FAA managers are subjected to constant changes in policy, politically-charged agendas, and accountability demands. During these times, scrutiny is a given. It is a common misconception that FAA-incident related matters as well as employee allegations and complaints will be automatically defended by the agency. Oftentimes, FAA managers will find themselves needing to hire and pay for outside legal counsel to defend and dispute these matters, even if the allegation is baseless.
Tom Accardi and Dennie Lawson were long time employees of FAA – find out why they needed professional liability insurance and why they recommend FEDS Protection.
FEDS Protection has a solid reputation of going above and beyond for FAAMA members – go ahead, ask around.
Professional liability insurance essentially covers three areas of liability exposure for FAA managers while acting within the course and scope of employment.
Administrative & Disciplinary Matters
Very often, FAA managers must invoke the administrative policy benefits due to employee allegations of:
- Harassment,
- Hostile Work Environment,
- Discrimination,
- Retaliation,
- Whistleblower Reprisal (read increase in WR cases), and
- Wrongful Termination.
Sometimes, it is the result of more serious and costly investigations such as:
- OIG Investigations
- OSC Investigations
- OPR/OIA Investigations & Other Professional Misconduct Hearings
- HR Investigations / Management Inquiries
- MSPB Appeals
- Disciplinary Proceedings
For administrative matters, your FEDS policy will pay for legal defense to defend the allegations prepare you for the agency administrative or investigation process, attend the investigative interview with you, and defend you in any resulting disciplinary action at both the agency level and at the MSPB.
Civil Suits
Although very rare, you may find yourself facing a civil suit, or personal capacity lawsuit, without DOJ representation. Personal capacity lawsuits, however, should not be confused with lawsuits filed under the Federal Torts Claims Act, in which you have absolute immunity.
If you are sued in your personal capacity for a job related decision or action, all you really need to understand is that:
- DOJ representation is not mandatory. DOJ representation is not automatic. DOJ can deny representation if it is not in the interest of the United States to do so, and
- You can be held personally liable even if DOJ represents. You don’t have absolute immunity like you do for lawsuits under the FTCA.
In a personal capacity lawsuit, your FEDS attorney will defend you when DOJ exercises its discretion not to. This most often happens if you are being investigated for the very same reason that you are being sued—you can see that DOJ will not want to be on both sides of that. The policy will also provide indemnification if you are held liable. Defense and indemnification limits are either $1,000,000, $2,000,000 or $3,000,000 depending on the policy you choose.
Criminal Matters
The FEDS policy pays for legal defense up to $100,000 for any criminal proceeding or investigation into any act, error, or omission committed by a federal employee while rendering a professional service. A federal employee can be investigated criminally for even the most trivial matters and false allegations— and if it happens to you without insurance, you must pay for your own legal representation.
This does happen to good federal employees. There is very little a federal employee can do wrong in the federal arena and not also have it be a potential violation of Title 18 (the federal criminal code). Some of the most common criminal investigations involving federal managers are due to conflict of interest statutes where intent is not a prerequisite to prove the crime, release of privacy act or other statutorily protected information and/or something arising out of an allegation of misuse of position or authority.
Enrollment takes less than 5 minutes.
FEDS Protection is Affordable:
$1,000,000 Policy: $290*
$2,000,000 Policy: $390*
$3,000,000 Policy: $490*
* Plus applicable taxes and administrative fees
Payroll deduction is available, starting at $12 per pay period.
Managers and supervisors are eligible for agency reimbursement of up to 50% of the PLI premium cost.
Have questions? Call us at 866.955.FEDS.
Please see the Master Policy for complete policy terms and conditions.