If your employee hits another car while running a work-related errand, you as the boss could be on the hook for the damages. This is not about being a nice person or having good intentions. It is about a legal rule called vicarious liability, which holds an employer responsible for the actions of an employee performed within the scope of their job. The key question in these cases is simple: was the employee doing work at the time of the crash? If yes, the employer pays. If no, the employee is on their own. But the real world is rarely that clean, which is why courts have spent decades drawing a line between honest work and personal fun.

The central legal concept here is known as the “frolic and detour” rule. A detour is a minor deviation from the job that still leaves the employee substantially engaged in work. For example, a delivery driver who stops to grab a sandwich on the way between two deliveries is on a detour. If they hit a pedestrian, the employer is still liable because the sandwich break is a natural and foreseeable part of the workday. A frolic, on the other hand, is a complete abandonment of work duties for personal purposes. If that same driver decides to take a two-hour side trip to visit a friend across town, the employer is off the hook. The employee has essentially quit the job for that stretch of time, so the employer’s responsibility ends right there.

Courts do not just look at how far the employee drove off the intended route. They weigh three main factors. The first is time. A quick stop of five minutes looks very different from a detour that lasts an hour. The second is distance. Driving ten blocks out of the way might still be a detour, but driving forty miles into another county smells like a frolic. The third and most important factor is purpose. Was the primary reason for the trip work-related, with a personal side deal thrown in? Or did the employee leave the job entirely to do something purely selfish? Purpose drives nearly every court decision in this area.

The rules get trickier when the employee uses a personal car instead of a company vehicle. Many employers assume that if the worker is not driving a branded truck with a logo on the door, the employer bears no blame. That assumption is wrong. The vehicle itself does not matter. What matters is the nature of the task. If a salesperson is driving their own sedan to meet a client and crashes on the way, the employer is liable just as much as if the salesperson had used a company car. The personal vehicle only becomes a defense when the employee is commuting to and from work, which is generally considered a personal activity unless the employee is doing something work-specific during that commute, such as transporting equipment or making a work call.

Another layer of trouble comes from the “coming and going” rule. This rule says that the normal commute to the workplace is not part of employment. So if an employee rear-ends someone while driving from home to the office at 8 AM, the employer is not liable. But exceptions exist. If the employee is on call or if the employer pays for that commute time, the situation shifts. Also, if the employee is driving from one job site to another job site during the workday, that is clearly within scope. The same goes for any trip that benefits the employer, even if it happens outside regular hours. A trip to the bank after work to deposit company checks is covered. A trip to the gym after work is not.

Now consider a more edge case. An employee finishes a work errand and then drives fifteen miles in the opposite direction to pick up a friend. During that off-course segment, they cause an accident. Most courts would treat the detour as a frolic because the employee has abandoned the work purpose entirely. But what if the employee was heading back to the office and just took a wrong turn? That remains a detour, and the employer stays liable. The difference is intent, not geography. An honest mistake is work. A voluntary personal trip is not.

For employers, the lesson is to be proactive. You cannot prevent every accident, but you can limit your exposure. Have a clear written policy that tells employees exactly what constitutes authorized driving. Require them to notify you of any personal stops during work hours. Insist that all drivers have valid licenses and clean records. And never let an employee use a personal vehicle for work without checking the insurance coverage on that vehicle. Some states require employers to carry non-owned auto liability coverage, which pays for accidents in employee-owned cars used for business. That insurance is cheap compared to a six-figure verdict.

For employees, the lesson is personal responsibility. Just because you are on the clock does not mean every action you take is protected by your employer’s wallet. If you decide to turn a quick errand into a three-hour personal adventure, you are putting your own financial future on the line. The law does not care that you felt like taking a break or that you were bored. It cares about the reason you were behind the wheel.

The bottom line is that employer liability for employee car accidents hinges on the scope of employment. The more work-related the task, the more likely the employer pays. The more personal the mission, the more likely the worker eats the cost alone. Courts hammer this out case by case, but the existing rules give enough predictability for anyone to make smart decisions before a crash happens. Know your role. Stay on task. And if you are the employer, document everything and get the right insurance. That is the only surefire way to survive a lawsuit without losing sleep.