Insurance Marketplace Realities 2026 – Employment Practices Liability/Wage and Hour

	Trend	Range
EPL domestic and Bermuda markets		Flat to +5%
Wage and hour Bermuda markets		+5% to +15%

Key takeaway

The employment practices liability (EPL) market continues to be competitive. However, as more guidance emerges from the current administration, we do anticipate an increase in claims and adjustments may be made in more risky jurisdictions and industries.

The wage and hour (WH) market continues to evolve with new entrants looking to target smaller headcounts. However, with the change in administration and changes to various regulations, claims continue to be on the rise.

Competition is still strong and keeping the EPL market stable, but change is ahead

• Rates: While we do expect to see mostly flat renewals, there will be modest rate increases in high-risk jurisdictions and industries. Outside of those high-risk jurisdictions and industries and assuming no change in risk profile and no losses, rate increases are more likely to be close to or at flat. California continues to be the most problematic jurisdiction for insurers. New Jersey, New York, Illinois and Florida remain challenging as well.
• Retentions: While many retentions have stabilized, loss history and location of employees may still lead to increases in retentions. Markets continue to seek separate retentions for class actions, especially in California. Moreover, some domestic markets have also sought separate retentions for high-risk states (e.g., California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey) and sometimes even county-specific retentions. In many instances, there are separate (higher) retentions for highly compensated employees in certain industries.
• Limits: Both Bermuda and domestic markets are managing their capacity on any given risk. Domestically, markets are providing between $5 million and $10 million. In Bermuda, markets are cutting back to $15 million ($10 million in some instances).
• Excess: EPL markets are generally following primary increases in addition to looking to adjust increased limit factors (ILFs) for certain risks.
• Capacity: Overall capacity in the EPL market is stable.
• Underwriting: Expect some questions regarding how the company is approaching DEI programs and compliance with the new executive orders, how the company is managing EPL exposure in the new political environment, use of AI in employment decision and compliance with state pay transparency laws. Many markets have separate questionnaires for biometrics, sexual harassment and pay equity and some markets have started to utilize separate questionnaires for compliance with state pay transparency laws.
• Coverage: Some markets have started to add wage transparency exclusions or sublimits. In addition, markets continue to add privacy/biometrics exclusions, and in some cases, broaden existing exclusions. Small sublimits for defense cost coverage are available from certain insurers upon satisfactory completion of the previously mentioned biometric questionnaires.

Download the full EPL/wage and hour report to the right.

Contact

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Talene M. Carter

National Employment Practices Liability Product Leader, FINEX North America

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