How insurance companies mediate the meaning of anti-discrimination law in the U.S.

• In Event: White Collar Crime at 75: Corporate Compliance in Declining and Emerging Economies

Abstract

Existing empirical research suggests that human resource officials, managers, and in-house counsel of employers mediate and often weaken the meaning of anti-discrimination law through training sessions, conferences and professional networking. In these settings, human resource officials communicate an altered ideology of Title VII and other civil rights laws which ultimately gets implemented on the ground. This project explores how insurance companies and the insurance industry in general play a critical and as yet, unrecognized role in mediating the meaning of anti-discrimination law through marketing and sale of Employment Practice Liability Insurance. EPLI insurance not only offers coverage for employers who are sued for discrimination, but a series of "value added services" which influence and coach employers on what constitutes discrimination. Through attending insurance-run training sessions, webinars, conferences, and content analysis of industry loss prevention manuals, I highlight the subtle ways the insurance industry shapes the content and meaning of anti-discrimination law.

Author

• Shauhin Talesh, University of California, Irvine