it helps in any way, you have

Businesses across the nation are taking the necessary steps to protect their employees and their customers in uncertain times. One of the most obvious steps is to have people work from home. It is one of the safest steps they can take, but it also expands the opportunities for fraudsters to steal businesses’ confidential data, funds and trade secrets. In their quest to protect their employees and customers and protect company operations cybersecurity may not be first and foremost on their mind.

What are some of the exposures?

Ransomware attacks
Phishing attacks (social

Accidents happen. No matter how careful you are. No matter how many safety meetings you have. No matter how many safety modules you make your employees watch, accidents can and will happen. This is the reason you have workers’ compensation insurance. This insurance pays an employee’s wages and medical bills if they are injured at work. Work comp is a great benefit, but it’s not perfect. There are things you, as an employer, can do to get the most out of your workers’ compensation coverage.

When An Injury Occurs

When an employee

The Act’s Facts

Effective 1/1/2020, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is updating the exemption rule for overtime eligibility. The last time they made a change was in 2004 and estimates project over 1.3 million employees will become eligible for overtime pay. So, just what are the new thresholds for exempt and non-exempt employees:

Employees earning at least $684 a week, or $35,568 per year, will be exempt from overtime pay for any hours worked over 40 in one work week. Previously, the threshold was $23,660 per year.
The total annual compensation level

What is employment practices liability insurance?

Known in the insurance industry as EPLI, employee practices liability insurance provides coverage to employers against claims made by employees alleging discrimination (based on sex, race, age or disability, for example), wrongful termination, harassment and other employment-related issues.

A risk that impacts everyone!

Business leaders make decisions each day on a range of issues including things like hiring, firing, compensation, promotions and the work environment. Every one of these decisions impacts your employees and, depending on the outcome, could result in a claim related to wrongful employment

Read the title above.

The answer? Yes.

End of blog.

Well, ok, not the end. Here’s the deal. Cyber attacks are hitting all industries and the shockwave is always felt across an organization’s bottom line, and marketplace reputation. Industry research tells us that 70% of businesses are unprepared to deal with a Cyber Attack. On top of that, the average cost of cyber-attacks on businesses is $1,050,000 per year. Being unprepared in this space will have a tremendously negative impact on the bottom line of your burgeoning business.

As a cannabis industry business you

The insurance industry is not short of professionals and experts. Drive down Any Street, USA and you can find a brokerage or retail agency. The traditional method for purchasing insurance has stayed the same for many years and I’m sure you’ve experienced it. Fill out applications, get some quotes, and pick what looks best. All these experts. All these options.

But what about the cannabis insurance space? Where are all the experts when it comes to insuring a cannabis businesses?  In California, there are currently approximately 130 insurance agencies on the

GUEST BLOGGER: NEAL GLATT, of GrowTheBench.com

When I entered the workforce 10 years ago, every business was concerned with survival.   “The Great Recession” struck hard and the future of sales and profitability for many industries was extremely concerning.  We were all caught completely by surprise and suffered some very tough years as a result.  Hopefully, reading this now, you not only survived but have likely emerged stronger with new processes, solid growth, and increased technology to be better equipped than we were before.  Congratulations!

Here’s the problem: we are on the verge

When the voters approved to make recreational marijuana use legal in Massachusetts in 2016, employers immediately wondered how they were going to navigate these waters with their employees. Marijuana still remains illegal under Federal Law, which is putting Massachusetts based employers in a tough spot.

With the first recreational marijuana shops recently opening in the Commonwealth, employers are now faced with the real likelihood that some of their employees are now consuming marijuana products on their own time. How is this going to affect employers that have drug policies in place