Legal Question in Employment Law in California
K-9 Officer Rights
I am currently a Police K-9 Officer. Since our programs inception the Handler was given a ''take home car'' to transport the K-9 to and from the handlers home. This is good policy for a number of reasons. I was recently advised by my chief that he is no longer going to allow us to take our police car home. He is doing this to save money on gas. He is ordering us to use our own vehicle to transport city owned property (the K-9) to and from our homes and work. He said we will not be on the clock while transporting the K-9 and we will not be compensated for mileage on our personnal cars! My question is can the Chief order us to use our personnal vehicle for department business (transporting the city owned K-9) wihtout compensating us?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: K-9 Officer Rights
I agree with what Jim says. Also, your insurance might not cover your use of your vehicle for work-related activities, and your own rates could rise or you can even risk being canceled because of your work-related vehicle use.
Re: K-9 Officer Rights
One issue that arises here is that when you are transporting the K-9 you are in possession of city property and you bear the responsiblity of that -- and you might be considered on city business to and from work. Thus if you rear end someone in the car, the other vehicle might be able to sue you AND the city. Tell your boss you are concerned that his new policy might be exposing the city to liability and exposure which will make the gasoline savings pale by comparison.
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