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The Educators Professional Liability Plan protects you against a broad range of exposures associated with your educational duties, such as:

• Injuries to students under your supervision
• Improper placement of students
• Hiring unqualified people
• Defamation
• Failure to educate
• Failure to promote students or grant credit
• Violation of student civil rights
• Improper methods employed in instruction, counseling, research design, etc.
• Negative consequences in implementing the recommendations of research studies

If you are threatened with a job action, such as termination, suspension, reassignment or demotion, the plan’s Job Protection Benefits will pay:

• Up to $500 for your initial consultation with an attorney
• Up to $750 of the cost of having an attorney represent you at a formal hearing of a school board or other authority
• Up to $4,000 for legal fees, subject to a $100 deductible, if you decide to sue because of the job action and the judgement in the suit is in your favor. Up to $750 is available to you regardless of the suit’s outcome.

After a $100 deductible, the plan also pays 90 percent of your attorney’s fees if you:

• Are sued by an employee you supervise regarding a covered personnel matter (limit of $5,000 per claim, per policy period).
• Are accused of sexual misconduct, provided you are found not guilty or the charges are dismissed (limit of $50,000 per claim, per policy period, and a $100,000 aggregate limit).
• Face criminal charges arising out of corporal punishment, provided you are found not guilty or the charges are dismissed (limit of $10,000 per claim, per policy period).
• Are named in a lawsuit seeking non-monetary relief (limit of $35,000 per claim, per policy period).

The insurance provided by the Educators Professional Liability Plan is in excess of any other valid and collectible insurance or indemnity you might have with regard to the claim, including coverage provided by your school district and/or school board.

You must be: a) a member in good standing of an educational association affiliated with the Trust for Insuring Educators (TIE); and b) a W-2 employee of a school, college or university, and the job must be your main occupation.

Note: If you are a registered nurse, a licensed/certified school psychologist or a physical therapist, you must be performing medically-related teaching or services in the normal course of your duties as an employee of a school to be eligible for coverage.

If your primary employment is with an educational organization, you may cover part-time educational jobs (consultant, tutor, teacher) by paying a modest additional amount. The part-time work must be of a nature similar to your regular responsibilities. To be eligible for the additional parttime coverage, the following requirements must be met:

• The position must be your part-time or secondary job, it must be educational and not medically related, and must fall within the same underwriting guidelines as your main occupation.
• You must receive payment for the job.
• You must be self-employed for the job and/or your earnings are reported on a 1099 form.

The plan becomes effective the first of the month after receipt of the application and payment.

Your plan provides coverage for claims brought at any time, as long as the act or omission that resulted in the claim occurred while the policy was in effect. You’ll be covered even if you’ve retired — as long as your coverage was in force when the incident happened.

• This plan is only available to members residing in the United States and the District of Columbia
• School board members and owners of private schools are not eligible.
• If you are an educator in private practice or an independent contractor, you may not be eligible for this program. Please contact the plan administrator for eligibility requirements at (800) 821-7303.
• Registered nurses, licensed/certified school psychologists and physical therapists performing medically related teaching or service in the normal course of their duties as an employee of a school, university or college are eligible for W-2 Employed Coverage only.

If you are named in a lawsuit and you anticipate incurring legal fees, please complete an Incident Form and submit it to Forrest T. Jones & Company, the plan administrator, along with copies of all legal documents, papers and invoices.

By email: p&ceducators@ftj.com

By mail:
Legal Benefits Program
c/o Forrest T. Jones & Company, P&C Department
PO Box 418131
Kansas City, MO 64141-0131

If you need assistance in filing a claim, please contact our Customer Service Department toll-free at (800) 821-7303 weekdays between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Central Time

Complete the application online and submit it online, or print the application, sign it, and send it with your payment to:

Forrest T. Jones & Company
P.O. Box 418131
Kansas City, MO 64141-8131

You may pay by check or credit card (MasterCard or VISA) at the time of application.

You will receive a renewal notice in the mail in advance of your policy’s termination date. You may renew your coverage each year for an additional year by check.

If your primary employment is with an educational organization, you may cover part-time educational jobs (consultant, tutor or teacher) by paying a modest additional amount. The part-time work must be of a nature similar to your regular responsibilities. To be eligible for the additional part-time coverage, the following requirements must be met:

• The position must be your part-time or secondary job, it must be educational and not medical related, and must fall within the same underwriting guidelines as your main occupation.
• You must receive payment for the job.
• You must be self-employed for the job and/or your earnings are reported on a 1099 form.

Your plan will provide coverage for claims brought at any time, as long as the occurrence that resulted in litigation occurred while your Educators Professional Liability Insurance policy was in effect. You'll be covered even if you've dropped the coverage — as long as your coverage was in force when the incident happened.

While most likely your district will have liability insurance, this policy must protect the district, school board members, trustees, administrators and teachers and must defend everything from their student admissions policies to their employment practices. Institutions can end up spending millions of dollars to defend a case against them and the related damages or settlement amounts. If the district's policy is not broad enough or exhausts its liability limits, you may find yourself personally and financially liable for alleged actions or inactions.

Examples:

• On a field trip, a student disobeyed instructions, left the group, fell and was injured. His parents sued the teachers who led the trip, alleging improper supervision.
• A member of a religious club was injured on school property and sued. The school board refused to defend the principal named in the suit, alleging the principal acted recklessly in allowing the school to be used by the religious club.
• A teacher was sued for failure to supervise after a student was injured using a table saw in shop class.
• A university administrator was sued for challenging a professor tenure recommendation.
• A school refused to defend its principal who was accused of failing to take action to stop harassment of a student. The school claimed its liability policy excluded emotional distress and harassment of a student by other students.
• A teacher who accused an aide of insubordination was sued by the aide for false accusations that led to termination.
• A university professor was sued for putting a student on academic probation that resulted in the student's dismissal.
• A superintendent authorized repairs to a school. Years later, when the repairs were alleged to have been faulty, resulting in a lawsuit, a new school board refused to defend the superintendent on grounds that he did not have authority to authorize the repairs.

Both. Defense costs are paid in addition to the liability limit.

You'll be protected against exposures in civil suits such as failure to educate or violation of student civil rights, whether you're at fault or completely innocent. However, in the event of criminal charges such as sexual misconduct or charges arising out of corporal punishment, the policy will only respond if you are found not guilty or the charges are dismissed.

The Educators Professional Liability Plan is an occurrence-based plan. This means the plan will provide coverage for claims brought at any time, as long as the occurrence that resulted in litigation occurred while your Educators Professional Liability policy was in effect. So, even if you drop the coverage you'll be covered as long as your coverage was in force when the incident happened.

Recent trend information about legal activity involving educators industry-wide is not available. However, over the last five years, the Trust for Insuring Educators professional liability programs have experienced a modest increase in inquiries from members regarding professional liability lawsuits and even greater increase about job protection benefits. Actual claims payments vary significantly year-to-year, depending on the severity of claims submitted.