All companies are required to have safety policies and procedures. Most companies have comprehensive safety manuals that outline a particular company’s safety and disciplinary rules. A subset of those policies and procedures involve how to supervise and manage the city and on-the-road drivers. Tractor-trailer drivers, for example, often undergo in-class and on-the-road practical training prior to being employed as a driver for a particular company.
The Steps of Hiring and Firing a Driver
Understanding Policies and Procedures
They are required to review and sign off on an acknowledgment form indicating that they read and fully understand company safety policies and procedures outlined in the company safety manual. On occasion, they are allowed to actually take the safety manual home for further review as needed. Part of the application process, for the most part, involves the employer verifying the applicant’s driving history. This is done by reviewing the application itself and verifying the driver’s history through a third party company.
Review of Driving History
Typically, an applicant will not be hired if he/she has a suspect driving history (e.g., numerous moving violations, suspended license, crashes, etc). This applies to both the applicant’s personal and professional driving history. Once an applicant is hired as a driver, he/she undergoes a probationary period during which the applicant is evaluated to ensure that the hire was proper. Most of the time, the applicant gets promoted to the status of “driver” (assuming that the applicant was not involved in any crashes or was cited on a number of occasions during that time period.)
Disciplining a Driver
What happens after the probationary period? After the applicant has been hired as a full-fledged “driver” for a particular company? How is the driver disciplined should he/she be involved in a crash or cited by law enforcement for a moving violation? The answer to this question varies from company to company.
Some companies, for example, allow the driver a certain number of “violations” before he/she is disciplined. Some company’s policies dictate that the first two offenses result in a “written warning”. Examples of an “offense” included using a cell phone while driving, failing to use a seatbelt, operating the vehicle using excessive speed, failing to maintain the most direct route to the ultimate destination, among others. On the third offense, the driver was suspended for three days without pay. The fourth offense resulted in termination.
Disqualifying Offenses
Other companies mandate that a driver convicted of two or more disqualifying offenses in the span of two years result in a two-month suspension. Three or more in three years result in a three-month suspension. Examples of a “disqualifying offense” include operating the vehicle 10 miles over the speed limit, failure to yield the right of way, following too closely, improper lane change, failure to obey a traffic control signal, among others. A fourth offense automatically resulted in termination for the driver.
Terminating a Driver
Of course, some obvious reasons why companies terminate drivers are for excessive violations of DOT requirements, refusal to accept a legitimate assignment for work, failure to attend company mandated safety meetings, insubordination, consistent tardiness, and for failing a drug/alcohol test (whether scheduled or unscheduled).
Written by:
Jose G. “Joey” Gonzalez, Jr.
Watts Guerra LLP.
4 Dominion Drive, Bldg 3, Suite 100
San Antonio, Texas 78257
Phone (210) 447-0500
© Watts Guerra LLP 2015
