Would you have fired this man?

[Salty]

The other day someone is our office was driving a company car. He was stopped by the police for a (possibly minor) violation. The officer did a check and found his license was suspended.

I don't know all the details, but from what I understand, he had another violation a few months ago -and since it was not taken care of, the State suspended his license.

Bottom lime, he was let go. Yes, he was driving a COMPANY car. It is possible he did not know about the suspension. But he did know he had not taken care of the previous violation. In addition, as an employee, he is expected to often drive company vehicles, and must keep the company informed of DMV actions.

So would you have fire him? Would it make a difference, if he was actually not aware of the suspension?

Other thoughts?
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As I thought about it, I think I would have suspended him for 10 days without pay. If he took care of the DMV/court actions, I would have re-instated him- with a strongly worded counseling statement.

Thoughts?

 

[menageriekeeper]

Yep. Or rather probably.

The minute he got behind the wheel in a company car was the minute he put the whole company at risk for a huge lawsuit if he'd been in an accident while driving with a suspended lisence. The company would likely have been sued if he HADN'T been driving suspended, but their responsibility wouldn't have been as great. He made them twofold at risk and possibly the company would have lost their insurance coverage (or had the premiums raised immensely) had they (the ins) found out this guy had a suspended lisence.

 

[Gina B]

If I owned a company and was providing someone with employment, then they turned around and put my entire business at risk by ignoring company rules AND violating the law?

Yeah. Fired.

Though I'm a sucker and may have ended up demoting him to a position that didn't involve driving, since nobody actually got hurt/sued and it DOES make a difference if breaking a rule results in harm or no harm.

Then I'd regret it because someone that irresponsible and thoughtless would probably mess up again and then get fired for good, but if he didn't, that would be nice.