Legal Topics
FICSA urges its members to consider the importance of having legal expenses insurance that covers employment law matters in your international organization. Legal expenses insurance is a class of insurance that facilitates staff access to law and justice, by covering the costs incurred in case of an unforeseen legal matter. Such costs normally include a lawyer’s fees and related legal expenses.
Unfortunately, this issue is often only considered when a staff member approaches a lawyer for assistance about a potential legal dispute. At this point, the dispute may have already started, and the staff member may face deadlines, heightened stress and require urgent help. When potential clients do not have legal expenses insurance, this may impede them from obtaining competent legal advice.
FICSA’s role as a Staff Federation is to provide adequate resources and assistance for staff associations and staff members throughout the world. FICSA Members had requested FICSA to explore possibilities of offering legal insurance for its members. As most administrations already have internal legal departments currently, there is already inequality of arms. Legal insurance covering employment law is imperative to facilitate access to justice within your international organization. Legal insurance can cover matters within your organization that are unforeseen and affect your employment status, workplace conflicts, whistleblowing, selection process, and investigations. With this administrative inequality in the workplace, having legal insurance itself can signal to the administration that staff will legally contest given unfair or unjust administrative decisions. In order to protect both yourself and those around you, it is necessary to sign up for legal insurance.
Please see the Questions and Answers below for more information regarding Fortuna Insurance coverage.
Legal protection insurance for FICSA Members - FICSA Comm 3/19/ENG
Follow-up: Legal protection insurance for FICSA Members - FICSA Comm 13/19/ENG
Global legal protection insurance update - FICSA/Comm 33/19/ENG
Legal Protection Insurance – Q&A with Fortuna - FICSA Comm 08/20/ENG
Legal Protection Insurance – follow-up and updated Q&As - FICSA Comm 16/20/ENG
Legal Protection Insurance contract - FICSA Comm 21/20/ENG
Fortuna Claim Form - Please fill the form in case of claims, and ensure it is countersigned by the Staff Member who requires the legal service(s), as well as the President of the Staff Association/Union.
Protecting Acquired Rights Across the UN Common System - Rishi Gulati - 2020