Are Your Employees Talking or Texting While Driving? You May Be Held Liable!
Business Owner Beware: You Can Now Be Held Liable for Accidents Caused by Employees Who Are Talking on Their Cell Phones or Texting While Driving
Over the past several years, states have been instituting laws to limit the use of cells phones while driving – so how does this affect companies who have employees using company vehicles? Quite a bit, actually.
Several lawsuits have cropped up in which a company was sued for an employee causing an accident while talking on a cell phone. In Virginia, an attorney driving home from work ran over a teenage girl, killing her. The family of the girl filed a $30 million lawsuit against the employer because the attorney was talking to a client when the incident happened.
In the state of Arkansas, a jury found a lumber company lia
ble after one of their employees struck another car, gravely injuring the passenger. At the time of the accident the employee driving the vehicle was using a cell phone for a sales call. That particular case ended up being settled for $16 million.
Many states have defined hands-free laws and produced legislation that bans cell-phone use completely. Although employer responsibility isn't specifically defined in the cell phone legislation, there have been an increasing number of lawsuits relating to employer responsibility regarding mobile cell-phone use for employees. Hands-free laws have done little to protect employers from liability, and as the trend of cell-phone legislation increases, employers should be prepared to address their mobile workforce and advise them of the cellular phone laws that are in effect in your state or locality.
We recommend you talk to your attorney about implementing a mobile phone and vehicle use policy that all employees must sign. While this may not completely remove your risk of being held responsible for accidents or injuries caused by employees driving a company-owned vehicle, it does show some forethought and responsibility on your behalf.
