Fiduciary liability covers claims arising from the administration of employee benefit plans — where liability attaches to individuals, not just the company.
Under ERISA, anyone with discretionary authority over an employee benefit plan is a fiduciary, and fiduciaries are personally liable for breaches of duty. That includes the founder who picked the 401(k) provider and the head of people who selected the fund lineup. Corporate indemnification does not fully solve it, and D&O typically excludes ERISA claims.
Claims usually allege imprudent investment selection, excessive fees, failure to monitor a service provider, or errors in eligibility and enrollment. Fee litigation has moved decisively down-market from large plans to plans in the tens of millions and below.
It is inexpensive and is almost always added to a management liability package alongside D&O and EPLI. The ERISA fidelity bond, which is a separate statutory requirement covering plan asset theft, is not the same thing — most companies need both.
Buy it when
Grants vary by carrier and form. These are the components we look for when we place it.
Claims of imprudent selection or monitoring of plan investments and service providers.
Allegations that plan participants paid unreasonable recordkeeping or investment fees.
Enrollment, eligibility, and communication errors that cause participant loss.
Defense of DOL and IRS investigations relating to plan administration, including voluntary correction programs.
Coverage for defense of decisions to establish, amend, or terminate a plan.
We put this in front of you at binding — the only moment you can still do something about it.
Composite scenarios drawn from how these losses typically develop. Illustrative, not case files.
Former employees allege the plan's default funds carried unreasonable expense ratios and that the committee never benchmarked them. Defense costs dominate the loss.
A misconfigured payroll integration omits a cohort from enrollment for eleven months. Correction costs and a DOL inquiry follow.
Ranges we commonly see for technology companies. Your contracts and exposure decide the answer — this is where the conversation starts, not where it ends.
| Stage | Typical | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan under $10M | $1M | Typically added to a management liability package for a modest premium. |
| Plan $10M – $50M | $1M – $3M | Consider a dedicated limit as participant counts grow. |
| Plan $50M+ | $5M+ | Standalone placement with attention to settlor and mass-action wording. |
What we need to quote
Most of this is collected once in the Atlas submission and reused across the markets we approach.
Start a submissionNo. The bond is a statutory requirement covering theft of plan assets. Fiduciary liability covers claims of mismanagement against the people running the plan. Most companies need both.
They may be a 3(38) or 3(21) fiduciary for investment selection, which reduces but does not eliminate your exposure. You remain responsible for selecting and monitoring them.
Prepare for a startup D&O review with questions about board protection, company coverage, financing requirements, exclusions and prior acts.
Read the guide: D&O Insurance for Startups: Questions Before a Funding RoundTell us about the business once. A broker reviews it the same business day and comes back with a plan and a timeline.
