Insurance

Company leader’s risks: Obligations and requirements

Comprehensive Professional Insurance

  • Full coverage for business assets.
  • For:
    • The walls of the business premises
    • The content of the buildings such as furniture, equipment and goods which may be damaged during an incident.

 

What are the risks?

  • Fire
  • Water damage
  • Acts of God
  • Theft, attempted theft and vandalism
  • Broken glass
  • Electrical damage
  • All IT and office automation risks
  • Operating loss
  • Equipment breakdown.

 

What should you insure?

  • Electrical and electronic devices, machinery and equipment,
  • Computer hardware,
  • Production equipment,
  • Construction equipment.

 

Business interruption insurance:

  • Inclusive or added to property damage
  • Serves to compensate financial loss further to damage suffered by your property

 

The damage and its consequences:

  • Decline in turnover
  • Continued financial burden (salary expenses, rent, social security contributions and tax payments)

 

The solution

  • The business interruption insurance offsets the imbalance with financial compensation
  • Coverage of
    • Overheads: staff salaries, rent, social security contributions, invoices, tax payments, etc.
    • Additional expenses: rental of replacement equipment, rental of business premises, administrative procedures, etc.

 

Vehicle fleet

  • Light duty vehicle / utility vehicle – heavy duty machinery – heavy goods vehicles
  • Own use vehicles
  • Corporate fleets are different and require ongoing management.

 

Transported goods

  • Cover the flows = major priority for companies.
  • Exposure of transported goods to many risks: theft, breakage, fire, water, strike, war, etc.
  • Retain control of the risks and their associated costs. A company which uses the services of a carrier must also insure its own.

 

because:

  • The carrier may be exempted of liability, due to the cations of a third party, force majeure, etc.
  • The carrier has contractual limitations of liability which are almost always less than the actual value of the carried goods
  • The carrier’s statute of limitations is short (often 1 year), thereby limiting the availability of remedies
  • Many international contracts of sale stipulate that the seller or the buyer must cover the transport and goods insurance costs
  • The financial cost of the “ad valorem” insurance invoiced by the forwarding agent is higher than the cost of a cargo insurance

 

Non-owned auto insurance

  • Covers the employer’s liability when employees use their personal vehicles for professional purposes

Business liability

  • This is often included in the Comprehensive professional insurance policy

It covers: The financial consequencesof a fault committed by the members of the company when they perform a service reported on the policy.

  • It serves to cover the company for:
    • material damage caused to a third party during the service
    • intangible damage caused to a third party during the service
    • bodily injury caused to a third party during the service
    • damage caused by movable or immovable property during the service
    • damage caused by fire during the service
    • damage causedbywater damage during the service
    • damage caused by an explosion during the service

 

Professional liability

  • Covers against the financial consequences arising from the professional activity in the event of bodily injury, material damage or intangible damage caused to others
  • In the event of fault negligence or error
  • Committed by the company leader or the employees

 

Ten-year liability

  • The Spinetta Act of 4 January 1978 lays down the obligation for professionals in the building sector to take out insurance. These professionals include craftsmen, architects, engineering firms, consulting engineers, quantity surveyors, etc.
  • Covers the damage related to performance of a service
  • For ten years

Liability of senior managers and corporate officers

What can they be blamed for?

  • Management error
  • Failure to comply with social security, tax, competition and health laws
  • Failure to abide by regulations
  • Breach of the articles of association (exceedance of investment authority, etc.)

 

To whom?

  • Company leader
  • CEO
  • Directors
  • General manager
  • Deputy general manager
  • Executive Board Chairman and members
  • Supervisory Board Chairman and members
  • De facto manager

 

Legal protection:

  • Coverage of procedural costs in the event of litigation
  • For natural persons or legal entities
    • Coverage of the legal entity for criminal proceedings
    • Coverage of natural persons for criminal proceedings and disciplinary actions
    • Coverage for social security-related issues
    • Coverage for labour-related issues
    • Coverage for trade-related issues
    • Coverage for asset-related issues
    • Coverage for administrative issues

 

Employees’ tasks and assignments:

  • Need for assistance during an assignment abroad
  • Victim of an accident: emergency repatriation and organisation of the travel for a replacement
  • Hospitalisation for more than 6 days of an employee’s family member?
  • Coverage of health expenses (Doctor’s visits / hospitalisation)?
  • Cancellation or postponement of a departure
  • Theftof the employee’s identity documents

Health

  • Obligation to provide group health insurance (01/01/2014)
  • Benefits

     … For your company

  • Indirect payment system, employee motivation and retention tool
  • Exemption from social security contributions
  • Contributions deducted from taxable income

     … For your employees

  • Affordable health coverage
  • Free and efficient health services: assistance, home help, dentist’s and optician’s estimate
  • Contributions deducted from their income tax

 

Welfare

  • Employer’s obligations
    • The establishment of a welfare scheme is mandatory for executives (Art. 7 of the French Collective Bargaining Agreement for Executives of 14 March 1947).

 

Serves to:

  • Overcome the financial impacts of life accidents.
  • Cope with sick leave, invalidity, work-related accident, death

 

Supplementary pension (Art 82; 83; 39)

  • An individual lifetime retirement savings account for each employee
    • Capital paid out quarterlyupon retirement
    • Deferred annuity.Capital is received five years after the employee goes on retirement. It continues to grow.
  • In the event of death, the capital is not lost.
    • Payment to beneficiaries

 

Retirement benefits

  • Since 1985, provisions for retirement benefits are not deductible
  • Anticipation and planning of expenses
  • Revaluation of welfare benefit liabilities
  • Tax savings achieved
  • Smoothing of obligations
  • Recovery on the benefits contract upon retirement

 

Company savings plan

  • Enhanced company image / Voluntary savings
  • Savings available after 5 years
  • Before 5 years in specific cases
  • Voluntary payments
  • Non taxation of employer’s optional contribution, 8% of the annual social security ceiling -PASS (€ 37,032) maximum per year and per beneficiary
  • No taxation for the employee

 

Key Person Coverage

  • Key Person coverage
  • Cope with the replacement of the key person
  • Coverage in the event of death or disability of the key person
  • Underwriter =company / insured = natural person
  • Payment of the compensation to the company

 

Senior manager’s unemployment coverage

  • No unemployment benefits for most senior managers
  • Protection in the event the senior manager becomes unemployed
  • Employee or non-salaried worker status
  • Conditions of enrolment of the company  Must have been in business for at least 2 accounting periods,
    Not be a listed company.