What should employers do when their employees have an auto accident with the company vehicle?

Employees should consider a privilege to ride a company car because they don’t have to pay for gas or any repairs and maintenance.

You, as their employer, ensure the vehicles run smoothly so your employees can complete their jobs successfully. You provide this privilege only to your best employees, the ones who proved top-notch skills and great results. But when they are involved in an auto accident, your organisation should have accountability. 

Here are some guidelines to help you manage a car accident.

Ensure the driver is safe 

No matter if they caused the accident or someone else, your main concern is to ensure your employee is safe. They should receive medical attention, including imaging studies, and laboratory exams to check if they suffer from internal bleeding, ruptured blood vessels, broken bones or spinal cord injury. 

If no one called 911, do it immediately even if the employee doesn’t seem injured. Sometimes the adrenaline shuts down pain or other symptoms that can threaten their life.  

Know what your responsibilities are

To understand what steps to follow after the accident, you need to consult a car accident attorney. They can provide guidelines on the evidence you need to gather to preserve your organisation’s reputation, and help your employee. You also need to evaluate the influence the car accident has on business operations and decisions. For example, you can change the existing car insurance for a more comprehensible one. 

Even if the employee drove the vehicle because of the vicarious liability, the employer is held accountable for their actions. This means you are responsible for how they act with the scope to complete their job. For example, when the employees drive your trucks to deliver your products, but they fail to stop at a red light and hit another vehicle, you are liable because they fulfilled the scope of their duties. 

You should inform the employees on the terms of the insurance policy to let them know if the collision coverage extends to them or not. Make all terms clear before offering them the company car. 

Consult with an auto accident attorney

All employers have a responsibility to their employees. This also includes the victims of the crash because the company owns the car.

If you are an employee reading this article because you crashed the company car, then you should do your best not to be the one at fault because you were performing your duty when it happened. Hiring an experienced car accident attorney West Palm Beach is crucial because they provide legal assistance. A car accident attorney ensures the insurance company pays your medical bills, you get the highest settlement and recover the lost wages. They can negotiate with the insurance provider on your behalf and get the highest amount possible for your injuries because they have experience. 

When hiring an attorney to help you deal with auto accidents, you need to ensure they have handled similar cases in the past. They should know employment laws, driving under influence laws, and other regulations. To ensure they provided successful legal support in the past, check their clients’ testimonials and previous cases. Choose someone who is available nationally and who belongs to a trustworthy company. 

Provide employer support after the auto accident

A leader would always support their employees after a car accident or another accident that causes disabilities. You should have in place leave policies that establish what accident benefits your employees receive when they crash the company car or when they deal with medical issues. Employees appreciate the companies that provide disability insurance because they worry about the effects their medical problems have on their career and projects they handle. 

You need to establish in advance how employees cover for each other in case of long-term illness. Set work-at-home policies to allow them to complete tasks remotely when they join you at the office. This benefit encourages them to work from home until they get back on their feet to come to the office again.

Offer legal support

It helps when you promptly offer legal support to your employees and hire an attorney to defend their case. When they crash their personal car, but they need long-term hospitalisation they can lose wages. If you have a human resource department, they can provide the attorney wage documentation to build a case and seek compensation. Sometimes the attorney also needs to get in touch with co-workers and supervisors to find out how the accident affected the employee’s capacity to work when they return to work. They will probably ask you to evaluate the employee’s performance before and after the accident to prove how the accident affected their life. For the insurance provider to properly compensate the victim of the accident, your cooperation is crucial. 

Contact the insurance company

You must inform the insurance company immediately after the accident. Ensure you know all the details the policy includes to get compensation as soon as possible and pay for property damages and hospitalisation. Your car accident attorney can help you collect evidence to prove the claim. They will get the medical report, police report, and talk with the witnesses. Their role is to establish a strong defence to get the highest compensation possible. You also need to check if the accident happened when the employee fulfilled their duty, outside the work hours, during holidays or when they performed activities beyond their job description. 

Employees should also hire an auto accident attorney to help them prove they have no fault for the accident and they weren’t driving under influence. An expert can help them fill a claim to get compensation through the employer’s insurance. 

An employee’s priorities after a car accident are to fix or replace the car, get back to work as soon as possible, and receive medical treatment. Many times, they consider getting back to work more important that seeking medical treatment because they need income and they don’t want to let their employer’s down.