Q: Hello, I own a delivery company with 15 plus vans in Northern VA. Employ over 50 people. In early August one of my
Drivers was involved in ann accident four hours after consuming a beer (caught on dash cam). Since it was deemed as minor accident at the time, my former employee went through the process of calling the cops and going through typical post accident protocol. He was not tested for alcohol at the scene and was told to allow insurance to take the lead. Claim going through insurance at the moment, but I understand that the other driver hired an attorney and are looking to capture an injury/lost wages settlement. My question is, what is the company’s liability aspect in this regard. What would be next best steps to take?
A: In your second post, you said this was a "former" employee. I responded to that with considerations regarding his continuing employment status. The dash cam video is important evidence because it is probably time stamped, be sure to keep it secure in case this whole thing blows up and the 'former' employee changes his story to say he was drunk at the time of the collision. If you have several vehicles and several drivers, you should document the company's policies regarding use of the vehicles, smoking in them, using alcohol, and potential disciplinary actions. Have a meeting with all the driver employees, go over these rules and have them sign receipts for the policies (with the printed policy attached.) Make it clear to your employees that this will not be tolerated and they can lose their job if they test positive for alcohol or other recreational drugs while driving a company vehicle.
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