In the current litigation environment, employers face an ongoing threat of claims brought by employees alleging violations of wage and hour laws, often filed as class actions. These kinds of lawsuits can be expensive to defend and to resolve. In general, management liability insurers try to avoid providing coverage for these kinds of claims, except for very limited amounts of defense cost coverage. A recent district court decision holding that the management liability insurance policy of the women’s clothing retailer Talbots did not cover a wage and hour class action lawsuit pending against the company illustrates the barriers policyholders face in attempting to secure coverage for these kinds of claims. Both the policy language at issue and the outcome of the Talbots insurance coverage dispute arguably are unremarkable. However, the outcome does raise questions about whether there might be ways for policyholders at least to obtain effective defense cost coverage for these kinds of claims.
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