Richard Betterley, president of Betterley Risk Consultants in Sterling, Mass., said EPLI price declines range from 5-to-20 percent. “I don't see a lot at 20 percent unless you're completely squeaky clean and pushing hard for a reduction,” he said.

There are “no signs of the dramatic–50 percent–rate reductions of the 1990s,” he wrote in a late December EPLI report.

Mr. Cap, in contrast, said Markel has lowered its minimum premium in many states for a $1 million policy to $1,000, adding that it wouldn't have been uncommon to find the same coverage priced at $3,500-$5,000 three or four years ago.

Other competitors offer the coverage for $700 or $800, he added, warning that insureds should consider the claims expertise and loss control services they may give up to save $200.

Peter Taffae, managing director of Executive Perils in Los Angeles said, “If you don't have any claims and you're under 1,000 employees, it's a free-for-all. Everybody is coming to the party.”

New party-goers include MGAs writing new EPLI programs targeting hard-to-place industry segments like auto dealers and lawyers, and regional carriers adding EPL coverage onto businessowner packages, experts said. They also noted two unexpected competitors–MEEMIC of Portland, Maine, which adds EPL to workers' compensation policies by endorsement, and Mayfield Village, Ohio-based auto insurer Progressive, offering EPLI together with loss control services from labor law firm Littler Mendelsohn for as little as $500.

Even with all the signs of a soft market, Mr. Taffae said he runs into trouble when he tries to place accounts with some frequency. Even if an account has been properly underwritten so that nothing has been paid on the claims, he said “the mentality is very much like what I'm seeing in the mortgage business. People are afraid.”

While Mr. Taffae attributed some of this behavior to mounting problems for some carriers from non-insurance losses, he shares EPLI carriers' pessimism about the future.

“We're entering a recession and frequency will go up.” When people get laid off and gas is $4 a gallon, he said if they can't find a job, they can find a lawyer.

Mr. Cap noted that EEOC filings reached a historic high last year, when the economy wasn't as weak as it is now, predicting that a surge in EPLI claims could be months away.

“You need to work fast to file with the EEOC. But it's so easy. All you have to do is jump online,” he said.

“If you can buy an old shirt on e-Bay, you can file with the EEOC.”