DUI Arrest

Kent

I have a DOT driver in TX that has advised us that he was arrested for DUI this week-end. (Not in a company vehicle)He says he has been given a 45 day temporary license (which I have yet to see) that is valid until he has his day in court. Even if that is the case, don't we expose ourselves to additional liability if we allow him to continue to drive and he has an accident and is under the influence. Has anyone ever heard of this temporary license? I thought your license was immediately suspended when arrested for suspicion of DUI. What are our options? Must we allow him to continue driving until he is convicted?

Don D

Typically, the license is confiscated by the arresting officer. Also, typically, the individual's lawyer writes a letter to the court of jurisdiction asking for restoration of privileges until the date of the trial, if there is to be one and the judge of the appropriate court will order the state highway patrol office to restore a temporary license until that date. And the department of motor vehicles or highway patrol for the particular state sends the individual a letter to be carried with him, allowing him to drive for that period of time only. I would suspend his driving privileges for the company until the case is resolved. His temporary license does not extend to his DOT regulated privilege, only his personal driving. I would assign him to desk work or something else non-driving.

pork1

KENT: Don has laid it out very clearily. I would only add, you could also call your insurance carrier to determine their conditions for coverage. Most likely, they will tell you the same things that Don has written. For sure get him out of the "Class A", CDL license position immediately. Giving him/her an administrative position makes for good employer/employee relations, but in some cases your company would not normally pay the higher wages of a CDL driver doing work in a administrative position. The driver caused his/her own circumstance, therefore, being nice and understanding may not fit well with the company leadership, but it is an option. The driver's failure to present documentation of this circumstance calls for a suspension without pay until he gets the situation clarified in written form with the company. So get him out of the driver's seat and off the payroll until you fully understand the situation and your companies' risk.

May you and the ee have a Blessed and better day!

PORK

Don D

I worked in the trucking industry as HR Manager of a company with 2400 drivers for five and a half years. Our alcohol-drug policy allowed someone in this situation to enroll in treatment and go through the drill of repetitive testing, unannounced, after returning to the road. There was also a period of time they had to serve on desk duty, like working in the log audit department or dispatch or other tasks.

ritamcguire

Re: Pay while reassigned to a non-driving, lower paying position. This is the driver's problem. Pay him at the going rate for the work being performed, i.e., clerk, admin, filing, yard work, etc. He should be happy to be drawing any amount of pay, since the alternative could be that he is suspended without pay until his court date. Unless there's some chance that he is innocent (hard to imagine), I would never pay him CDL pay for doing some menial office work.

POPEYE

>
>I would never pay him CDL pay for doing some menial office work.


If the two ladies that assist me saw this, they would be all over you like bees on honey!!!!

Menial????? Just try and let one of your senior executives perform the office work and see how much gets completed correctly.

ritamcguire

You can put the truck driver in any job you so desire and continue to pay him his CDL pay if that's what your company wants to do. However, if he's worth a second chance or the benefit of a doubt, most of us would assign him to a job where he can't hurt the company, pending outcome of his court date. That job would probably be MENIAL in nature such as filing (A, B, C, duh); shredding (watch your fingers); or perhaps general office cleanup. Even one of your senior executives should be capable of performing these non-demanding (dare I say menial jobs); whether they would agree to perform these jobs is another issue. The truck driver in question would probably not be doing the more critical office jobs such as preparing contracts, typing executive correspondance, paying accounts payable, etc. These types of front office work require highly trained individuals such as your two obviously professional assistants.

Don D

Methinks Ritamcquire has never worked in the trucking industry. CDL pay doesn't come close to the pay, benefits and comfort of most of the admin jobs in a trucking empire. Sure, an OTR driver who stays out 10-12 weeks and rarely touches home base can earn a decent living. But, it would typically be quite a reward to be assigned to work at the terminal. The objective is not to punish the (unconvicted) driver, but to retain him/her.

And as for 'a job that can't hurt the company', I can't think of a single job at a trucking company where the incumbent can't wreak virtual havoc on the company if amind to. You can misroute trucks, turn off reefer units and spoil freight, screw up the log audit process, monkey with comp/accident files (A,B,C duh), shred (watch your fingers) or 'misplace' confidential driver medical files, pump gasoline or water in a diesel tank, cause the company to fail a safety audit by sweeping trash into an oil bay or unscrewing a ladder, get the company shut down in a D.O.T. compliance audit, allow your friends to call in and use the telephone system for long distance, or run off customers and never get caught.

Crout

As someone who worked as a driver OTR, Don is quite correct. What I found was that on short hauls with delays in picking up and dropping loads, I basically had to work 15 to 17 hours to be paid for driving 10. It's a very tough way to make a living, trust me.

WT

I have seen a couple of different variations on this theme. Generally, when a class A license is revoked, the individual gets a lower class license to permit him/her to drive to work, get groceries, etc. In that case, driving a truck is out of class and the same as having no license. I have also seen a release from disabilities. This comes from the judge and runs through the motor vehicles office. It permits the individual to keep driving in his proper class. The individual cited would be able to tell you which category he/she is in and what you do would flow from that.