06.05.03 – Motor Vehicle Record Evaluation
Section: Safety and Risk Management
Area: Risk Management
I. PURPOSE
This document outlines policy and procedures in connection with the standards for determining driving privileges and evaluation of motor vehicle records of employees, students, and volunteers who operate vehicles for university business.
II. POLICY
A. The University of Houston requires annual motor vehicle record checks (MVRs) on anyone authorized to operate a vehicle owned or leased by the university.
B. MVRs shall be requested for employees who operate a vehicle owned, leased or rented by the university, using a Motor Vehicle Record Evaluation Request . The form is available on the Risk Management Web Site (http://www.uh.edu/risk-management/).
C. Each department head will notify the Risk Management Department when MVRs should be obtained for new drivers, prior to extending the offer of employment in cases where driving is an essential job duty. Post-employment requests are acceptable when driving is incidental to the person's primary job responsibilities.
D. No employee, potential employee, student, or volunteer is allowed to operate a university vehicle until authorization has been approved.
III. STANDARDS
A. The standards for determining whether a person can be granted driving privileges are as follows:
1. Acceptable Driver:
• Valid Texas driver's license
Out of state driver's licenses are not acceptable
• No more than two moving violation convictions or at-fault accidents within the past year, or five within the past three years
• No Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) or Driving Under the Influence (DUI) convictions within the past three years
• No Driving Under Revocation
• No Involuntary Manslaughter convictions
• No Hit and Run convictions
• No Felony with a Vehicle convictions
Each year, one moving violation or at-fault accident may be offset with a state-approved defensive driving course approved for ticket dismissal. The cost of the course is paid by the employee and must be taken on the employee's own time.
2. Deviations from Acceptability Criteria
Department managers of any persons not meeting the above acceptability criteria will receive written notification from Risk Management, and a copy of the notification will be forwarded to Human Resources for placement in the employee's file. Employment-related driving is forbidden at that time. If current duties cannot be performed without driving responsibility, the employee may be reassigned to an available, non-driving position for which the employee is qualified. If no such position is available, the employee will be terminated.
If the manager of the individual not meeting the acceptability criteria would like to request an exception from the policy, a memorandum outlining the reason for the exception should be sent to the Director of Risk Management. A committee consisting of the Director of Risk Management, Police Chief, General Counsel, and Employment Relations Representative will review the request and determine whether the request will be granted, perhaps with restrictions or specific conditions.
Issued: 01/08/2001
Last Reviewed/Revised: 03/18/2022
Responsible Office(s): Finance