One the Job Car Accident

dmartenson · October 2003

I need advice quickly - and thanks in advance!!

EE has ongoing medical problem (not diagnosed but very evident) but continues working while the doctors try to figure out what's wrong with her. Something to do with her heart. She has some good days and some not so good days, but not much lost time. A very good EE by the way.

EE was asked to run an errand for the company during her regular work hours. While driving her own vehicle, for this company errand, she had an accident. She is not sure what happened "I think I must have blacked out", no other cars involved, no real lost time other than the remainder of the day of the accident, and back to work the next day.

We have advised her (maybe wrongly) that she will not be allowed to drive again for company business (although of course she can still drive herself to lunch and her own personal errands - we can't stop that part). Of course our fear is that she is injured or injures someone else while on a company errand. And while we don't want her to be injured, we also don't want the company to be liable for any injuries to anyone.

The EE was advised this a.m. by her supervisor that she would not be required to drive until her health issues are resolved. She was quite upset and felt this was not fair, since her personal physician has not put any restrictions on her at all.

Are we being off kilter for requesting that she not drive for us? She periodically does a 3-block errand to the post office and a 5-mile errand to the bank. If she is not allowed to drive, it will affect the schedules of the other two employees (they do some job sharing).

Any thoughts/suggestions/warnings I should be aware of?

NA · October 2003

I would be worried if you hadn't taken this action. Who cares what her physician said before this accident. She admitted to probably blacking out. That's enough cause for you to take this good faith measure to protect your employer, the employee and the public. You have enough to offset any potential discrimination lawsuit.

dynamite9551 · October 2003

any time an employer permits an employee to work or run errands on company time or in company vehicles, the company is at risk. this employee already threw you a red flag by stating she blacked out. REgardless of what her doctor says, you know she has a medical condition that is obviously not-under-control and you need to protect the company and if that means she doesn't run errands and someone else must be burdened then so be it! Coupled with the fact she was driving her personal vehicle makes it a double-edge sword since both she,personally, and the company can be held liable if this would have had a much different ending. Secondly, you better make sure the company has additonal coverage to protect employees and the company when they are travling on the job - regardless of whether its 2, 20 or 200 miles, not to mention worker's compensation issues!

good luck

marc · October 2003

I wonder if she told her doctor about the black-out incident? I bet the no-restriction diagnosis would immediately change. Chances are she has not. Good advice above about non-owned auto coverage. It is additional coverage on our umbrella liability policy, and well worth it. Do you require your ees that do business errands in their own vehicles to have their own insurance? Not a bad idea in my book.

dmartenson · October 2003

I think she did not tell her doctor about the "black out". I was not sure I should ask her that. I don't want to create a "perceived disabililty", although have I done so already by not allowing her to drive?

And, we currently pay ee's mileage when they drive for company business. This is to cover insurance, gas, oil changes, etc.

Thanks to all who responded!

Don D · October 2003

In my state and with Allstate, if this scenario developed, my personal Allstate insurance would kick in up to the limits of my policy and then the company liability insurance would be 'sought after' by an injured party, then my homeowner's insurance up to it's limits. The injury to myself, had that occured, or drug screen-physical, would be paid by comp in this state. This comes from personal experience. In order to fully assess who has what exposure, you should talk to your company's liability carrier, your comp carrier or the comp commission in your state and your personal auto insurance company.

What if the woman had a suspended license and expired insurance
and drove up onto a sidewalk killing three people while on a company errand?

On a broader issue, if the job requires that she drive, I would treat this just like a factory worker driving a forklift. If he blacked out, I would snatch him off the forklift until and unless a physician of our choosing released him to operate that equipment and the physician would have the 'blackout' information.

Lola815 · October 2003

If any of our employees who drive on company business have an accident they are taken off our insurance. You did the right thing.

dmartenson · October 2003

Of course I meant to say "on the job" - not 'one the job"!

Thanks everyone for your quick response. I thought I did the right thing, but the EE thinks we are being "unfair" to her and the other ee's who will have to pick up the chores. Oh well, life goes on......

crawfod · October 2003

I agree with the others. You are not only being fair to her but practical in the way your company should conduct its business. Besides, you are not permanently restricting her from driving, only until she provides you medical assurance she is okay. The burden is hers to simply bring you proper documentation.

I am curious as to what the big deal is about not getting to do what would appear to be a meaningless, boring task of running a couple errands. What's the attraction here?

On a more serious note, we had an employee traveling on company business, his company car went off the Interstate, turned over several times, and yet he survived with only a few minor injuries, although 36 hours later while still in the hospital he had a stroke and still has not returned to work 6 months later. But my story to relate to your employee's situation was that he too did not know what happened. He assumes he fell asleep, but his statement to our WC carrier was he really didn't know. Now brace yourself, but our carrier denied the claim. Their decision is based on the phrase "in the course of employment", and since he cannot recall how or why it happened, they feel it is not compensable. Had he recalled that another car cut him off, or he was changing the radio channel, or he dropped something on the floor, or something else recognizable as to a cause, the claim would have been approved. As you might expect, he and his attorney are appealing, not out of anger or greed, just questioning this decision.

Workers Comp can be tricky sometimes when it comes to auto travel, so don't automatically assume it is compensable. If your employee was on a personal side errand off the normal path of to and from work and something happens, you shouldn't be liable.

Don D · October 2003

Remembering what happened is certainly not a requirement for approving a comp claim. This is no different from a towmotor operator being hit from behind by something and running off the edge of a dock. He doesn't remember what happened either. the fact that the employee in the automobile was on duty is incontrovertable and his not remembering should have no bearing in court. The claims examiner is wasting your resources, or rather those of her company.

dmartenson · October 2003

To explain why this presents a problem - Sometimes this EE is the only person in the office and HAS to get to the post office and bank. The effect it will have on the other two ee's in the office is that they will now have to reschedule their work shifts to make sure one of them is there for at least part of the day to take care of the driving errands. This is the part the EE does not think is fair. The three ee's involved work four 10's, which with our flex policy sometimes leaves only one person in the office. This has been no big whoop until now.

ritaanz · October 2003

We also had the hassle of making sure someone was available for bank and post office runs. Arrangements were made with the PO, when they delivered the company's mail, they picked up the out going mail. Our bank, upon questioning, has a daily messenger service. Now the messenger stops in every day. He delivers the contents from our lock box and picks up our daily deposits. Problem solved at no expense to the company.

One the Job Car Accident

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