THE DANGERS OF RECLASSIFYING PAYROLL

We recently were asked to review a security guard company's general liability package that requested that we remove their "lobby" hours from total payroll for the purposes of calculating a premium.

Their contention was that their "lobby guards" primary role was as a receptionist and should not be counted as "guard payroll". As a result, they were in fact choosing not to insure themselves for the actions of these employees. We believe this to be a very dangerous practice. Although "lobby" guards may have slightly different post orders than standard office guards, they are still a security measure and are faced with similar exposures. Not including the "lobby guards" on your policy leaves you open to a risk that far outweighs a slight decrease in premium.