Business Protection News transcripts
July 2024
The Potential Impacts or Working Remotely or in a Hybrid Work Arrangement
Welcome to the Business Protection News! I am George Teague, Property and Casualty Sales Consultant with TruStage™ sharing information regarding workers compensation claims involving remote workers and what you as an employer and HR needs to know.
About a third of U.S. workers who can work from home now do so all the time, according to the Pew Research Center.¹ As a result of the increased availability and desirability of remote work arrangements, employers must consider potential impacts to their operations and risks that they may not have previously considered. One potential impact relates to workers compensation and employees working remotely or in a hybrid work arrangement.
Are remote/hybrid workers covered by workers compensation insurance? Generally speaking, an employee is included under their employers’ workers compensation insurance if they are injured while working from home so long as they meet their burden of proof that the injury was work-related. Of course, as with all claims, the individual characteristics of each loss scenario must be considered for actual coverage determination. What are the most common work-from-home injuries? While there are several remote work risks related to data security, fraud, internal controls, asset management, and employment practices; the two most frequent workers compensation claims are slips, trips and falls and cumulative trauma/repetitive motion. To reduce cumulative injuries the employer should require or provide ergonomic workstations and to reduce slips, trips and falls the employer should encourage good housekeeping practices, have guidelines on workspace cleanliness, and provide employee training for maintaining a safe work environment.
Unfortunately, poorly adopted flexible work arrangement plans can also lead to increased risks. It is important to have a remote work policies and procedures in place for those employees eligible for remote work. Additionally, a significant challenge is that the remote work environment does not have the same safety standards you have at your workplace. In order to reduce these risks, you should provide these employees with a flexible work arrangements checklist, determine if the environment is suitable for getting the job done without posing any undue risks, and maintain regular communications with them.
Unfortunately, hybrid and remote work employees have their own unique workers compensation risk as standard rules such as coming and going from work becomes more challenging.
Employers and HR personnel must balance the risks and rewards when considering remote and hybrid work options. For more insights on the risks, check out the Flexible work arrangements risk overview and checklist from our risk management team or contact your TruStage P&C Consultant for additional information on your workers compensation needs and concerns.
¹Parker, K. (2023, March 29). Growing share of U.S. workers are working a hybrid schedule. Pew Research Center.
TruStage™ Insurance Products offered to financial institutions and their affiliates are underwritten by CUMIS Insurance Society, Inc. or CUMIS Specialty Insurance Company, Inc., members of TruStage Financial Group, Inc. Some coverages may not be available in all states. If a coverage is not available from one of our member companies, CUNA Mutual Insurance Agency, Inc., our insurance producer affiliate, may assist us in placing coverage with other insurance carriers in order to serve our customers’ needs. CUMIS Specialty Insurance Company, Inc., our excess and surplus lines carrier, underwrites coverages that are not available in the admitted market. Corporate Headquarters 5910 Mineral Point Road, Madison WI 53705 © TruStage CUP-3360903.18-0624-0726
May 2024
Artificial intelligence and potential threats regarding Cyber Liability Coverage
Hello and welcome to the Business Protection News. I am Carlos Molina, Business Solutions Specialist with TruStage™ wanting to share with you information on artificial intelligence, or AI for short, and the potential threat it can pose regarding your Cyber Liability Coverage.
Were you aware that an estimated 3.4 billion spam emails are sent per day?1 Most credit union employees understand what a phishing attempt is and how it can have disastrous effects on your organization, both reputationally and financially. Fraudsters will go to great lengths to impersonate businesses or individuals to gain their personal identifiable information, such as names, passwords, identification numbers, or even payment code authorizations — all to defraud you.
While most employees are adept at recognizing certain types of phishing, more sophisticated bad actors might use AI and other tools to deceive your internal teams more efficiently and increase the chances of a successful attack.
The telltale signs of a phishing scam typically include generic greetings, unusual formatting, and messages with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
Unfortunately, AI technology enables more sophisticated phishing attempts that are not easy to uncover. AI allows bad actors to communicate more clearly, scale their attacks and send messages that appear to be more legitimate than ever.
And, if one suspicious email gets flagged as spam, the use of an AI writing tool can easily make edits and changes to help that fraudster get the next one through.
Bad actors can leverage AI and other tools to carry out various types of fraud and attacks.
To mitigate these risks, you should:
- Conduct risk assessments on a regular basis
- Educate employees about the risk of phishing and other fraud scams
- Provide a means for employees to report suspected threats and attacks
- Lean into your trusted providers, TruStage and Beazley, to access their online resources RISK Alerts, and expert consultation
Whether it's minimizing fraud, understanding threats and loss trends or gaining better cyber hygiene practices, taking advantage of these partnerships and their offerings can be a critical component of your cybersecurity program. Reach out to your TruStage Business Solution Specialist for additional information today.
1Station X, Top Phishing Statistics for 2024: Latest Figures and Trends, 2024
Cyber policies are underwritten by Beazley Insurance Group or other nonaffiliated admitted carriers
TruStage™ Insurance Products offered to financial institutions and their affiliates are underwritten by CUMIS Insurance Society, Inc. or CUMIS Specialty Insurance Company, Inc., members of TruStage Financial Group, Inc. Some coverages may not be available in all states. If a coverage is not available from one of our member companies, CUNA Mutual Insurance Agency, Inc., our insurance producer affiliate, may assist us in placing coverage with other insurance carriers in order to serve our customers’ needs. CUMIS Specialty Insurance Company, Inc., our excess and surplus lines carrier, underwrites coverages that are not available in the admitted market. Corporate Headquarters 5910 Mineral Point Road, Madison WI 53705 CUP-3360903.15-1223-0126 © TruStage
March 2024
How employee’s insurance and the credit union’s business auto policy work together
Welcome to the Business Protection Solutions Newsletter. I am Lea Vanden Boom, Property and Casualty Consultant for TruStage™.
Do you ever have employees drive their personal vehicle for credit union business? Have you wondered how insurance would apply in these cases? Driving a personal vehicle on business brings up questions on how the employee’s insurance and the credit union’s business auto policy work together.
Your employee’s personal auto insurance is always going to be primary. In most cases, the employee’s personal auto insurance will be the only protection available for physical damage to the employee’s vehicle. Insurance follows ownership. If there is a loss where liability is triggered, the employee’s personal auto insurance is primary and then the credit union’s business auto and excess liability policies may be available if the limits on the employee’s policy are used up.
Here are a few scenarios to illustrate how personal auto insurance and a business auto policy either work or do not work together.
- An employee’s vehicle is damaged while parked in the credit union parking lot. It was a hit and run and the responsible party is not known. The employee would file a claim with their personal auto insurance and the credit union’s business auto policy would not apply.
- Your employee runs to the post office to purchase additional stamps for a credit union mailing. They do not pay attention and cause an accident, resulting in a pedestrian having bodily injuries. The pedestrian files a suit due to the damages. The employee would file a liability claim with their personal auto insurance. If their personal auto liability, and possibly personal umbrella policy, limits are used up, the credit union’s business auto and excess liability may apply. The physical damage to the employees’ auto is covered under their own auto policy, the credit union's policy would not cover any damages to the employees owned auto.
- An employee is towing a credit union-owned trailer using their personal vehicle. Material in the trailer flies out and causes damage to another vehicle. Since the employee was driving their personal vehicle, the claim would be filed with their personal auto insurance.
Be in the know before you go. When an employee uses their personal auto for credit union purposes, keep in mind that Insurance follows ownership. To learn more about use of personal vehicles for business purposes or your Business Auto Policy, contact your TruStage Property & Casualty Consultant or other members of your sales team for assistance.
Please keep in mind that the facts and circumstances of each individual claim are what determines coverages and that these examples are for illustrative purposes only. Individual states vary on at fault and no-fault insurance coverage requirements that will also determine outcomes. Full policy language will always be reviewed at the time of a claim.
TruStage™ Insurance Products offered to financial institutions and their affiliates are underwritten by CUMIS Insurance Society, Inc. or CUMIS Specialty Insurance Company, Inc., members of TruStage Financial Group, Inc. Some coverages may not be available in all states. If a coverage is not available from one of our member companies, CUNA Mutual Insurance Agency, Inc., our insurance producer affiliate, may assist us in placing coverage with other insurance carriers in order to serve our customers’ needs. CUMIS Specialty Insurance Company, Inc., our excess and surplus lines carrier, underwrites coverages that are not available in the admitted market. Corporate Headquarters 5910 Mineral Point Road, Madison WI 53705 CUP-3360903.16-0224-0326 © TruStage
January 2024
Technology-based programs to manage and streamline day to day requests
Welcome to the Business Protection Solutions Newsletter, formally known as the P&C Minute. I’m Alison Morris, Property and Casualty Consultant, with some Business Protection News.
Did you know, you can submit Certificate of Insurance requests, add, or change locations, file a claim, and so much more — all online?
At TruStage™, we strive to provide your credit union with technology-based programs to help manage and streamline your day-to-day requests and stay on top of demanding verification needs. And, for many years now, we’ve offered Smart Forms, or more formally known as Online Interactive Forms.
One great feature of our automated forms is the ability to save and complete later. Just scroll to the bottom of the form, hit save, and when it’s convenient, you can resume with all your information intact.
Another excellent feature is uploading documents. I have seen this used countless times for copies of lease agreements. If your credit union is leasing a new space for a branch, try our Smart Forms which automatically encrypt the data.
Are you worried about security with these forms? All of the data and fields are encrypted during the entire process to maximize the privacy of the information. So, try it by going to www.TruStage.com and selecting either claims or policies. You may also call 800‑637‑2676 for additional assistance.
We think you will find it simple, and easy to use.
TruStage™ Insurance Products offered to financial institutions and their affiliates are underwritten by CUMIS Insurance Society, Inc. or CUMIS Specialty Insurance Company, Inc., members of TruStage Financial Group, Inc. Some coverages may not be available in all states. If a coverage is not available from one of our member companies, CUNA Mutual Insurance Agency, Inc., our insurance producer affiliate, may assist us in placing coverage with other insurance carriers in order to serve our customers’ needs. CUMIS Specialty Insurance Company, Inc., our excess and surplus lines carrier, underwrites coverages that are not available in the admitted market. Corporate Headquarters 5910 Mineral Point Road, Madison WI 53705 CUP-3360903.15-1223-0126 © TruStage