Take home vehicles

crawfod · October 2005

Our City has a number of Police, Fire, Public Works, and Public Utilities employees who are authorized to take their city vehicle home in order to be available quickly in case of emergencies. They are not technically "on-call". With gas prices being what they are, this policy is being reviewed.

Three questions: 1. Have any of you taken any steps regarding take home vehicles, such as limiting vehicles to those within a certain driving distance, or other steps?

2. Are there any FLSA rules on compensating employees who are called in, in terms of mileage reimbursements?

3. Don't FLSA rules only require wages be paid from the time the employee arrives at the worksite after being called in? Not from their home when first called?

Thanks.

System · October 2005

If they're not on call (you don't restrict their lives to make them ready to respond), then you don't have to pay them anything. Driving to work would be just a normal commute, off the clock.

And someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you're required to pay mileage at all, especially when it's a company car.

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com

Whirlwind · October 2005

I found this on the DOL website:

"Time spent in home-to-work travel by an employee in an employer-provided vehicle, or in activities performed by an employee which are incidental to the use of the vehicle for commuting, is not "hours worked" and, therefore, does not have to be paid. This provision applies only if the travel is within the normal commuting area for the employer's business and the use of the vehicle is subject to an agreement between the employer and the employee or the employee's representative."

I don't believe FLSA has anything to say about mileage reimbursement, and couldn't find anything about it on that website.

We don't let employees take vehicles home, so I can't help you on that part of it.

WT · October 2005

We let employees take vehicles home for the same reasons. What you need to assess is whether you really need them on call or the vehicles are just a perk with the job. How often do you call them and do they respond to the job site or go to a central location anyway to get information, equipment, more personnel, etc. If they always go to a central site anyway, there is no reason they cannot use their own vehicle. To be worth the money, they should be responding to the trouble site, using specialized equipment stored in their vehicle for that purpose, and be called on a somewhat regular basis. Aside from this, what is your policy on personal use? Are they closely restricted to only going back and forth from work? Finally, do you add something to their W-2 for use of the vehicle? Adding the fair market value of the commute and/or personal use allowed of the vehicle is a really good way to thin out vehicles being taken home. It should be done under IRS rules anyway and it is also a dandy way around union disputes if union personnel want to claim past practice when policies are changed.

Watson · October 2005

This is a little off subject, but another thing to be careful with here is that the "coming and going" rule no longer applies to those driving vehicles home. An employee with an assigned vehicle was recently in an accident with injuries on his way to work. Instead of paying for the injuries under the Med Pay provision of our auto policy, they made us file a worker's comp claim. I disputed it and was told that if you let them drive company vehicles home, worker's comp will kick in. That could really hurt someone who lets a lot of people drive company vehicles home! Your worker's comp premiums could go up and well as your EMR!

Jimbo · October 2005

You probably should have written agreements with these employees saying they understand they are not paid for this communte under the Portal to Portal Act and the Employee Commuting Flexibility Act because it is within their normal commute range. They should also probably agree they are not doing any work (or just diminimus work)on the commute or at home (are they washing the cars or taking care of maintenance, etc.?).

>Our City has a number of Police, Fire, Public
>Works, and Public Utilities employees who are
>authorized to take their city vehicle home in
>order to be available quickly in case of
>emergencies. They are not technically
>"on-call". With gas prices being what they are,
>this policy is being reviewed.
>
>Three questions: 1. Have any of you taken any
>steps regarding take home vehicles, such as
>limiting vehicles to those within a certain
>driving distance, or other steps?
>
>2. Are there any FLSA rules on compensating
>employees who are called in, in terms of mileage
>reimbursements?
>
>3. Don't FLSA rules only require wages be paid
>from the time the employee arrives at the
>worksite after being called in? Not from their
>home when first called?
>
>Thanks.

TN HR · October 2005

I agree with the other posters. Also, James is right on the money about not having to pay mileage.

Good topic and good info on both forums.

Gene

crawfod · October 2005

Thanks for everyone's input. Council decided to leave things as they are now, only asking each Department to manage their take home vehicles carefully.

A couple comments on other posts: Our WC insurance accepts liability for injuries incurred while driving these vehicles home, since it is being done for our benefit, so this is a negative reason to allow THVehicles.

Yes, our policy restricts the vehicles from personal use except for de minimus stops while commuting. An interesting point from our insurance carrier was that "if an employee violates your policy and uses the car for personal use and is in a wreck, we will take care of fixing the city vehicle, but the employee is on their own for any damage to someone else's vehicle or property, and it is highly possible their personal insurance will also not accept liability, leaving the employee in a real bind."

To clarify regarding mileage, I had meant if an employee was not allowed a take home vehicle and then was called to work by using their own vehicle, would they be eligible for mileage reimbursement, and I agree the answer is not by FLSA, but if an employer wants to pay that cost, they could. We don't pay employees with THVehicles mileage.

Take home vehicles

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