KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Contract Sale ends tomorrow / Comment on fire alarm customer requesting additional insured coverage / NY’s new addition to Civil Rights Law re employee surveillance
January 13, 2022
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see articles below
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CONTRACT SALE ENDS TOMORROW - don't miss out
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CONTRACT SALE ENDS JANUARY 14, 2022.  ORDERS ARE FILLED AS RECEIVED [UP TO 6 WEEK WAIT for sale orders - longer for update orders] ORDERS ARE FILLED AS RECEIVED [UP TO 6 WEEK WAIT for sale orders - longer for update orders]  
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The Standard Form Agreements are all updated.  This year there are important updates.  All contracts should be updated this year.  One change is the inflation and supply chain delay provision; there are many others. 2022 updated contracts are ON SALE now; SAVE THOUSANDS DURING THIS SALE
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NOTICE:
    The Standard Form Agreements have been updated for 2022.  This year, because of unprecedented economic issues that have recently affected the alarm industry, all contracts should be updated.  Check with our Contract Administrator, Eileen Wagda, at 516 747 6700 ext 312 to see if your forms need updating.  Keep in mind that updates are free for 6 months and half price for 12 months from your original order date. Requests for updates will be processed after the new orders are processed.  The sale ends January 14, 2022; the sooner you order the sooner you will get the contracts.  Please do not call requesting priority unless you are a Concierge Client or have paid for expedited service.
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How to order: order at www.alarmcontracts.com - ordering is easy - order on-line during the sale and save thousands of dollars.  Need help ordering?  Call our Contract Administrator Eileen Wagda at 516 747 6700 x 312 for assistance. Concierge Clients can call our Concierge Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq for assistance at 516 747 6700 x 304. Concierge Clients receive an additional 10% off the sale price.  You can join the Concierge Program before ordering to receive the discount and you should take advantage of this program.
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    Contract sale runs through January 14, 2022, ending at midnight EST. The discount will be applied to orders received between now and January 14, 2022 by midnight*.  This will definitely be the best deal of 2022. When you place the order the full price will come up. We will apply the discount manually when we process the order.  Contracts will be delivered by email only.

Here's the deal:
    Buy 1 All in One Residential, Commercial or Fire All in One and get $100 off and $50 off Disclaimer Notice  save $150
    Buy 2 All in One forms and get $100 off first and $200 off second and $75 off Disclaimer Notice and $100 off alarm.com rider and $100 off the Honeywell Notifier rider.   Save up to $575.
    Buy 3 or more All in One forms and get same as above and $300 off the third form and $400 off the fourth form.  Save up to $1275.00 [Residential, Commercial, Fire, Home Automation]
    Commercial Mobile Surveillance Lease $1000.  Save $250
    Fire All in One with Security Rider $1275.00. Save $300.00  Add the Commercial Fire All in One and the Commercial All in One and get $200 off each.  Save $700.00
    Qualifier Agreement $1200.00   Save $300.00
    Digital Sign And Display Sales, Hosting And Service  $437.50  save 50% $437.50
    Computer Consulting and Service   $437.50  save 50% $437.50
    Nationwide DIY with monitoring.  $3500.00    save $1000.00**
    Nationwide PERS with or without GPS tracking. $3500.00 Save $1000.00**
* Your order must be placed on line at www.alarmcontracts.com and received by our office no later than January 14, 2022 by midnight EST.  Orders must contain valid credit card payment and be processed; you will receive confirmation.  Fill out the order form; the full prices will show and we will apply the discount before processing the order.  Orders arriving after sale ends will be processed at regular published rates.  Orders will be processed in order received.  Rush orders, delivered by email within 48 hours, add 15% - call Eileen to process.
Concierge Clients will receive their Concierge Program Discount on the Sale Price.  Sign up for the Concierge Program before placing your contract order to receive the additional discount.
** Does not include consultation or modification
     What's our Guarantee policy re updates?      
Free updates within 6 months of purchase***      
Half price within 6 months to 1 year***  
*** applies to original purchase only
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Comment on fire alarm customer requesting additional insured coverage from December 30, 2021 article
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Happy New Year Ken and to all your readers,
          I am responding to the customer requesting additional insured status for a fire inspection.
          Besides the obvious fact that both you and I have written here how many times, now at nauseum, that we NEVER want to list anyone on our operating company's insurance policy!
          Simply put the additional insured status allows those who are named to file a claim on the alarm company's policy over and regardless of any protest from the alarm company. The policy no longer belongs to only the alarm company but everyone listed as an additionally insured.
          But let's look at this from a different angle that maybe your readers can grasp better.  The service requested was for a fire inspection, which sounds simple enough, but it is not.  The inspection is a snapshot in time about the fitness of the system you inspected. You are only stating for some entity that may not be known to you (insurance company, various AHJ's such as a building department or Fire Marshall) that the system is 100% working or not.  You are not making any warranty about future performance and nor should you.  But your additional insured status that you agreed too will last (or survive) for the whole policy period without limitation and this is an exposure that you don't want, you did not charge for and will come back and bite you.
          Let's assume it's a commercial installed system in a multi-tenant building, sometime after the inspection there is a fire, and the tenants start filing claims against the Landlord.  The Landlord as an additionally insured on your policy files all of those claims with your carrier. Your carrier is obligated to defend the Landlord simply because the Landlord presented the claims.
          In a perfect world, you would not have listed the Landlord as an additionally insured AND if you had a K&K "all in one fire contract", the Landlord could try and present the claims to you to file with your carrier, but they would be unsuccessful because of the sections that state in plain language that there are no third party beneficiaries to the contract, that the Landlord is obligated to defend and indemnify you, the waiver of subrogation, the insurance procurement clause and that your liability (should you be found to have any) is limited.
          So here is the question, after you have read my comments and thoughts of the business potential weighted against the liability, do you believe that any inspection or account is ultimately worth the exposure to lose your life's hard work (your company), while considering that the building, contents and lives in the building are worth more than the coverage limits you bought from your carrier?
          Want to do the right thing for you, your family, your employees and all of your other customers?  Make this a New Year's Resolution, I won't do any work without a K&K contract and I will not undermine the contract provisions I paid for no matter how much the customer is willing to pay because it is not enough.
Bart A. Didden, Executive Claims Manager
Security America Reassurance Group, Inc. - SARG
877-872-1266
bdidden@securityamericarrg.com
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Response
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          Great advice.  Do no security or fire alarm work without a Standard Form Agreement and do not name your customer as an additional insured on your E&O policy. 
          More great advice:  Get the Fire All in One on sale today and tomorrow,, along with many other Standard Form Agreements that are on sale until tomorrow.
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NY’s new addition to Civil Rights Law re employee surveillance
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Ken,
          While reading over NY Senate Bill S2628 that was signed by the Governor on Nov. 8 and goes into effect on May 7, 2022, it sounded as though it was aimed at private employers monitoring employee conversations/communications via electronic means without their knowledge. 
          Upon further reading: A notice must inform employees that: “[A]ny and all telephone conversations or transmissions, electronic mail or transmissions, or internet access or usage by an employee by any electronic device or system, including but not limited to the use of a computer, telephone, wire, radio or electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photo-optical systems may be subject to monitoring at any and all times and by any lawful means.”
          Should those of us that install cameras in offices in NY have any concerns about the mention of "photoelectronic or photo-optical systems"? If the cameras use audio or the field of view contains employees using their phone or computer does that mean our customers need to begin posting signage around their offices? 
          Would be interested to know how you interpret this new law and what potential impact it could have on our industry. 
 Respectfully,
Ryan
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Response
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          The law affects the end user employer who wants to monitor its employees.  That applies to all NY employers.  electronic communications system
“Electronic communications system” means any wire, radio, electromagnetic, photooptical or photoelectronic facilities for the transmission of wire or electronic communications, and any computer facilities or related electronic equipment for the electronic storage of such communications.”
          You should be concerned with your own employment practices, not your customer’s practice.  You should also not be giving legal advice and you have no liability for installing surveillance devices or technology.  You can sell signs if you want to.
          More importantly your Employment Contract should clearly provide for this surveillance and you will now have to post a sign in a conspicuous place if you monitor employee communications.
          The law deals with “employer who monitors or otherwise intercepts electronic mail or transmissions by an employee”.  I don’t see why this would apply to cameras but I’m sure it will be interpreted liberally.
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To order up to date Standard Form Alarm /  Security / Fire and related Agreements click here: www.alarmcontracts.com
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CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304.
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ALARM ARTICLES:  You can always read our Articles on our website at ww.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-articles  updated daily             
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com