Ann: “Cutting Edge, this is Ann.”
Customer (sounding cheeky): “I get that in July your blogs are all about speed.”
Ann (looks at her well-worn track shoes she wears to zip around the office): “Everyone wants their background checks quickly. In today’s market, you can lose a great candidate if your background screening company isn’t at top efficiency.”
Customer: “Got anything that’s REALLY about speed? How about a driving record story?”
Ann (wonders where to start): “I may have one or two.”
Customer (gets comfortable): “Of course you do.”
You don’t have company drivers, so you don’t need to pull driving records…right?
Consider that you have an employee, Myrtle. One day, the boss asks Myrtle to mail a letter to the home office, and stop by Office Depot to pick up some pens and a new computer mouse for her computer.
Myrtle was speeding and she strikes and seriously injures a pedestrian.
Tragic, but not a company issue, right? Myrtle was driving her own car, not a company vehicle.
Mmmmmmmm.
If an employee is driving on any kind of company business, the company can be liable for any accidents and/or issues.
Opposing counsel will argue that Myrtle was driving for company purposes on company time. You should have known her license was suspended two years ago and she couldn’t legally drive.
Uh oh. Now your company is the official deep pocket for the pedestrian’s medical bills, pain and suffering and loss of work.
Just because Myrtle isn’t a “driver” doesn’t mean that you aren’t responsible if she is driving for the business.
I had an applicant a couple years ago—an attorney, actually. We ran his driving record and it was suspended for DUI. He said he was getting it fixed that week. We ran it a few days later, it was still suspended. This went on for a month, until my client finally sent him packing.
Pulling driving records at time of hire is not enough. Be aware that driving records can turn on a dime, and you may want to check those records annually.
Speed can kill. Be sure you are checking driving records to help prevent accidents from killing your business.
