Employee Hold Harmless Agreement: Fill & Download for Free

Not exactly.My boss was a helluva a sweet lady. Intelligent, considerate, hard-working, empathetic, everything you’d want in a boss. Let’s call her Leah.So I felt bad when I got the offer for my dream job while I was on a three-week vacation to Indonesia. I emailed Leah, giving my notice.She replied saying she would be sorry to see me go, but that vacation time couldn’t count as “notice”, and I needed to work a few weeks so I could transition smoothly. She CC’d the head of HR.The head of HR overruled her. Not only would I be allowed to resign effective immediately but I would be given two weeks of severance beyond the end of my vacation.Uh, OK. (This would be the first of three times in my career I would receive severance after I resigned.)About a week after starting my new job, I got an email from a colleague. Among other gossip, he told me that the VP of engineering, Leah’s boss and a vicious termagant whose greedy and unethical behavior had not only been one of my main reasons for leaving, but, I believe, was part of what ultimately destroyed the company, had announced “restructuring” that resulted in “layoffs”. The plural was barely justified; the only employees being laid off were me and Leah.I called Leah and confirmed. They had offered her a month of severance, then two months, to sign a hold-harmless agreement. I realized, from the body count, what was going on.My former employer offered free mass files-storage to its customers, an expensive proposition back in 2005. As a cost-saving measure, the VP had ordered that the files of inactive customers be discarded, without warning.She had tried a pilot project of deleting the files of the oldest customers. Inside a week, there was a kerfuffle in the papers: we had deleted all the wedding photos of some customer who hadn’t been by in two years. It was terrible press and more than that, it was a dick move on our part.Leah and I had opposed any further deletions. We argued with the VP at meetings, we proposed alternatives, we generally made it clear that we thought it was a bad idea. The VP had decided to solve the problem in the way that would appeal to any tyrant, by removing the people who opposed her.I told Leah I thought she should stand her ground and not sign anything. I also emailed to her lawyer several cases I saw online about “discharge contrary to public policy” — firing employees because they had tried to stop their employers from various unethical actions.I actually don’t know how it turned out. Next time I saw Leah, she told me she had signed a non-disclosure agreement about whatever settlement she might have reached — but she was smiling broadly when she told me.

If an employer were tell its employees that they must sign a hold harmless agreement and that refusal to do so would result in termination of their employment, would the employees be able to claim duress?Yes, they could claim duress. They could also claim to be the king of Portugal, but that doesn’t mean anyone would take them seriously.Would a court invalidate the agreement?I don’t know. A lot would depend on the jurisdiction. A competent lawyer who practices employment law in that jurisdiction would be the one to ask.Thanks for asking me to answer.

A better question might be “What type?” of insurance should a handyman purchase and at “What Limits?”.What Type?:Most handymen, carpenters or contractors at a minimum should purchase Comprehensive General Liability insurance. General Liability coverage protects your assets and future earning potential from lawsuits caused by injury or property damage to others caused in the course of your operation.However, all general liability insurance programs are not the same.So, there are some coverages you should consider as part of your handyman insurance program. Here are a few:Products and Completed Operations Liability:Most, but not all general liability policies include coverage for claims that happen after you complete the job. IE: A cabinet falls from a wall injuring someone. Don’t assume the policy includes this basic and important coverage.Contractual Liability:Liability that one assumes on behalf of another via a written or verbal contract is called contractual liability. Indemnity and Hold Harmless Agreements found in many boilerplate contracts can trigger claims under this important coverage part. For more information see: Bizfluent.com’s article on contractual liability insurance.Care Custody and Control - or - Voluntary Property DamageCoverage forms vary by company, but this endorsement adds coverage back in for those losses that would typically be excluded because of the “care, custody and control” limitation found in most General Liability policies. Rather than make this an extended portion of the post, I would refer you to an excellent white paper on the subject by the Independent Insurance Agents.Other Programs:Depending on the size and scope of Handyman, one would consider:Tools & Equipment Floater - coverage for your tools and equipment.Business AutoWorkers Compensation - coverage for employees injuries and lost wages.Professional Liability - Cyber Liability - Employee Practices Liability.How Much? (What Limit?):The limits of coverage is an individual decision by any contractor. The answer may be found by asking another question…How much coverage do you want in place in the event that someone is significantly injured because of your operation?Is $100,000 enough to provide you with an adequate defense and potential judgment? $300,000? $500K?Here’s a truism: The more coverage you have, the better legal representation you are going to get. Skimping on limits is likely stepping over dollars to pick up dimes.Thanks for the A2A.