Employment contract – Is the employer required to pay fines related to traffic violations committed by employees?

Article originally published in 2013 – updated on September 2, 2026

Traffic offences committed by an employee using a company vehicle: who has to pay the fine?

Are employees' traffic fines the responsibility of the driver or the employer? The answer depends on the nature of the offense, the identification of the driver, and the circumstances in which it was committed. Since January 1, 2017, companies must also identify the driver for certain automatically detected offenses.

Is the employee responsible for offences committed with a company vehicle?

The principle is that of the driver's personal responsibility.

According to Article L. 121-1 of the Highway Code, the driver of a vehicle is criminally liable for the offences he commits while driving it.

Thus, when an employee is stopped while driving a company vehicle or is identified as the driver, they must personally bear the consequences:

• payment of the fine;
• the points deduction that may be associated with the offence;
• other sanctions that may be imposed include, in particular, the suspension of the driving licence.

The fact that the offence was committed during working hours, using a company vehicle or on the occasion of a professional mission, does not, in principle, transfer the criminal responsibility of the employee to the employer.

Is the employer required to identify the employee who was driving the vehicle?

Since January 1, 2017, ArticleL. 121-6 of the Highway Code requires the legal representative of a legal entity to designate the driver who has committed certain offences with a vehicle owned by that legal entity.

This obligation applies to offences detected by an approved automatic control device, including but not limited to:

• speeding;
• failure to comply with red lights or stop signs;
• the use of a handheld telephone;
• failure to wear a seatbelt;
• crossing certain solid lines;
• failure to respect safety distances;
• traffic on certain reserved lanes.

The legal representative has 45 days from the sending or delivery of the notice of offence to communicate the identity and address of the driver.

Managing employee traffic fines therefore requires that the company be able to quickly identify the driver of each vehicle

This designation can be made electronically on the website of theNational Agency for the Automated Processing of Offences or by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, according to the instructions on the notice.

Once the employee is identified, a new traffic ticket is sent to them. It is then up to them to pay the fine or contest it. The corresponding points may also be deducted from their driver's license.

When the legal representative was driving the vehicle himself, he must self-designate.

Can the company refuse to identify the driver and pay the fine?

The designation is not simply a power left to the employer.

The legal representative can only be exempted from this requirement if they establish the existence of:

• of a theft;
• of a license plate theft;
• or another event of force majeure.

If no designation is made within 45 days, a new offence is established, independent of the initial traffic offence.

The legal entity may then receive a fixed fine of €675, which may be reduced or, if payment is not made on time, increased. If proceedings are brought before the police court, the amount the legal entity may face could be significantly higher.

The legal representative can also be personally prosecuted for failure to appoint.

It is therefore inadvisable to pay the initial fine directly without first identifying and designating the driver. Payment of the initial fine does not erase the separate offense of failing to identify the driver.

What happens when the driver remains unknown?

For certain offences, in particular those referred to in Articles L. 121-2 and L. 121-3 of the Highway Code, the holder of the registration certificate or, when the latter is a legal person, its legal representative may be declared financially liable for the fine when the actual perpetrator is not identified.

This financial liability is not equivalent to a criminal conviction as the perpetrator of the offense. In particular, it does not result in points being deducted from the license of the legal representative who was not the driver.

However, since the introduction of the obligation to designate, the absence of driver identification simultaneously exposes the company and its legal representative to the penalties attached to non-designation.

The case law prior to 2017, according to which the legal representative could be declared financially liable when the perpetrator of a speeding offence remained unknown, must therefore now be read in the light of this legal obligation.

Employee traffic fines: who should pay?

The company can, in practice, pay a fine received following an offense committed with a company vehicle. However, this practice is legally inadvisable when the employee could be identified and named.

The payment made by the employer:

• does not rectify a possible designation defect;
• may prevent the offence from being correctly attributed to the driver;
• does not automatically allow the company to then recover the sum from the employee;
• can, when it amounts to taking over a personal debt of the employee, be considered as a benefit subject to social security contributions.

The normal procedure therefore consists of designating the driver so that the traffic ticket is issued in his name.

Can an employer obtain reimbursement for employees' traffic fines?

In principle, no.

Voluntary payment of employees' traffic fines by the company does not automatically entitle it to reimbursement.

In a ruling dated April 17, 2013, the Court of Cassation rejected the request of an employer who wished to obtain reimbursement for fines for illegal parking and speeding committed by an employee with the company vehicle made available to him.

An employer can only hold an employee financially liable in cases of gross misconduct. This requires that the employee acted with the intention of harming the employer.

A simple violation of the Highway Code, even if negligent, does not generally constitute such an intention.

Therefore, the employer cannot:

• to deduct from the employee's salary;
• offset the amount of the fine with sums owed to the employee;
• to automatically obtain reimbursement based on a clause in the employment contract;
• circumvent these rules by subsequently filing a legal claim for reimbursement.

A clause that systematically makes the employee bear the fines paid by the company does not therefore allow us to disregard the principle limiting the financial liability of the employee.

The best way to avoid this difficulty remains designating the driver before paying the notice.

In what cases might the employer have to bear the fines?

The personal responsibility of the driver is nuanced when the offence was caused by the employer's instructions, by the organization of work or by negligence attributable to the company.

In a ruling dated November 20, 2019, the Court of Cassation upheld the conviction of an employer to reimburse an employee for parking fines.

The judges noted, in particular, that the company:

• had not given sufficiently precise instructions on what to do in the absence of free parking;
• had not organised coverage of parking costs necessary for professional activity;
• had given instructions that could be interpreted as requiring parking only in free spaces;
• had, for one of the offences, neglected an obligation falling under his responsibility concerning the vehicle.

The employer cannot therefore organize work in such a way as to make the commission of offences practically inevitable, and then make the employee bear the financial consequences.

Normal expenses necessary for professional activity, such as regularly incurred parking fees, must be distinguished from fines penalizing the driver's personal behavior.

Can a driving licence suspension for an offence committed in one's private life justify dismissal?

When an offence is committed outside of working hours and place, it is in principle considered to be in the employee's personal life.

The resulting suspension or cancellation of a driver's license cannot, in itself, justify disciplinary dismissal. An offense committed in one's personal life does not automatically constitute a breach of professional obligations by the employee.

However, a non-disciplinary dismissal may be considered when the deprivation of the license objectively prevents the employee from performing the functions for which he was recruited.

The employer must then consider, in particular:

• if driving is an essential function of the position;
• the duration of the license suspension;
• the concrete consequences of this suspension on the functioning of the company;
• the possibility of a temporary adjustment of duties;
• the possible existence of an available position that does not require driving a vehicle;
• the specific provisions of the applicable collective agreement.

In certain sectors, particularly road transport, contractual stipulations may require consultation and the search for temporary solutions before any termination of the employment contract.

The dismissal must be justified by the objective impossibility of continuing the working relationship normally and not by the desire to punish an offense relating to private life.

On the other hand, when an offence is committed during working hours, dangerous driving behaviour or repeated violations of safety rules may, depending on their severity, justify disciplinary action, or even dismissal.

Can a clause relating to a driver's license be included in the employment contract?

When driving a vehicle is essential to the performance of duties, the employment contract may usefully specify:

• that the employee must hold a license corresponding to the category of the vehicle used;
• that he must maintain the validity of this permit;
• that he must inform the employer without delay of any suspension, cancellation or invalidation;
• that he must respect the Highway Code and the internal rules for the use of vehicles;
• that he must not drive when he no longer has a valid license.

However, such a clause does not automatically transform an offense committed in one's personal life into a disciplinary offense. Its primary purpose is to establish that holding a driver's license is a necessary condition for performing one's duties and to impose an obligation on the employee to provide information.

What precautions should the company take?

An internal procedure for processing employee traffic fines ensures that the nomination deadline is met and payment errors are avoided.

To manage traffic violations committed with its vehicles, the company must implement an internal procedure that allows for:

1. to precisely identify the driver of each vehicle at a specific date and time;
2. to quickly centralize notices of violation;
3. to respect the 45-day period stipulated for the appointment;
4. to inform employees of the consequences of this appointment;
5. to distinguish between professional parking fees and fines;
6. not to make any unilateral deductions from salary;
7. to organize the processing of license suspensions or cancellations;
8. to verify the provisions of the applicable collective agreement.

Maintaining a vehicle allocation register, whether paper or digital, is particularly important. Without a reliable system for identifying the driver, the company risks bearing the consequences of both the initial infraction and the failure to designate the driver.

Key points to remember

The employee identified as a driver must, in principle, personally pay the fine corresponding to the offence he committed.

For automatically detected offences covered by Article L. 121-6 of the Highway Code, the company's legal representative must designate the driver within 45 days.

An employer who pays the fine instead of an employee cannot usually obtain reimbursement afterwards, except in cases of gross misconduct characterized by an intention to harm.

Finally, when a driving licence suspension results from an event in one's personal life, it does not justify disciplinary dismissal. However, it can lead to non-disciplinary dismissal when driving is essential and the loss of the licence makes it impossible to continue the employment contract.

Ultimately, employees' traffic fines should normally be charged to the identified driver, except for offences caused by the employer's instructions or negligence.

Need support?

Managing traffic offences committed with a company vehicle requires reconciling the rules of the Highway Code, disciplinary law and the principles governing the financial liability of employees.

The social law department of ARST Avocats assists companies in setting up procedures for managing company vehicles, drafting contractual clauses and service notes relating to driving licenses, as well as in dealing with the consequences of a suspension or cancellation of an employee's license.

To examine a particular situation or to secure your company's practices, you can contact our firm.