It is generally well known that driving is one of the most dangerous activities that is a common part of daily life.  Putting a group of employees in a single vehicle multiplies the risk and can jeopardize the very existence of your staffing company.

True Story

One staffing company decided that to fill job orders they needed to transport the temporary employees to job sites. They hired a transportation service to transport their employees from their office to the job site.

Payment to the transportation service was made by the staffing company, and reimbursed by the temporary employees through a wage deduction from the employee’s paycheck.

The vehicle used by the transportation service was involved in an auto accident. Since the transportation was arranged by the staffing company, their workers’ compensation program as hit with a multiple-employee claim that cost them dearly.

You might think that collecting from the insurance policy of the transportation company would offset the cost of the claim.  Think again. The injured workers first made a claim with the transportation service’s insurance provider.  The provider paid out to the auto policy limits, which didn’t even cover ten percent of the total cost. After that didn’t pan out, the claimants filed a claim with Work First Casualty.

Pro Tip

This costly claim should never have happened.  If the employees had driven their own vehicles to work and gotten into an accident, it would not be a work-related compensable claim.  If one employee says to the other employee, “Hey – are you going to the same place tomorrow? Can I get a ride? I’ll give you $5,” it would be two employees who got together and coordinated transportation on their own and it would not be a compensable claim. It only became a workers’ compensation claim due to the fact that the staffing company arranged the transportation.

Even worse than arranging for transportation are those companies that transport their employees in staffing company owned 15-passenger vans. In some cases, staffing companies have even purchased school buses for this very purpose. The liability a staffing company assumes for these activities is almost unfathomable.

It is important to know that in almost every state, even if the staffing company is not providing the transportation, in the eyes of the workers’ compensation law if they are involved in coordinating transportation, it is the same as if they were providing it themselves.

The pro tip here is simply, don’t transport or arrange for transportation of your temporary employees.  It’s not worth the risk to your employees, your insurance policies or your pocketbook.

Let Us Work for You!

Work First Casualty Company is proud to announce that we’ve expanded our borders! We are prepared to begin serving in North Carolina with the same high-quality service that you come to expect from us on February 1, 2016. Discover what a Work First Casualty Company policy can do for you by contacting Bruce Winterrowd, Vice President of Underwriting and Marketing at (630) 416-7594 or by email at bwinterrowd@workfirstcasualty.com