Road Rage - in a Company car

lrenoll

Haven't had this happen before .. need some advice.

We had an employee who has been issued a Company vehicle to use for business and personal use during the course of their employment.

Apparently while conducting personal business, while driving the car, the EE had a case of roadrage and went after another individual. A police report was filed and charges were brought against the individual. No physical damage was done to the other vehicle.

Here are my questions:

1./ What course of disciplinary action (if any) would you recommend for this considering it happened off hours? Can we discipline?

We don't have a policy that would cover this.

2./ Do we legally have a right to obtain a copy of the police report? The vehicle is titled to the Company and paid for by the Comapny.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Balloonman

I would look at your policies regarding both fleet and employee behavior. The fact is this occurred with a company vehicle. Had he caused and accident, the company would have been liable. If you have nothing policy wise that you can use I would still write him up, with a final written warning about unacceptable behavior. I would either way require him to attend a defensive driving course. Your local safety council most likely provides them. Also an anger management course should be in order.
Of course you can terminate. One final option is to get a copy of the police report. Tell him to get you a copy since you are aware of the event. Turn it into your insurance company and ask them to not insure him due to this event. Then you can take the car away as he is not covered by your insurance. He will either quite or have to use his own vehicle. This will at least limit your companies exposure some.
My rambling $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

Rockie

Worst case scenario - you can terminate him. I don't think it's necessary to have a policy for every obnoxious behavior an employee can come up with. Being that it happened in a company car, whether it is off hours or not, would make your company potentially liable, especially if he had caused an accident or physically assaulted someone.

In this case, I would probably give a formal, written disciplinary action, require anger management counseling and state that if it ever happened again, he would be immediately terminated.

lrenoll

I called to obtain a copy of the police report. We're in PA. Incident happened in PA. Some state law prohibits the release of the police report to anyone who is not a criminal institution without a judge court order.

So, if we so decide, can we still discipline based on the knowledge we have and without the actual report? It's a very Sr. level EE ... part of the top Company mgmt. Want to make sure I'm doing this right.

System

How did you find out about the incident?

Hunter1

It would surprise me if your state didn't have an 'open records' law which made this type of report open to the public. You mean to tell me that the news media couldn't get a copy of this report if it had resulted in an accident, etc?

Don D

I would first ask the police department for a copy of the report, explaining that it is a company vehicle. You may or may not get it. If they refuse, you might ask your attorney to request it and see if he/she has any luck. The official report will better

I might look at the behavior like I would an employee, on his own time, losing his cool in a bar or at a ball game and acting out and having the law called to make a report. Depending on what he actually did I would look at how that might affect the reputation of the company in the community. If his actions could result in a loss of business for you or extreme embarassment for the company in the community, you may be able to sanction him in some way. Many policies do address that; but, even if yours does not, I wouldn't think you'd be precluded from acting. At a minimum you could either take the car or put him on notice that you will if he further embarasses the company.

Pork

>We don't have a policy that would cover this.
>
>2./ Do we legally have a right to obtain a copy of the police report?
>The vehicle is titled to the Company and paid for by the Comapny.
>
>Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Look deeper into your policy, surely you have a portion which discusses "conduct unbecoming an employee ofXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" or wrongful use of company property or endangering the lives of others. Check your insurance companies' coverage of employees out on a "joy ride or personal use" there may be a surprise there for the unknowning. Our company insurance covers personal use only after my own personal liability coverage stops at $500,000.00. Someone out doing "road-rage" may not be covered at all, thus putting the company at significant risk as the next "deep-pocket"!

Mis use of company property with "company property" being the broadest sense of the term to cover vehicle usage in an inappropriate matter.

Now unless you are also the HR/RISK Manager I would recommend you pass this issue off to the Department Head/Risk Manager/CEO/GEneral Manager, get it out of the HR arena before you become the police "dawg" of company "PERKS", which is a loosing situation for any HR.

Good Luck! PORK