Office Insurance in Granada Hills
Office insurance typically combines a business owners policy for property and general liability with professional liability for claims tied to your services, cyber liability for data exposures, workers’ compensation, and employment practices liability. In California, workers’ compensation is required once you have any employees, and general liability does not cover claims arising from professional advice.
Whether you run a consulting firm, a medical or dental practice, a law office, or an accounting group, your office carries risks that go beyond the walls. A visitor is injured, sensitive data is lost, or a client claims your advice caused them harm. We help California professionals protect their practice and their people.
Office Insurance Package Features
What does office insurance cover?
- Business owners policy (BOP), pairing property and liability for many offices.
- General liability for visitor injuries and third-party property damage.
- Professional liability for claims tied to your professional services or advice.
- Cyber liability for data loss and network events.
- Workers’ compensation, required in California once you have any employees.
- Employment practices liability (EPLI) for claims like wrongful termination or harassment.
Workers’ compensation is required in California once you have any employees, so nearly every office with staff needs it. Professional offices such as medical, legal, and consulting practices carry a distinct exposure that general liability does not cover, because general liability excludes claims arising from professional services. That gap is exactly what professional liability is built to address. Offices that hold client data also face California privacy and breach-notification rules, which make cyber coverage worth considering.
How we help: we learn what your practice does, who you serve, how many people you employ, and what data you hold, then we build coverage that fits a professional office. We explain where professional liability, cyber, and EPLI belong and keep the program current as your practice grows.
Office insurance in California, explained
Do I need workers' compensation for a California office with one employee?
Yes. Labor Code section 3700 requires every employer except the state to secure the payment of compensation, and the duty starts with the first employee. Owners are the exception rather than the rule. Labor Code section 3352 lets a qualifying corporate officer, general partner, LLC managing member or professional-corporation owner-practitioner sign a written waiver and fall outside the definition of employee. A solo practitioner with a waiver on file and no staff is a different case from a practice with one receptionist. Failing to secure compensation is a misdemeanor under Labor Code section 3700.5, with a fine of not less than $10,000.
At what headcount does a California office face employment claims?
At one employee for harassment and at five for discrimination. Government Code section 12940 defines an employer, for harassment, as anyone regularly employing one or more persons, and it protects unpaid interns and contractors as well as staff. Government Code section 12926 sets the general threshold for discrimination claims at five employees. At five, Government Code section 12950.1 also requires two hours of harassment training for supervisors and one hour for everyone else, repeated every two years. Employment practices liability is the policy built for these claims. It is not part of a business owners policy and has to be added or bought separately.
Does a business owners policy cover the advice a professional gives?
Not on its own. The business owners form is built for property and general liability, and offices are eligible for it up to 100,000 square feet and six stories under the ISO program rules. The businessowners form excludes professional services by name. The exclusion reaches legal, accounting and advertising services, maps, drawings, opinions and reports, supervisory, inspection and engineering services, and medical, dental and nursing treatment or advice. A standalone general liability form handles this differently, so the wording on your own policy matters more than the product name. Advice, diagnosis, filings and opinions belong on a professional liability policy written for that profession. Read the endorsement schedule on the declarations page to see which exclusion your carrier used.
Do California lawyers, doctors, dentists and CPAs have to carry malpractice insurance?
Mostly no, with disclosure and structure rules in place of a mandate. Rule of Professional Conduct 1.4.2 requires a lawyer without professional liability insurance to tell the client in writing at engagement, unless the matter will not exceed four hours. The Medical Board states that physicians are not required to carry malpractice insurance. Business and Professions Code section 2216.2 does make it unprofessional conduct to perform surgery outside a general acute care hospital without liability insurance or an interindemnity trust. An accountancy corporation must hold insurance of at least $100,000 per licensee per claim, or its shareholders must jointly guarantee client claims, under Title 16 section 75.8. We found no Dental Board rule requiring a practicing dentist to carry insurance. Landlords and lenders fill the gap the statutes leave: most office leases require it, and our commercial lease certificate page explains what they ask for.
What is the MICRA cap on a medical or dental practice in 2026?
It rises every January. Civil Code section 3333.2, as amended by AB 35, set the non-economic damages cap at $350,000 for injury and $500,000 for wrongful death on 1 January 2023. It adds $40,000 and $50,000 each year until the caps reach $750,000 and $1,000,000, then indexes at 2 percent. Under that schedule the 2026 figures are $470,000 and $650,000. Economic damages are not capped at all. A practice that set its professional liability limit against the old $250,000 figure should check it against the schedule at each renewal.
What must an office do after a data breach, and what does cyber insurance add?
Notify affected Californians within 30 calendar days of discovery. Civil Code section 1798.82, amended by SB 446 with effect from 1 January 2026, sets that deadline. It also requires a sample notice to the Attorney General within 15 days when more than 500 residents are affected. Civil Code section 1798.81.5 already requires reasonable security appropriate to the information held. A cyber liability policy is built to fund the forensic, notification and legal costs those duties create. Most offices sit below the CCPA business threshold of $26,625,000 in revenue, but medical, legal and tax files are sensitive at any size.
Which Cal/OSHA plans does an office employer need?
Two written plans, and headcount decides one of them. Title 8 section 3203 requires every employer to establish and maintain an Injury and Illness Prevention Program, with oral instruction permitted under ten employees. Labor Code section 6401.9 has required a workplace violence prevention plan since 1 July 2024. It exempts workplaces with fewer than ten employees present at any time that are not open to the public. It also exempts employees teleworking from a place of their choice, and health facilities already covered by the health care standard. A medical or dental office that admits patients is generally inside the rule. Workers' compensation pays the injury; the plans are what an underwriter and Cal/OSHA look for after one.
Can a visitor sue my office over accessibility?
Yes, under state law as well as the ADA. Civil Code section 52 sets Unruh Act damages at up to three times actual damage but never less than $4,000 per violation, plus attorney's fees, and section 51 makes any ADA violation an Unruh violation. Civil Code section 55.56 cuts the minimum to $1,000 per offense for a business inspected by a Certified Access Specialist that corrects within 60 days. A qualifying small business that corrects within 30 days pays a $2,000 minimum. General liability responds to bodily injury and property damage. Whether an accessibility demand is covered depends on the policy wording, so read the form rather than assume.
How do you get an office insurance quote from us?
Start a business insurance quote and tell us your profession, headcount, square footage, whether you own or lease, what client data you hold, and whether anyone drives for the practice. Some offices we can write directly and quickly. Others go to underwriting for approval, or need a wholesale market, and those take longer. Either way you know before you decide. Practices with staff can also read our workers' compensation page for how the first hire changes the picture.
Statutory thresholds, caps and deadlines current as of September 2026 and specific to California. Form descriptions refer to standard ISO wording; no form text is reproduced.
