$8.2 million reasons why your company needs a driver…

This is a great article written by a law firm in Nevada http://www.christiansenlaw.com/Articles/Holding-Employers-Liable-for-Employee-Wrongs.shtml and it really highlights the need for all employers to take an active role in the training of their employees.

The article describes two legal concepts every employer should be aware of if they have eve one employee driving.  The liability an employer can be exposed to when an employee driving is in an accident, is hurt or hurts someone, is not as straight forward as one would think.

The article talks about a Nevada Supreme Court Decision, which upheld an $8.2 million dollar judgment against an employer by a Nevada trial court.   The original court assigned 75% of the fault to the employer and only 25% to the employees who were driving, in a wrongful death suit.

The legal theories discussed in this article really emphasize the need for every employer to have either a corporate driver training program or at least recommend completion of an online driver safety program by their employees.

If Respondeat Superior and Vicarious Liability are two legal theories you understand, then you probably already have company driver training in place.   Please read the article above if you do not, it is enlightening and points to the real risk associated with not training your employees appropriately, for driving in particular.  While an employee driving safety program will not eliminate your liability, it will at least help establish the employer was not negligent in their training or supervising of employees.