Can the trucking company that I drive for report the truck I am in stolen if I drive to my home state without a load?
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Can the trucking company that I drive for report the truck I am in stolen if I drive to my home state without a load?
I’m trying to get home on time which is always an issue with this company. Now that I have said that I’m driving home with or without a load, the fleet manager said they will call police and report truck stolen. Is this fair? I’m just trying to return the truck to my home terminal.
Asked on April 23, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Georgia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
The company, not you, determines where you should take or leave the truck; the truck is the company's property and the company determines your route, work location, duties, etc. It controls both the truck and where you, as part of your job, drive it. If you take the truck without company permission, or against its specific instructions, you are in fact committing theft. It doesn't matter whether what you want to do is reasonable or not--it is as much theft as if a teenager neighbor took your car without permission to run down to visit his family in a the neighboring state. You cannot take company property without company permission or against their instructions. So yes, your company would seem to be able to report this to the police as theft.
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