Question about employer requiring proof of car insurance

November 3, 2021 6:40 AM

Can an employer require someone to submit proof of having car insurance even if the employee never uses their vehicle for work purposes? At a new job I was told that everyone needs to submit proof of car insurance for the company's own insurance policy. But this seems false. My position is one of many where we work fully from home, no work travel needed. Not even to an office occasionally. They say this is a standard practice and that it is just in case. This seems to be the reasoning behind many practices, and I do not want to share extra things just in case. I am looking for more information about the legality of this practice.
posted by anonymous to Work & Money (9 answers total)

Do you have any sort of 24/7 insurance coverage through work (that is, coverage that applies to incidents that occur even when you're not on the job)? Otherwise, this seems weird to me.
posted by praemunire at 6:42 AM on November 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

I mean, what if you didn't own a car or drive at all? It does seem pretty weird to me as well. I don't know why it would be illegal (since employers can require all kinds of weird things as conditions of employment, so long as they don't discriminate against protected classes) but it seems like a poorly-thought-out policy at best.
posted by mskyle at 6:49 AM on November 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

My organization asks this every year. Every year, I tell them that I'm not going to drive on business, and that I decline to share this information (also: I don't own a car or have auto insurance). HR sends me back a document saying that I've done so and that's the end of it for another year. I'm not sure about the legality, but declining to participate has not caused troubles for the last 13 years.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 6:49 AM on November 3, 2021 [14 favorites]

So, this was explained to me as basically, the employer having proof that their insurance is not liable if you get into an accident in your own vehicle. If somehow you DID end up driving your own car for work purposes and you were uninsured, the company could potentially be open to liability. Lots of people don't drive their own car for work purposes...until something comes up and they do. (Driving to an event, for example, or an off-site meeting, or business travel during a pandemic....) It's entirely legal where I am, though I suppose your local mileage (hah) may vary.

Since I didn't have a car I just stated as much; obviously, I wasn't going to be driving my nonexistent car for work purposes. You should be able to just decline to provide the info.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 6:56 AM on November 3, 2021 [8 favorites]

This question showed up on Ask a Manager last month. She says it's weird and none of their business. (Question #3 at the link)
posted by Vatnesine at 7:14 AM on November 3, 2021 [8 favorites]

They can ask, but they should have a waiver for you to sign that "I do not use my personal vehicle for work purposes" and decline coverage.
posted by kschang at 8:09 AM on November 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

Employers are weird sometimes and worker protection in the US are few. Is it legal for them to ask this? Almost certainly yes (depending on your local regulations). Is it legal for them to discipline or fire you over this? Again, almost certainly yes. Are they going to discipline or fire you over those things? You’ll be the best person to guess that.
posted by bq at 9:48 AM on November 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

This is probably legal, but it's very weird. As said, what if you didn't have a car? And in my state you can't even register a car without proof of insurance - literally everyone who legally owns a car has insurance, so this is entirely nonsensical. (As it probably is in your state, unless you live in New Hampshire or Virginia). Very weird. But legal, probably yes.
posted by epanalepsis at 4:35 PM on November 3, 2021

My company was doing this, and requiring extra insurance as well. I was grumpily looking it up in the employee handbook to see how much insurance I needed to add, and discovered it was only required if you were driving your own vehicle for work. Not a single person at my company was aware of this, including our HR person and our executive director. So my suggestion is to find out what the official policy says.
posted by MexicanYenta at 6:31 AM on November 4, 2021 [2 favorites]