Liability Insurance

[hernan461]

I am a professional civil engineer. A company, "X', wants to hire me as an employee to design residential steel structures. I will be their in house PE. Does the company's liability insurance cover me? or do I have to buy my own liability insurance to be protected? This will determine the salary I request.

 

[MotorCity]

Depends what you agree to and it can vary whether you work directly for them or if you are a contract employee. Typically, if you work directly for them, you are covered but you should verify that is the case. Might still be a good idea to have both numbers in your head anyway.

 

[hernan461]

Motorcity,

I would work directly for them.

Thank you

 

[GeoPaveTraffic]

You don't mention the business that company X is currently in. Are they a contractor? Design firm?

I suggest that you verify that company X has professional liability insurance and that the insurance covers the type of work you will be doing.

Best of luck.

Mike Lambert

 

[hernan461]

Mike,

They are the fabricator/contractor company. Not a design firm, that's why they need me.

Thank you

 

[GeoPaveTraffic]

Kinda what I expected. I would be very careful since I very much doubt that their current insurance covers professional design services.

Mike Lambert

 

[JAE]

Yes - agree with GPT - contractors, erectors, fabricators will have liability insurance....but most likely not professional liability insurance.


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[hernan461]

Thank you everybody for your insights.

 

[Ron]

Agree with GPT and JAE....contractors and fabricators have commercial general liability (CGL) coverage, but cannot get professional liability insurance unless there is a licensed professional on staff. Require that they obtain professional liability insurance to protect the company and you. Further, you will be the qualifier for their licensing as an engineering entity. Make sure they get the proper licensing through the appropriate engineering licensing board for your area.

 

[SteelPE]

Hope I am not too late:

Been there, done that. As others have stated, they might not have the right insurance and will have to pick it up for you. If you have to pay for it why are you working for them? At that point you are a consultant. There is a question on the PL policy application that asks what % of your business is from a single source, there is another questions if the company applying is a contractor. They will have a tough time answering those questions which is why they might set you up independent from them... but at that point you have lots of risk but very little reward.

One other thing to note, be very careful about the tail policy. If the company goes out of business and decides not to pay the policy anymore do you want to be "left with no protection"? This was a huge sticking point when my previous employer went out of business (a steel fabricator). Luckily I have leverage and used every ounce of it to my advantage. If I hadn't they would have told me to pound sand and I would have been on the hook for 1/3 of my yearly salary to pick up this policy (they never negotiated right when shopping for policies).

Finally, if you except the job be prepared for the "we screwed this up now you have to justify our screw up" projects. Those are only fun if they respect your opinion (been on both sides of those arguments).

 

[hernan461]

SteelPE and Ron, its not to late. Thank you everybody for the great responses. Now I feel a lot more comfortable entering negotiations after reading all your thoughts and opinions.