Legal Question So the small business that I work for had an employee get into accident while driving to and from a jobsite, he was on his motorcycle and was seriously injured.. This employee was out in the field all day was always driving to and from different industrial job sites.. There has been some issues of workers comp for this employee and the company has had to deal with these issues as well.. Now it’s been a few months after this event and I find it very interesting that now my company is asking all of us regular office workers to supply a copy of our auto insurance (and each renew) to them.. My problem with this is I don’t feel this can do anything but hurt me if I should be involved in a car accident coming from my house to the office in the morning or leaving the office to go home in the afternoon.. My question is, can a company legally require me to provide them a copy of my personal insurance on cars that are not driven for “business purposes” and can it be used against me somehow if I’m ever in a wreck only driving to and from work? Has anyone else had to provide this information to your company? I cant make up my mind if this issue is worth “rockin the boat” over or not.. I’ve given thought to making a copy of my policy card and whiteout most of the information I.E. policy number, Cars VIN number ex., but I cant make up my mind if even just doing that will cause waves.. Any opinions would be great..
Oh, wow, dude... this sounds fishy. I am guessing the guy with the motorcycle accident didn't have his own insurance and wanted to get money out of the company? Probably the company's lawyers said "we better cover our *sses now." I would hypothesize and guess they DON'T have a right to ask you for it, and they will then have this in writing if you refuse and somehow find a loop to blame you for something they fail to do. If they gave you the vehicle, I'd see their reasoning but, even then, wouldn't THEY be the ones keeping up with their own insurance stuff? Man, I'm so confused... I'm just guessing.
I'm not sure about the legality of this whole ordeal, but if they're asking for your information, hand them a copy with the information blacked out, as you had mentioned. It's your personal information, you have to choose to disclose it to them. In the meantime, you can do some research on the matter, and figure out if it's worth rocking the boat.
All licensed drivers in the state of Texas are legally required to carry liability insurance, so I'm guessing they can ask for it unless you can find a law that is specifically on point otherwise. I would definitely redact any personal information. Personally, I find this action intrusive and would consider seeking employment elsewhere, but it is probably legal. Just speaking from what I know about how insurance and liability works, the reason they are being paranoid is because they are liable to third parties for travel occurring within the "scope of employment." Traveling to and from work is not within this scope. Also, an employee carrying personal liability insurance does not limit the employer's liability. The business needs to carry their own insurance to do be protected.
If you're traveling between job sites, like the guy with the motorcycle, then it is probably a legitimate business concern and I'd provide it. If you only use your vehicle to travel between work and home, I'd go ahead and rock the boat (unless they already don't like you and want an excuse to fire you).
BY WHOM? To show to WHOM? Can the company actually say: "well, you're driving to OUR COMPANY, so we're requiring you to have insurance and we need proof of that..." ? If so, this here is a new level of douchebaggery, my friends.
Maybe you could ask them why they need it? You might also want to look up any professors teaching insurance law at UH or Southwest Texas and shoot them an email asking. They may respond.
I do too.. Overall it's a great company, but they do things a little backwards some time.. Thanks for the info bejezuz That's the thing, I never travel to any job sites.. I drive out of the office maybe 3 to 4 times a year to other offices for a meeting, but that's about it.. FYI, here is the e-mail that we were all sent..
At the place where I work, we have to have I think 20 people, the president of the place, the council of the staff, my dog, my lawyer, my grandma, and my dog's b*tch sign something before we are required ANYTHING. I love it. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/channel?section=news/peoples_lawyer&id=5755228 Sincerely,
And if you refuse, do they not allow you to use your personal vehicle for business purposes? That's like throwing a guy out of rookie orientation for smoking weed. I'd explain your concern about personal information and see if they back off. Companies (well, big ones) are more sensitive now about that stuff because of identity fraud. We have a policy at our company that says you cannot share your own salary information with others. I'm pretty sure that's illegal and I told HR I thought so. But, then I backed off, told them I was just trying to look out for the company and avoid litigation risk. They said they think the policy is legal, but I think that's BS.
Thanks everyone for the advice, right now I plan on giving them my insurance card with only my name, my cars make and model, policy start and end date. I'll be interested to see if they come back looking for more information..
I think you may have overreacted just a tad. Your initial question was: Certainly, anything NOT driven for business purposes is OFF THEIR LIMITS.
A lot companies have this policy. If you don't like it, leave. I'm sure McDonald's will welcome you with open arms with their open salary policy.
Swoly, I don't think so. I think you should have bolded the parts "all staff members" and "any vehicle you may drive." That last sentence is there so you'll submit an insurance card for your wife's car too, if there's any remote chance you might drive it. I strongly urge you to burn down their offices in retaliation. Yeah, a lot of companies break the law. I don't think I'll be quitting because they are doing something wrong. Unions managed to make this a no-no a long time ago, because companies would use salary secrecy policies for anti-competitive hiring practices. The policy is unenforceable, immoral and illegal, and only there to intimidate workers and depress wages. This thread makes me want to stir up trouble again.
Think about it from the company perspective. If the company hired a newbie with less experience/education, but earned the same or higher wage than you, how would that make you feel? I'm not exactly sure why large companies enforce this policy, but I think this is one of the main reasons why. There's a lot of boo boo stuff that happens in large companies and you just have to keep your head down and do what your paid to do. Ignore the inner company politics and what not if you value your job. Before you stir up trouble, make sure your on your superiors side so they'll turn the other eye rather than give them a excuse to fire you.
Not saying I agree, but I would assume that you drive on company property correct, even if its just in and out of the parking lot?
Its because you do occasionally drive somewhere for business purposes. So yeah, you probably do. Its just to make sure that the first thing you do if you get in a wreck on the way to another office, you wont come after the company...even though that doesn't protect them anyhow. There's really not much they can do with the information anyway, is there?
