I see you are located in Chicago that has reliable transportation for the employee to commute to work without owning or leasing a car. Generally, the employee is expected to get to their employer's office on time by any means necessary. Then using the same type of transportation be able to get to meets outside of the office and maybe reimbursed for cost for any transportation beyond 10 miles away. That 10 mile policy was generally in place to avoid nit picky paperwork for reimbursement. I think I saw where you said the client agreement excluded reimbursement for travel which complicates this issue otherwise the employee could use the most economical and timely mode of transportation to the jobsite from your office and ask for reimbursement to be invoiced to the client.
So some assumptions, the employee must come to the office each day as they normally do and then go to the daily job meetings. If it is the intent for the employee to be on the jobsite daily instead of your office then basically you are changing the location they are to commute to and they are responsible for the commute if it is not over a reasonable commute for your area. As the employer and hopefully a fair employer, considering having a discussion with employee to find an acceptable solution for you both instead of dictating a solution that might not make the employee happy with their employment with your firm.
1. They have the choice of declining this assignment because it entails changing where they report to work at their own expense and let someone who has their own transportation have this assignment.
2. You can buy, rent or lease a car that stays at the office for all employees to reserve to do their job as needed and end the lease or buyout and sell at the end of the lease. Hopefully, you can find a lease that coincides with the length of the construction admin. Of course you have to consider all the added expenses of maintaining a company vehicle.
3. Someone mentioned negotiating terms for a rental for the time period. You will still have gas and parking expenses. May Be cheaper to have your own insurance instead of rental insurance.
4. If public transportation, uber or some other rideshare is available to the jobsite, just reimburse the employee for that expense. If you think that is going to be to much or not available, offer the employee a raise so that they could get transportation that works for them. Raise should cover insurance, tags and any other out of pocket expense for maintaining a car and parking they would not have been spending except to do your project construction admin.
4. If you present a vehicle as a benefit for this project and/or considering it being compensation on their W2, Keep in mind they are going to have to also pay income tax on that additional compensation just for transportation for your project. Please make sure they realize they will be paying additional taxes for this perk. I got an all expense paid trip to the cayman's from an employer. It was presented as a company retreat and everyone was going. It would have been political suicide to decline. At the end of the year on my W2, I was shocked to see the cost divided equally among all the employees and then additional amount of taxes I had not counted on just to pay for that trip I thought was a free ride and I felt like I had funded others drunken binges in the end.
Hope you find a reasonable solution for all.
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Elaine Bright, aia LEED AP
Owner
Bright Ventures Architectural Consulting
Nashville, TN
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-14-2019 14:37
From: Chyanne Husar
Subject: Company vs. Personal car
I have a project that is going to require driving for site access and the employee I would like to assign to this project does not have a car. I've looked into getting a company car, but I don't think it's going to be the right option for us.
Has anyone had to ask an employee to get a car? How did you handle it and did you offer an incentive/bonus?
Many thanks!
Chyanne
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Chyanne Husar AIA, LEED BD+C
Principal
husARchitecture Inc
Chicago IL
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