Employment Practices Liability Insurance

Tuesday, January 24 to Wednesday, January 25, 2012

New York Marriott Downtown, New York, NY

9:30 Main Conference Registration

10:00 Co-Chairs’ Opening Remarks

Joni Mason
Senior Vice President, EPL Product Manager
Chartis

Patrick Hicks
Shareholder
Littler Mendelson P.C.

10:05 The State of the EPLI Marketplace: Identifying Emerging Opportunities, New Coverage and Exposures & Bringing New EPLI Products to the Market

Joni F. Mason
Senior Vice President, EPL Product Manager
Chartis

Janet B. Dreifuss
Senior Vice President, Director of Claims, Executive Risk
Alliant Insurance Services

David Perkins
Executive Vice President
SH Smith & Company Inc

Adeola I. Adele
Senior Vice President, National EPLI Product Leader
Marsh Inc.

Miles R. Afsharnik
Senior Vice President, Claim & Legal Resource Director,
Professional Risk Group
Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA, Inc.

Thomas P. Hams
Managing Director, National EPLI Practice Leader
Aon Financial Services Group

Moderator:

Richard S. Betterley
President and CEO
Betterley Risk Consultants, Inc.

• Is the market hardening? If so, which markets?
• How will brokers and employers respond?
• What new coverage enhancements are being offered?
• What about the impact of zero job growth on EPL
premium and claims?
• New sources of claims – and how to respond

11:35 Perspectives on Claims Trends, Cost Control, Underwriting Considerations, and the Defense of Claims

Jason A. Fogg, Esq.
Vice-President, Claims
Monitor Liability Managers, LLC

Anthony Kornacki
Claims Counsel
XL Insurance

Deanna M. Beacham
Assistant Vice President
Chubb Group of Insurance Companies

Julie Levinsohn
Senior Claims Consultant
Hartford Financial Product

William Redington
PLCoC Manager
RD-SL-Professional Liability CoC
Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.

David T. Vanalek, Esq.
Manager, Claims - Professional Liability
Markel

Laura Simmons
EPLI Claims Manager
ABA Insurance Services

Moderator:

Eric Schneider
Partner
Anderson McPharlin & Conners

• When is coverage needed?
• Avoiding lawsuits by minimizing claims
- Early resolution strategies
• Dealing with multiple insureds: potential and actual
conflicts
• Claims trends:
- Types of claims
- Industries with the most claims
- Payouts and defense costs
• Underwriting considerations as they relate to claims trends
and market conditions
• Carrier perspectives on working with insureds to better
manage claims
- Best practices for giving notice of a claim to a carrier
- Ensuring that carriers are notified of claims in a timely
manner
- Determining when carrier consent is required and
whether such consent has been given
- Determining if and when a carrier should be notified
of a potential claim
• Best practices for cost-effective management and defense
of claims
- Implementing internal cost-reduction procedures
- Reducing the costs associated with the use of defense
counsel
- Using experts more effectively and judiciously and
controlling the costs associated with expert testimony
• Considerations when selecting and using defense counsel
• Carrier expectations as they relate to the defense of a claim
and the role of in-house and outside counsel
• How carriers are responding to the increased number
of EPL claims being filed
• Control of claims before SIRs are exhausted
• Foreign claims:

- Insuring US companies with foreign locations
- Which carriers have these polices and what is being
covered?

• Dealing with situations where coverage appears to
be insufficient
• Identifying and assessing the interplay of the variety
of potential coverage
- Looking at the relationship between multiple coverage
- How policies are working in conjunction with one
another
- Understanding the potential polices that may come
into play under particular claims
- Do they conflict? Do they supplement?
- Comparing of polices and looking at the alternatives

1:05 Networking Luncheon for Speakers and Delegates

2:10 Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration, and Settlement of EPL Claims: Strategies and Techniques for Engaging in Successful Alternative Dispute Resolutions

Raymond Cashman
Senior Claims Manager
Freedom Specialty, a Nationwide Company

Joanne Lloyd-Bragg
Vice President, Claims Manager
AXIS Professional Lines

Christopher McNulty
Senior Claims Counsel
Head of Claims for the Management Liability Division
Hiscox USA

Dina M. Gold
Senior Attorney
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Leslie Lanusse
Partner
Adams and Reese LLP

Patrick Hicks
Shareholder
Littler Mendelson P.C.

Moderator:

Dennis D. Strazulo
Partner
Strazulo Fitzgerald LLP

• Evaluating an EPL case for settlement consideration
• EEOC perspective
• Carrier perspective
• Defense counsel perspective
• Plaintiffs’ counsel perspective
• Determining which cases have the greatest potential
for large damages awards
• Settling collective and class actions
• Navigating the Rule 23 fairness hearing
• Evaluating recent successes and failures in the use of ADR
to resolve EPL claims
• What has worked, what has not worked, and why
• Pre-litigation ADR opportunities, with the EEOC and
private claimants
• Key break points during litigation at which to consider
mediation
• Persuading employees, employers, and carriers to attempt
mediation
• Assessing the costs of litigation
• Establishing reserves
• What are the costs, liabilities and actual damages
• Conducting a cost/benefit analysis of your risks
and your options
• The insured-carrier dynamic
• Achieving a result that is satisfactory to both parties
• Assessing the merits of arbitration as a means of resolving
a discrimination, harassment or other employment
practices claim
• Trends toward arbitration: is coverage providing for
arbitration as opposed to litigation?
• Determining whether to require employees to sign
mandatory, binding arbitration agreements and whether
such agreements are enforceable
• State by state settlement tendencies

3:40 Afternoon Break

3:50 The Cyber world of EPLI: The Latest on Coverage for Cyber Bullying and how to Assess Liabilities Arising from Social Media

Edward McNally
National EPL Practice Leader, Commercial
and Financial Institutions
CNA U.S. Specialty Lines

Kieran P. Hughes
Vice President, D&O Liability Financial Lines Claims
Chartis Insurance

Stephen H. Kahn
Founding Partner
Kahn Opton, LLP

Linda G. Burwell
Founder
Nemeth Burwell, P.C.

Moderator:

Mercedes Colwin
Managing Partner
Gordon & Rees, LLP

Social Media:

• Corporate polices on the use of social media
• How is social media affecting the hiring process
- Limitations on the use of background checks
• Lessons learned from use of social media in the workplace
• Pitfalls to avoid when using social media to screen potential
and current employees
- Minimizing exposure to potential privacy and
discrimination claims
- Best practices regarding accessing information that would
otherwise not be readily available to an employer
• Using social media in litigation and as evidence
• Determining whether to use information obtained from
social media to make employment decisions
• Assessing the potential for employer liability arising
from employee use of social media, both on and off
of corporate time
• Implementing policies and procedures to prevent employee
misuse of social media
• Privacy concerns that can arise from employer and
employee use of social media
• Managing and defending against claims arising from
the use of social media
• EPLI coverage as it relates to the use of social media
by employers and employees
• Murdoch- is this affecting EPLI?
Cyber Bullying in the Workplace
• Coverage for cyber bullying
• What are the ramifications for not having the proper
policies in place?
• Who is providing coverage?
• Taking a look at future legislation
• What policies are out there that may already include
coverage in this area?

5:15 Conference Adjourns

Cocktail Reception hosted by: LITTLER


8:00 Continental Breakfast

8:30 Keynote Address: EEOC Initiatives for 2012 and Beyond

Commissioner Constance Barker
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

• Lessons learned and types of claims for 2012
• Market response to pressure from the EEOC
• EEOC regulations and initiatives for 2012
• Understanding the EEOC investigation process
• EEOC perspectives on the settlement of claims
• Emerging trends and developments at the EEOC
• Litigation and enforcement priorities for 2012 and beyond
• Pending cases to watch for in 2012
• Defending your case before the EEOC: Common mistakes
and how to avoid them

9:30 The Industry Response: Assessing and Preparing for New and Emerging federal and State Legislation, Regulations, and Litigation

Wanda M. Morris
Counsel, Employment & Labor Law
The Home Depot

Wendy Mellk
Partner
Jackson Lewis LLP

Gerald L. Maatman
Partner
Seyfarth Shaw

• Anticipating and preparing for a shift in the priorities
and initiatives of the EEOC
- Assessing the trend towards more detailed investigations,
fact-finding conferences, and mediations – and their
impact on defending charges
- New obligations to the “long term unemployed”
- Defending against statistical charges
- Criminal background check limitations and its affect
on the safety of employees
• Preparing for increased coordination amongst EEOC offices
around the nation
• Dukes v. Wal-Mart
- How will this decision affect class action suits?
- Is this creating “mass actions”?
• ATT Mobility v. Concepcion

10:30 Morning Coffee Break

10:40 how Carriers, Insureds, and Defense Counsel Can Best work Together to Ensure Ethical Conduct in the Management, Litigation, and Settlement of EPL Claims

Gia Cavellini Guzman
Complex Claims Specialist
Management Liability, Specialty Casualty Claims
Liberty International Underwriters

Ann M. Longmore
Executive Vice President and Product Leader,
Executive Risks Practice
Willis

Jeffrey Koonankeil
Specialty Lines Claims
Beazley Group

Nicole M. Baummer, Esq.
Assistant Vice President, Professional Liability Claims
Allied World Assurance Company

Joseph A. Starr
Partner
Starr, Butler, Alexopoulos & Stoner, PLLC

Eric Harrison
Partner
Methfessel & Werbel

Moderator:

C. Laurence Woods, III
Member
Frost Brown Todd, LLC

• How does this relationship play out and what issues
to watch out for
• Cost effective ways to work together
• Balancing representation of handling a case and coverage
limits with how much money is spent on the defense
• Ethical issues that can arise when an employee treats the
company’s attorneys as his or her own attorneys
- Ensuring that employees understand your obligations
to the company
• Communication with plaintiffs and company employees -
what’s appropriate and what’s not?
• Ethical considerations for corporate counsel, defense
counsel, and carrier claims counsel relating to the defense
and settlement of covered claims
- Potential conflicts of interest
- Resolving contentious issues
• Coordinating the defense with the insured and the carrier
• Gaining a deeper understanding of the motives and
interests of both insureds and carriers when they are faced
with an EPL claim
• How carriers, insureds, and defense counsel can best work
together to manage and defend against class actions

12:10 Networking Luncheon for Speakers and Delegates

1:10 Discrimination Claims: Minimizing Exposure to Disability Discrimination Claims and Implementing Key Provisions of the ADA Amendment Act

Elizabeth Grossman
Regional Attorney - New York District Office
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Daniel Aronowitz
President
Ullico Casualty Company

Wendy M. Krincek
Shareholder
Littler Mendelson P.C. (Las Vegas, NV)

Karl R. Lindegren
Partner
Fisher & Phillips LLP

Kenneth Carlson
Partner
Constangy Brooks & Smith

• Understanding the new assumption in favor of a disability
- How far will the definition reach
• Overcoming ongoing hurdles relating to the ADA
amendments
- How this is playing out in the courts
- Are plaintiffs having more success surviving summary
judgment?

• The EEOC’s continued aggressions on ADA litigation
• Reasonable accommodation and the Interactive Process
- Determining whether or not an employee has a disability
and the duty to provide reasonable accommodation
• The level of sophistication needed for companies to handle
FMLA cases correctly

2:10 wage & hour and EPLI: Coverage Options and Best Practices for Minimizing Your Exposure to Claims

Michael Santocki
Director
Frank Crystal & Company

Anne Marie Estevez
Partner
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

A. Craig Cleland
Shareholder
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewardt, P.C.

Paul Lukas
Partner
Nichols Kaster, PLLP

Gary Rattet
Partner
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP

• Evaluating industry trends relating to wage and hour
coverage
• Determining whether to offer wage and hour coverage
- Is the market hardening?
- Competitive considerations
- Public policy
• Underwriting considerations when offering wage
and hour coverage
- Scope of coverage
- Defense-only sublimits
- Indemnity coverage
- Coverage limits
- Claim types: Overtime, misclassification, exempt
status, meal and rest period, payroll stub
- Factors to consider
- Insured’s policies and procedures
- Employee composition
- Industry-specific considerations
• Assessing the costs and benefits of available wage
and hour coverage
• Understanding ERISA claims as they relate to wage
and hour claims
• Impact on EPLI of overlap between wage and hour claims
and other EPL claims
• Reducing exposure to wage and hour claims
- Instituting effective policies and procedures
- Obtaining review by outside counsel
• EPLI issues that can arise involving independent contractors
or joint employment

3:15 Conference Ends – Registration for Master Class B

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Location:
New York Marriott Downtown
New York, NY