Rocketspimp -- I agree with you that perhaps the law shouldn't allow for such a recovery. But the fact is that it does. It is, at least arguably, that the employee is still performing within the scope of his employment (albeit, high as a kite) as he's driving to run the errand for the corporation. And anything done within the scope of employment has liability attached to the corporation. That's the kind of thing that scares corporations to death...and that's why they have a duty to their shareholders to insure that the people they are hiring are less likely to be involved in that sort of event. ------------------
So why don't companies screen for any sort of characteristic that might be related to an accident? For instance, age (younger and older drivers are in more accidents), religion (just guessing but I'll bet drinking and driving is statistically less in Mormons), how about someone's personality?-- the reason is because as Americans we believe that just because companies are private does not give them free range to select employees on anything they do outside of work that might possibly statistically relate to an accident or job performance. Just because a company is "private" does not give it free range to decide what behaviors people do outside of the realm of work are acceptable--with the cavout as long as those behviors do not bring direct threat to many others. Random drug testing in just about every job except pilots, bus drivers or operators of heavy machinery to me seems quite un-American. [This message has been edited by Desert Scar (edited November 03, 2000).]
Still, the question really hasn't been answered satisfactorilly. What about sleep deprivation, alcohol, personal problems, prescription medication or illness? Don't these also factor in. Max: In your scenario, what if the employee is ill and asked to run an errand? Because they are ill, they get disoriented and the same thing happens. The fact is the corporations are far too invasive in our personal lives as it is. Drug testing is nonsense because its scope is far too narrow. If you want a broader scope, the person should be regularly screened for lack of sleep, alcohol consumption, marital or personal problems, psycological disorders, illnesses, family tragedies and burn out, just to name a few. If you are going to invade, why not go all the way? ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
