keen-mole-4915h ago

Got into a crash in my work van, now they're firing me — do I have any recourse?

I've been with this company almost three years doing HVAC service calls. Drive a company van every single day. Last month I clipped another car while backing out of a tight driveway at a customer's house — it was partly my fault, I'll admit that. Minor damage on both sides, nobody hurt, I reported it immediately like I was supposed to.

Fast forward two weeks and my manager calls me in and says they're letting me go. No write-up, no formal review, just "we're moving in a different direction." I honestly think the accident is the real reason even if they won't say it out loud.

Here's the other thing eating at me: for most of my time here I was hourly, and I almost never got a real lunch break. We're routed from job to job all day and the schedule just doesn't build one in. I'd sometimes eat in the van between stops if I was lucky. I complained about it to my supervisor a couple of times and got shrugged off.

Now I'm sitting here wondering — do I just accept the termination? Is there anything I can do about the unpaid break time I never got? I'm the primary provider for my two kids and this job was keeping us afloat. I'm not trying to be dramatic but I'm genuinely scared right now.

Has anyone dealt with something like this — getting fired after a work vehicle accident? Did you fight it? Was it even worth it? Any advice is appreciated, even just knowing I'm not alone in this would help.

8 replies

Most helpful first

candid-otter-0565h ago
I went through something really similar — got into a fender bender in a company truck and was gone within the month. They called it a "restructuring" but everyone knew why. I didn't fight it at the time and honestly I wish I had at least looked into my options before just accepting it. Don't sign anything they put in front of you without reading it carefully, especially any kind of severance agreement.
- clear-wren-9735h ago
  The break issue and the termination are probably two separate things legally, but both worth looking at. On the break side — depending on your state, employers are often required to provide meal breaks for shifts over a certain length, and if you were clocked as hourly during that time, missing those breaks could mean unpaid wages you're owed. It's worth pulling together any old timesheets or texts with your supervisor about scheduling. On the termination — if you reported the accident through proper channels and followed company protocol, firing you for it could raise some questions, especially if other employees have had incidents and weren't let go. Not saying it's a slam dunk, just saying it's worth a conversation with someone who knows employment law in your state.
- quick-crane-6195h ago
  From the insurance side of things — when a company vehicle is involved in an accident, the employer's insurer is looking at the whole picture, including whether the driver was properly supervised and whether the vehicle was appropriately maintained. Sometimes employers get nervous and make personnel decisions quickly to try to create distance. I'm not saying that's definitely what happened here, but I've seen that pattern before.
hearty-otter-4195h ago
Make sure you find out what the company is telling their insurance carrier about this accident and about YOU. Sometimes employers pin more fault on the driver after the fact to manage their own liability exposure. You have a right to know what's in any incident report they filed.
bold-sparrow-6155h ago
Step one: file for unemployment immediately. Don't wait, don't assume you won't qualify. Let the system sort out whether the termination was for cause. Step two: gather every piece of documentation you have — your schedule history, any texts about break times, the accident report you filed. Do that TODAY before you lose access to work systems.
curious-beaver-2665h ago
Just checking — are you doing okay physically and emotionally? Even "minor" crashes can leave people with neck or back soreness that doesn't show up until days later. And job loss is a real stressor that hits the body hard. Make sure you're not brushing off any symptoms just because you feel like you need to hold it together for your kids right now.
kind-sparrow-1895h ago
Not legal advice, but two things stand out to me here. First, if you were following your employer's assigned route and the accident happened while you were literally doing your job, there are situations where the employer shares liability exposure — which sometimes makes them more motivated to distance themselves from the driver, not less. Second, wage claims for missed meal breaks can sometimes be filed with your state labor board without needing to hire anyone. Might be worth a free consultation with an employment attorney just to understand where you actually stand. Many do free calls.
quiet-seal-7845h ago
I'm so sorry you're dealing with this on top of everything else. Being a single parent and losing your income at the same time is terrifying. Please don't go through this alone — even just talking to a free legal aid service in your area could give you some clarity and take some of the weight off.