NCCI Criticized In Flag Flap

The National Council on CompensationInsurance faced a Web site attack and a continuing backlash ofpublic reaction last week after their boss issued a memo on Sept.14 saying that displays of American flags were prohibited bycompany policy, an edict he later reversed.

The situation developed at the Boca Raton, Fla.-based NCCIduring the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance. Flags werereportedly removed from 10 employee cubicles and NCCI President andChief Executive Officer William Schrempf put out his memo. NCCIsaid it was part of a longstanding policy to protect employees fromdivisive political discussion.

On Sept. 17, Mr. Schrempf met employees to announce a reversalof policy and to apologize. Flags and red, white and blueremembrance ribbons were provided to the 850 employees.

The actions failed to appease Georgia Insurance CommissionerJohn Oxendine, who said: “If they think handing out flags excusestheir conduct, thats not the case. They said they are sorry, butthat doesnt necessarily excuse what they have done.”

He said his department could decertify NCCI as a rating bureauor take away its job of making assignments for Georgias assignedrisk pool. “Its going to take a lot of explaining by theirpresident to not change our relationship,” he said.

Meanwhile, NCCI was coping with the effects of angry publicopinion. An NCCI source said that both its internal and externalWeb sites had been brought down by heavy traffic. “Were gettingbombarded,” he said.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property &Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, September 21,2001. Copyright 2001 by The National Underwriter Company in theserial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this articleas an independent work may be held by the author.

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