- Disability Discrimination:
- Incident: An employee on medical leave for an illness returned to work but was dissatisfied with the accommodations made for his condition. The employee filed a lawsuit alleging lost wages, emotional distress, and a violation of disability discrimination statutes.
- Payout: $100,000
- Breakdown: The payout covers lost wages for the period in which the employee was unable to work due to the discriminatory treatment and for emotional distress suffered as a result of the inadequate accommodations.
- Racial Discrimination:
- Incident: A group of applicants sued a private retail store after they learned that all of them had been denied employment purely based on their race and ethnic background.
- Payout: $200,000
- Breakdown: The payout compensates the applicants for the discriminatory hiring practices they endured. This amount includes the damages for the emotional distress caused by the racial discrimination and potential reputational damage to the business.
- Retaliation & Harassment:
- Incident: An assistant to the CFO was terminated for divulging information about an impending company layoff. The assistant filed a lawsuit alleging retaliation and sexual harassment, claiming the CFO had made suggestive comments toward her.
- Payout: $150,000
- Breakdown: This payout covers the damages for both the retaliation (firing) and sexual harassment claims. It includes compensation for emotional distress and potential reputational damage from the wrongful termination and harassment.
Cyber Liability Claim Scenarios:
- Stolen Client Laptops:
- Incident: Two laptops were stolen from a service provider. These laptops contained the sensitive data of over 80,000 clients of the retailer.
- Payout: $1,200,000
- Breakdown: The payout includes the cost of notifying the affected clients, credit monitoring services, and expenses related to legal fees and potential regulatory fines due to the breach of data protection laws. It also covers the cost of any reputational damage to the retailer.
- Rogue HR Employee Terminated:
- Incident: A terminated employee in the HR department stole confidential information from customer files before leaving the company.
- Payout: $3,500,000
- Breakdown: This payout covers the legal costs of investigating and addressing the breach, as well as the cost of notifying affected individuals. Additionally, it includes reputational damage recovery, potential fines from regulatory bodies, and compensation for the customers whose data was compromised.
- IT Company Spyware Attack:
- Incident: An employee of an IT company opened a phishing email on their work computer. For two weeks, spyware sent over 1,000 screenshots of confidential data from 150 customers to an external entity.
- Payout: $5,300,000
- Breakdown: The payout covers the comprehensive costs of addressing the breach, including cybersecurity investigations, customer notifications, legal expenses, and data protection fines. The significant payout reflects the extensive damage to customer trust and regulatory penalties from such a large-scale breach.
- Ransomware at Data Company:
- Incident: A U.S.-based IT company contracted with an overseas software vendor, which left certain “administrator” defaults on the company’s server. A hacker, hired for $20,000, exploited this vulnerability. As a result, the company was subjected to a ransomware attack that compromised its systems.
- Payout: $4,600,000
- Breakdown: This payout compensates the company for the cost of dealing with the ransomware attack, including payment to the hacker (if applicable), data recovery efforts, system repairs, legal expenses, regulatory fines, and reputational damage control. The payout also covers compensation for customers whose data may have been impacted by the attack.
