The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant insurer (FIC) was not obligated to defend plaintiff in a suit alleging the payment of inadequate wages in violation of the Faire Labor Standards Act and retaliation for bringing suit. The policy excluded coverage for employment-related wrongful acts. “Employment-related” was not defined:
In context, the plain and ordinary meaning of the “employment-related Wrongful Act” exclusion unambiguously encompasses claims regarding violations of wage laws and retaliation for complaints about violations of wage laws. The payment of wages has such an established connection to the “act of employing” or “the state of being employed” that a contrary conclusion would be unreasonable. Put otherwise, no reasonable average insured giving the relevant terms their “plain and ordinary meaning” would conclude that complaints regarding violations of law as to payment of wages were not “employment-related” … . In short, it is clear from the language of the exclusion that … the policy did not insure against the clearly “employment-related” claims raised in the underlying action. Hansard v Federal Ins. Co., 2017 NY Slip Op 00633, 2nd Dept 2-1-17
INSURANCE LAW (COVERAGE FOR CLAIMS ALLEGING PAYMENT OF INADEQUATE WAGES AND RETALIATION FOR BRINGING SUIT PRECLUDED BY EXCLUSION FOR EMPLOYMENT-RELATED WRONGFUL ACTS)/EMPLOYMENT LAW (INSURANCE LAW, COVERAGE FOR CLAIMS ALLEGING PAYMENT OF INADEQUATE WAGES AND RETALIATION FOR BRINGING SUIT PRECLUDED BY EXCLUSION FOR EMPLOYMENT-RELATED WRONGFUL ACTS)/EXCLUSIONS (INSURANCE LAW, COVERAGE FOR CLAIMS ALLEGING PAYMENT OF INADEQUATE WAGES AND RETALIATION FOR BRINGING SUIT PRECLUDED BY EXCLUSION FOR EMPLOYMENT-RELATED WRONGFUL ACTS)