小企业主保险全景入门

小企业 insurance 像「工具箱」——按 risk 选工具：

• GL：客人滑倒、施工损坏他人财产
• WC：员工工伤
• Property / BOP：火灾、盗窃、业务中断
• E&O：专业建议错误
• Cyber：数据泄露
• EPLI：雇佣诉讼

Landlord lease、client contract、professional license 常 specify minimum limits and additional insured requirements。

GL (CGL) 典型 cover：

• Third-party bodily injury（customer slip and fall）
• Third-party property damage（contractor breaks client window）
• Personal & advertising injury（libel, copyright in ads—subject to exclusions）
• Products-completed operations（your product causes harm after sale）

Common limits：$1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate——contracts may require higher + umbrella。

GL 不 cover：professional mistakes（需 E&O）、employee injury（WC）、your own property（commercial property）。

Workers Comp 覆盖 employee work-related injury/illness 的 medical 和 wage replacement—— employer 购买，employee 通常 waive sue employer（exclusive remedy，因州而异）。

州差异：

• Most states：private market WC mandatory with employee threshold（0–1+ employees 因州而异）
• Monopolistic states（OH, WA, WY, ND）：buy from state fund
• Texas：optional for many private employers（non-subscriber risk）
• Owner/officer inclusion or exclusion：state-specific election forms

1099 contractor misclassified as employee → audit, back premium, penalties。

BOP (Business Owners Policy) 典型包括：

• Building / business personal property (BPP)
• Business income (business interruption) with waiting period
• GL coverage
• Optional：equipment breakdown, cyber endorsement（因 carrier 而异）

Eligibility：low-to-moderate hazard classes（retail, office, small contractor—carrier appetite varies）。High-hazard or large TIV may need monoline commercial package。

Business Interruption：cover lost income during covered property loss——verify waiting period and payroll continuation limits。

E&O / Professional Liability：claims-made coverage for negligent acts, errors, omissions in professional services——lawyers, accountants, consultants, tech services。Retroactive date matters。

D&O：protects directors/officers from management liability claims——investors, employment, regulatory。Often required by VC/investors。

Cyber：breach response, notification costs, credit monitoring, ransomware（sublimits vary），third-party liability for data loss。Increasingly in client MSAs。

GL 的 professional services exclusion 使 E&O separate necessity for advice businesses。

EPLI (Employment Practices Liability)：wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation claims——GL 通常 exclude employment-related BI to employees。

Business Interruption：已在 BOP/property——cover revenue loss during fire/water shutdown; pandemic exclusions common post-COVID litigation—read form。

Key Person Life：company-owned life on founder/critical employee——proceeds stabilize business if key person dies。Buy-sell agreements often pair with life/disability。

推荐流程：

1. Inventory contracts & lease insurance requirements
2. Identify state WC / auto / licensing mandates
3. Complete ACORD application with accurate class codes & payroll
4. Quote BOP vs monoline with 2–3 carriers
5. Compare exclusions, deductibles, additional insured capability
6. Bind and pay premium; request COI same day
7. Annual renewal audit & contract update review

Top mistakes：

• COI without required additional insured endorsement
• Limits below contract minimum ($1M/$2M vs required $2M/$4M)
• Assuming BOP covers professional E&O
• No cyber for businesses handling PII
• Skipping EPLI with growing headcount
• Underreported payroll at WC audit → large bill

Store agent contact for urgent COI updates——client projects blocked without compliant COI。