Assurant Employee Benefits, a national provider of disability, dental, vision and worksite benefits, has earned the prestigious ENERGY STAR® designation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the third consecutive year.

Assurant Employee Benefits’ main office, a 384,000-square-foot building located in the Crown Center area of downtown Kansas City, was recognized for performing in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency. ENERGY STAR buildings use less energy, are less expensive to operate and generate fewer greenhouse emissions than typical buildings.

“Assurant Employee Benefits is committed to operating green and reducing our total energy use by at least three percent a year,” said Scott Slavens, manager of maintenance operations at Assurant Employee Benefits. “We continually look to implement energy efficiency improvements, which add up through the years. For example, replacing our centrifugal chiller units in 2012 significantly reduced energy consumption last summer and we expect that project to continue to yield results for years to come. Recently, we also converted 735 fluorescent lamps to LED lamps and continue to find innovative ways to operate lean and green."

The Kansas City facility is in the top 93 percent of all financial office facilities across the country for efficient energy usage. It is one of 17 business buildings in the Kansas City metro to carry the ENERGY STAR® designation.

Assurant Employee Benefits' building joins three other Assurant facilities that hold the ENERGY STAR designation. The Springfield, Ohio service center of Assurant Specialty Property, the headquarters of Assurant Health in Milwaukee and call center of Assurant Solutions in Albany, Oregon hold the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designation as well.

ENERGY STAR was introduced by EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Today, the ENERGY STAR label can be found on more than 65 different kinds of products, 1.4 million new homes, and 20,000 commercial buildings and industrial plants that meet strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the EPA. Over the past twenty years, American families and businesses have saved more than $230 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions with help from ENERGY STAR.

For more information about ENERGY STAR, visit www.energystar.gov or call toll-free 1.888.STAR.YES.

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About Assurant

Assurant is a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America, Latin America, Europe and other select worldwide markets. The four key businesses -- Assurant Solutions, Assurant Specialty Property, Assurant Health and Assurant Employee Benefits -- partner with clients who are leaders in their industries and build leadership positions in a number of specialty insurance market segments. Assurant businesses provide mobile device protection; debt protection administration; credit-related insurance; warranties and service contracts; pre-funded funeral insurance; solar project insurance; lender-placed homeowners insurance; renters insurance and related products; manufactured housing homeowners insurance; individual health and small employer group health insurance; group dental insurance; group disability insurance; and group life insurance.

Assurant, a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ. Assurant has approximately $30 billion in assets and $9 billion in annual revenue. Assurant has approximately 16,600 employees worldwide and is headquartered in New York's financial district. For more information on Assurant, please visit www.assurant.com and follow us on Twitter (@AssurantNews).

Products Underwritten by Union Security Insurance Co., Union Security Life Insurance Co. (New York) or an affiliated prepaid dental company.

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