Steering Clear of Liability: Motor Vehicle Report Checks for Employee and Student Drivers

This report explains the importance of adopting and implementing a comprehensive motor vehicle report (MVR) policy to ensure that only properly screened people are hired as drivers at your campus. It also outlines components of a sound policy and details how institutions should apply their policies.

Failing to check an applicant’s driving history can cost your K-12 school, college, or university dearly. Consider this claim:

A new staff member of a university’s Athletics department was hired to drive a college-owned van to transport equipment to and from various athletic venues. Two months into the job, the employee was delivering equipment across campus, went through a red light, and collided with a vehicle occupied by a mother and her infant. Both occupants suffered serious bodily injuries. During litigation, the university’s counsel learned that neither the Athletics department nor Human Resources (HR) checked the employee’s driving history, which revealed the employee had nearly a dozen moving violations and his license had been revoked twice in the prior 10-year period. This claim resulted in a seven-figure settlement.

The law imposes liability on an employer who entrusts a vehicle to a bad employee or student driver. When determining who is qualified to drive while conducting campus business or driving institution-owned vehicles, consider the legal concepts of negligent hiring and negligent entrustment.

Negligent hiring focuses on the person selected for a particular job. If at the time of hire your institution fails to consider relevant information about the applicant’s experience and qualifications, it may be liable for injuries resulting from that negligent hiring decision. For example, if your institution hired someone with a poor driving record for a position that requires driving, your institution could be liable to a person injured in a traffic accident caused by the employed driver.

Negligent entrustment imposes liability when your institution entrusts to a party (not necessarily an employee) property that injures another while in the party’s possession. For example, negligent entrustment can occur when your institution provides a vehicle to an employee without ensuring that a propensity for dangerous driving behavior doesn’t exist. An injured party can assert a negligent entrustment claim involving employed drivers years after the drivers are hired, using the premise that your institution failed to monitor the employee’s driving records during the course of employment.

Establishing a clear MVR policy that includes consistent, regular MVR checks for all drivers can help protect your institution before a costly accident occurs.

A comprehensive MVR policy for employees or students clearly states your institution’s procedures for conducting reviews, minimum requirements drivers must have before driving for institution-related activities, and your institution’s expectations for minimum performance in driving-related positions.

Specific policy provisions may include:

Applicability of the Policy 

This provision specifies which positions must include an MVR review as part of the hiring process and ongoing employment, and how reviews would be conducted for your institution’s fleet vehicles. 

Minimum Age and Driving Experience Requirements 

Studies show that experienced drivers tend to have fewer accidents than inexperienced drivers. Some institutions require all drivers be at least 21 years old, while others require drivers have at least three years’ driving experience. Consider having a policy that requires drivers who will operate a particular type of vehicle have practical behind-the-wheel experience with that vehicle.

Violations Disqualifying Candidates or Employees From Driving on Your Behalf 

Bar drivers with serious or multiple violations — or both — from driving-related positions (including those that require the use of the employee’s personal vehicle) and from driving your institution’s fleet vehicles. This will help your institution avoid negligent hiring and negligent entrustment claims. 

Many MVR policies identify specific moving violations that can disqualify a person from performing driving tasks or operating an institution-owned vehicle if the violations occur within a particular time period prior to or during employment.

Examples include:

• Operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol within the past five years
• Vehicular homicide
• Drag racing offenses
• Felonies involving a vehicle
• Driving on a suspended or revoked license
• A hit-and-run accident
• Fleeing police in a vehicle
• Two or more speeding violations in the prior three years

Other MVR policies use the state’s point system as a standard for evaluating driving records of employees or students. These policies typically set the maximum point count acceptable for drivers at a total lower than what the state requires to suspend or revoke a license. For example, a state may suspend a license when a driver accumulates seven points, while an institution’s policy may disqualify people from driving tasks when they accumulate five points.

If your policy uses a point system, check with your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles to understand how points are assessed.

When evaluating a driver’s MVR from another state, understand that variances in how points are assessed exist from state to state.

Continued Monitoring of Driver Records

Aside from checking driving records at the time of hire, your MVR policy may establish your institution’s right to check a driver’s MVR on an ongoing basis. While some institutions automatically request all drivers’ MVRs annually, others find it sufficient to spot check annually. 

Your policy also may require drivers to give your institution formal consent so it can get updated driving records.

Self-Reporting Traffic Violations or Accidents During Employment

MVR policies also may require drivers covered by the policy to promptly report to their supervisor any traffic violations or accidents that occur during employment. The requirement would include any violation — regardless of whether it occurred while driving on institution-related business or involved any issue of fault or another vehicle.

Discipline for Traffic Violations or Failure to Comply With the Policy

The MVR policy also may detail steps your institution will take when a driver:

• Gets cited for a traffic violation
• Is involved in an accident
• Neglects to self-report a traffic violation
• Refuses to let your institution perform an MVR check
• Otherwise fails to comply with the policy

Your institution can use a system of progressive discipline that requires drivers who incur minor infractions to attend driver safety training while more serious violations require removal, suspension, or termination from driving-related positions.

To avoid negligence claims, some institutions apply the MVR policy to those who drive a vehicle for work, whether their own or the institution’s. Some institutions also require that any person using a vehicle from the institution’s fleet submit to an MVR review.

For some campuses, such a broad application of the policy might prove too difficult to manage administratively and impose a significant financial burden. In those instances, tailor the policy so it covers drivers at higher risk for a crash.

High-risk categories for which an MVR check is warranted could include:

• Employees in driving-related positions, typically including those who are routinely required to drive for their work (at least six hours a week or more, for example)
• Drivers under age 25 or with less than three years’ experience
• Those driving distances greater than 100 miles per trip
• Those driving 15-passenger vehicles
• Employees transporting students, regardless of distance or vehicle type

Should a claim head to court, your institution will be judged on whether it could have reasonably anticipated the risk of an accident and whether the screening policy, or lack of one, could have

Employers need an employee’s consent before they can review the employee’s MVR. In 1997, Congress passed the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), which requires states to protect drivers’ personal information, including names, addresses, and birth dates.

When requesting MVRs, either:

• Use an outside provider. Several private companies can request MVRs on your behalf.
• Submit requests through a campus office. Sworn campus law enforcement departments or HR can coordinate and submit MVR requests.

Fees for getting an MVR check range from $10 to $30. Third-party service providers will charge an additional fee to submit requests on your behalf. Get documented consent for all people undergoing an MVR review.

Many state motor vehicle departments have special procedures for employers that regularly request a large volume of MVRs. Some departments also offer a driving record monitoring program by which the department notifies participating employers when a driver’s record is updated with certain traffic violations (for example, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or reckless driving), or vehicular accidents, or when driving privileges are suspended or revoked.

Check with your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles for a list of services available to employers, participation requirements, and applicable fees for those services. In many instances, your institution must register and subscribe to participate if such services are available. Typically, these services are less expensive than those a commercial service provides.

To contain costs, your institution can require job candidates to submit MVRs as part of the employment application process. If you adopt this practice, require official documents rather than photocopies, electronic copies, or facsimiles. You also would want to require records for at least three years immediately prior to the application date.

Even with a policy in place, it’s crucial to ensure MVR checks are performed and the policy is consistently and uniformly applied. In many claims reported to United Educators (UE), there is confusion about who is responsible for requesting and reviewing the MVR, and the driving record is never checked.

To avoid these situations, develop clear procedures detailing who is responsible for:

• Requesting the MVR review (the hiring department, Public Safety, Risk Management, or HR, for example)
• Reviewing records obtained
• Taking necessary action based on records

Train personnel conducting MVR checks on those procedures and how to apply them equally to all drivers regardless of rank or status. Your institution can develop a centralized system for processing the MVR program or, depending on your institution’s structure, establish separate administrative systems to process MVRs — one for employees in driving-related positions and another for drivers using fleet vehicles.