Legal Question in Employment Law in Illinois

04/14/10

Today at approximately 3:00 pm, I was driving a patient home from her physical therapy appointment as instructed by my employer. While driving, my car went over an object that looked like a rubber belt with two pieces of metal attached at each end. One end of the belt punctured my left back tire which pulled the belt up whipping it against my two left side doors. I was approximately 1, and 1/2 miles from the patiences home when I pulled out of traffic to check my car. I called my employer to let them know what happened. I was able to get the patient to her home. My employer told me that they would not be responsible for the repair of my tire or vehicle even though I was on the clock working for them, and driving their patient home as they requested. What can I legally do about this? Had I not been working I would not have been in the area and my car would not be in this condition. Please help any legal advice is appreciated ..


Asked on 4/14/10, 4:51 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

Although off the cuff it sounds as though you may be working for a Class A jerk, you don't identify the terms of your employment. If your job includes having to use your car for business purposes, then do you get to deduct it as an expense for taxes? Do you get any allowance for gas, etc? Even W-2 employees get to deduct car expenses if that's part of the job requirement. And if it's not, then perhaps it is just a case of the employer being a jerk, but if you make waves are you prepared for the possibility of the employer being a bigger jerk and making more problems for you? Unless you're in a large enough organization where there is some kind of HR department that can help mediate this for you, it's one of those things where if the employer is a jerk, you may have legal rights but the risk of exercising them may become extremely counterproductive. Confronting the employer as such is something you have to decide is worth the risk.

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Answered on 4/19/10, 5:37 pm


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