How Employee Dishonesty Insurance Saved FPPF Chemical Close to $500,000

Overview

As a business owner, you need to hire the best people you can while trusting that they will act in the best interest of your company. More importantly, you need to have complete faith in those who handle sensitive information or resources, like finances and IT security. For FPPF, their comptroller of almost 25 years felt “underpaid and undervalued”, so she began to “self-correct” what she personally felt was deserved in her pay package. Over the course of 13 years, the comptroller embezzled close to $500,000 through a pattern of embezzlement found by investigators using FPPF credit cards for personal purchases on a regular basis, having the items sent to the comptroller’s home, and also to pad her paychecks.

It took a dispute about the employer’s bereavement policy for the owner to look into what her trusted financial officer was doing with the company accounts where she pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny, among other charges.

Solution

Lawley advisor Steve Jacobs discussed the importance of Employee Dishonesty Insurance with high limits for the family-owned business, which in this case offered coverage for theft and embezzlement at a fairly low cost. In November of 2014, at Jacobs suggestion, the Employee Dishonesty Insurance limit was increased from $250,000 to $500,000. This additional premium cost FPPF roughly $500.

The embezzlement was discovered in November of 2015 with an Employee Dishonesty claim immediately reported to their insurer.

“Knowing that FPPF Chemical Co., Inc. had adequate insurance coverage kept me calm and relaxed during a very stressful time.” –Jane Lory, President and Owner

Results

Thanks to this policy, FPPF Chemical recovered 100 percent of the amount identified as being stolen. The total amount that the comptroller stole was $491,893, 100 percent of which was reimbursed by the insurance company due to the foresight in having this policy in place.

The judge in this case noted the presence of a policy in place to keep this company protected but noted the reality of the business world we live in: “I’m pleased that in this particular instance, FPPF had an insurance policy to cover this,” he said, “but how sad to think this is what the world has come to – that you have to have employee theft insurance.”