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Can employer forbid me to use moto for work?

too many words, man... :p

They won't get me a laptop. I need to be at my office for a lot of what I do anyways.

Thanks for the tip on rush hour and happy hour coinciding. You're a gold mine of knowledge and wisdom. :twofinger
 
Havent read all the pages of this thread but my two cents is that unless you're expected to chauffeur clients around it shouldnt matter one freakin bit what you ride/drive. I would hope you would be compensated for the extra time it would take you to actually get to places in the southbay if you dont ride the moto too.
 
I havnt read it all but motorcycles do have a stigma about them and a certain "look."

If the clients see you on your bike or in your bike apperal than i think its very reasonable for the emplyr to not want you on the bike if he doenst think its proper image.

BUT ITS DISCRIMINATION

Well, maybe, but who cares. Your employer cares about making money and if you put off the clients than i think he should be able to tell you to stop.
 
elbacalao said:
Havent read all the pages of this thread but my two cents is that unless you're expected to chauffeur clients around it shouldnt matter one freakin bit what you ride/drive. I would hope you would be compensated for the extra time it would take you to actually get to places in the southbay if you dont ride the moto too.
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It isn't personal time if she drives/rides for business. The company becomes responsible for her well being and can set terms. She could drop her bike on her foot in the parking lot and file for a worker's compensation claim if she is riding for business purposes. Blame the legal system and not the company.
 
DucatiHoney said:
I'm wondering if he's merely worried about what an accident might do to our insurance rates in the office.
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Yes.

DucatiHoney said:
Does he have a right to dictate my mode of transportation on the job
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And yes.

As long as you're on company business, and as long as he provides you with an alternative mode of transportation (you've indicated they'll provide a rental car) then he gets to tell you what to do, end of story.

If you're on work business and get hit you could turn around and sue your company (whether you would or not is irrelevant). It's likely that the company policy wouldn't cover the company if you were involved in a motorcycle incident on the job, and in that case the company is unable to protect itself in a worst-case-scenario.

How careful you are, or how much insurance you are willing to personally carry is irrelevant. If the your office is corporate in nature, they aren't going to want to take the risk. All it's about is a bean-counter in an insurance company somewhere telling a bean-counter in your corporate structure that they won't cover employees on company business on motorcycles, and that's the end of the story.

Sorry :( It sucks, but you can also make your company pay for your gas and insurance. The extra time will suck, but at least you don't have to pay for it.
 
i had to use the bike as work transport a few times last year, namely riding from davis to san jose. not only did i save time taking the bike, but logging the cost in our expense system prices it out as if i was driving a car (just tallying up the miles, automatically calculates wear and tear, gas, etc...).

so pretty much, every day i rode the bike saved me at least 2 hours, was more fun, and made me $100. win-win.
 
When you are on the clock i'm sure he has the right to have you drive. the reason behind this is he is covering you on his insurance during work hours.
I had an employee crash his bike traveling to a jobsite to work on a project that came under workmans comp because they considered travel to the job part of the days work. So once you have reported for work and have to travel in the course of employment you are being covered under your employers workmans comp and general liability.
 
Two thoughts:

1) See if you can get your boss to pay for a CalTrain ticket and a taxi ride at either end. It's still a lot of time out of your day, but at least you're not personally fighting traffic all the way. CalTrain commute times are generally more predictable and, in theory, you could make use of the time on the train to do something productive. I never did any work, but I did catch up on my sleep and read a lot of books when I as commuting from Mountain View to SF via CalTrain.

2) If your boss is worried about insurance claims, offer to sign a document that will absolve him (and his insurance) of responsibility for anything that happens during your commute. If commuting is your responsibility and you're, effectively, not doing it on "company time" he should care how you get from one place to another.
 
I hope things work out for you. You might remind your boss that in the past you have deferred riding the MC until you got to know the clients and found that it was ok. That way you already set the professional image in place. (First impressions) You can suggest that you rent a car a couple of times and then get a sense about their views related to the image thing.

You might ask why it was ok to ride in the city and see what he says before you make your point. If he feels that safety is the concern, you should mention that riding out to SJ is going to be much safer than riding in the city so the risk is less. Finally, if he does require that you rent a car, your expenses and time should be compensated for.
 
fubar929 said:
Two thoughts:
2) If your boss is worried about insurance claims, offer to sign a document that will absolve him (and his insurance) of responsibility for anything that happens during your commute. If commuting is your responsibility and you're, effectively, not doing it on "company time" he should care how you get from one place to another.
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I don't think that my normal trip to/from home is his issue. Not sure on that one since I guess I could file for worker's comp if I sustained an injury while on my way to work... I don't have any experience with this one. My regular commute is to/from SF and I don't know how a once a week trip down to South Bay affects that.

Can I indemnify (correct use of term here?) the company by signing away my rights for this specific trip only? It sounds tricky. I don't want to be *that* employee. :p
 
Not just any car.....

a car with airbags....LOTS of airbags...............and pillows tied to all the fenders.............................and a rollcage..................and some of those cameras on the back bumper..........................and a ballistic parachute ( http://www.brsparachutes.com/BRS+Products/Models/Experimental+Aircraft/default.aspx ) in case you fall off of the bridge .................. .and a fastrak installed
 
DucatiHoney said:
I don't think that my normal trip to/from home is his issue. Not sure on that one since I guess I could file for worker's comp if I sustained an injury while on my way to work... I don't have any experience with this one. My regular commute is to/from SF and I don't know how a once a week trip down to South Bay affects that.

Can I indemnify (correct use of term here?) the company by signing away my rights for this specific trip only? It sounds tricky. I don't want to be *that* employee. :p
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Yes, you can file a WC claim for commute injuries, you just can't collect. Jeez, I shudder to think how much money would be involved if everyone who got hurt on the way to work could collect from the state.

Once you're "at work", it's a different story. I think your boss' concern is the extra liability that comes with having you ride on his time. A single $100K claim could double his WC rates for five years. I doubt his lawyer (much less the state of CA) would let you sign away your right to collect WC, mostly because it would be very easy for you to come back and say "I got hurt on company time, pay me", which is WC's raison d'etre. The only way I can think of to remove your actions from his liability is to become a private contractor (and pay your own WC), not a salaried employee.

As for how much your work day is going to change (10 hours instead of 8, added stress, etc.), suck it up, you're salaried, without an employment contract (I'm guessing), so you've signed on to do whatever needs to be done, however long it takes. If your workload increased from 8 hours to 10 for some other reason (e.g., increase in work, or decrease in workforce), you'd be in the same sucky position. If you think it merits extra pay, make a new deal with the boss.
 
Thats a stuff cookie DH... I too enjoy a ride to work compared to taking the transport with training wheels!

Keep me posted on this story!
 
Well, my boss once said that I could use her car to do an errand for her...when I replied, "I don't know how to drive a car" (which is true), she didn't say another word.

But I guess most people who ride know how to drive.
 
DucatiHoney said:
My point is that the wasted time spent in the car is time that I have to make up at work somehow. If I spend (hypothetically) 4 hours in traffic then I'll have to stay till 10 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. to get the same amount of work done, and I'm not getting paid for it. The client gets billed, but I personally don't see the money. Not to mention that having to stay at work until 10 kinda eats into my own time.
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I see no reason why you'd have to make up the time. :confused

Part of th reason people are saying you should cage it is because it's company time... not yer own... right?

IMO you are getting the same amount of work done... it's just different boring work.
 
Rob said:
I see no reason why you'd have to make up the time. :confused

Part of th reason people are saying you should cage it is because it's company time... not yer own... right?

IMO you are getting the same amount of work done... it's just different boring work.
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i don't get it either, if it is 45 miles and you normally can go about 80mph , it takes you about 35 minutes. at 25mph in traffic it takes about 110 minutes.
splitting lanes, you are going an average of what 45.. so that is 60 minutes. so it takes an extra 50 minutes tops... you should be getting paid for the time it takes you to return to your sf office or equivalent location. valid point to express here.

years back to avoid traffic i used to go to a happy hour place in san mateo that had a fiesta free buffet spread of food, and then when i left, traffic was flowing at an acceptable rate and i since i made efficient use of my time doing what i would be doing if i was home or in my hood, it was all good.

DucatiHoney said:
too many words, man... :p

They won't get me a laptop. I need to be at my office for a lot of what I do anyways.

Thanks for the tip on rush hour and happy hour coinciding. You're a gold mine of knowledge and wisdom. :twofinger
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it's a pleasure to be of service :twofinger
i can thinks faster than i can types with a good double latte.

ya tip: if you need to pick up or brush up on a foreign language, get some language cds and listen to and interact with them while you are stuck in traffic.... ykwim

cat out.
 
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Aluisious said:
If he wants you to use a rental car, he's paying, right?
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He's paying for a rental or reimbursing me for time in my own vehicle.

Rob said:
I see no reason why you'd have to make up the time. :confused

Part of the reason people are saying you should cage it is because it's company time... not yer own... right?

IMO you are getting the same amount of work done... it's just different boring work.
Click to expand...

I'd have to make up the time because I don't just get paid to work 8 hours. I get paid to get a project completed within a certain time frame, and I can't do that job in a car. If I estimate 40 hours of working time to get a project done, and it needs to be done by the 29th of February, and I spend 15 of my hours on the road when I could be in the office...you can see that I'd need to spend extra time back in the office on top of the driving in order to make the completion date. Sorry, I just assume that most people who are salaried work like I do. It seems from a lot of replies that it's not understood. Hope that clarifies. :)
 
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