What does a Georgia BOP not cover?

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Quick answer: A BOP excludes workers' compensation, commercial auto, professional liability (errors and omissions), most cyber liability, and flood. Each of those is placed on its own policy or added as an endorsement where a carrier offers it.

A business owners policy (BOP) excludes five things: workers' compensation, commercial auto, professional liability, most cyber liability, and flood. Each sits outside the BOP's property-and-general-liability bundle and is placed on its own policy, or added as an endorsement (a provision that expands the base policy) where a specific carrier offers one.

Workers' compensation pays an employee's medical bills and lost wages after a work injury; it is never part of a BOP and is required separately once a Georgia business has three or more employees, including part-time staff, under O.C.G.A. 34-9-2(a)(2). Commercial auto covers vehicles the business owns, leases, or uses for work, and a BOP's general liability does not extend to a collision involving a company truck or a delivery car. Professional liability, also called errors and omissions (E&O), covers financial loss caused by a mistake in professional advice or services, such as a bookkeeper's calculation error that costs a client money; a BOP's general liability responds to bodily injury and property damage, not financial loss from professional advice. Most cyber liability, covering costs from a data breach or ransomware attack, sits outside a standard BOP as well, though some carriers sell it as an add-on endorsement. Flood damage is excluded from a BOP's property coverage; flood insurance is written as its own policy, commonly through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or a private carrier.

A concrete example shows how two of these interact. A general contractor's BOP would pay if a subcontractor trips over materials at a job site and gets hurt, since that is bodily injury covered by general liability. But if the same contractor gives a client a written cost estimate that turns out to be wrong and the client loses money relying on it, that is a professional liability claim, and the BOP would not respond; it would need a separate E&O policy.

For the two lines most often confused with BOP exclusions, see workers' compensation insurance and commercial auto insurance. Related FAQs: does a Georgia BOP include workers' compensation and how much a BOP costs in Georgia. A coverage review can map which of these gaps apply to a specific business.