I was hired for a research associate position about a year ago. I accepted this position over others because nowhere in the job description or during my interview was there mention of needing to use my own personal vehicle for off-site recruitment and data collection events. I drive 25-30 miles to work (~50-60 miles a day in just commuting) and for the first time in my life, own a somewhat reliable (but still 6 years old) vehicle, and I’m trying to limit mileage for longevity. I don’t make very much money and want to keep my car operational.
Before I was hired, it was just my boss (lab PI) and their post-doc. My boss would drive the post-doc everywhere if they had an off-site event.
When I was hired, my boss slowly started to pursue more community connections and offsite data collection opportunities (we are a lab that relies on human participants of a certain demographic). I noticed pretty quickly that she would assume I would drive separately to these events using my own car and be the one to pick up the equipment at work and then drive to the location. She doesn’t offer to drive or use a university fleet vehicle. She has resisted compensating me for gas (0.65/mile) for on-campus and in-town events, citing a loophole in University policy that doesn’t technically require her to do so.
She is now leaving much of these events for me to do on my own or to drive our PhD student and/or undergraduate students to the event with me in my car. She has never once asked me to drive, she just assumes I will and acts like my car is the lab vehicle.
This summer we have a data collection event ~130 miles away, which she cannot attend because of a conference. She expects me to go without her and drive our students and equipment in my vehicle. I have expressed to her that I am (a) not comfortable driving students in my personal vehicle, and (b) that I would prefer we rent a fleet vehicle because my car is not an option to drive that distance. Plus, my car is small and will not hold more than 2 passengers with all the lab equipment.
She basically said “we’ll see”, depending on how many other students are coming and if they have their own vehicles. I know what she’s doing, trying to conserve money, but with how much she’ll have to compensate me in gas for the trip, she wouldnt be saving much. Renting a fleet vehicle is $60/day, so for 2 days plus gas it would be maybe $200 (we are staying in organization-sponsored hotels).
How do I have a conversation about this? Can I refuse to drive my car and say it’s not available/the default option for off-site events, especially since its not in my job description? (I’m in Michigan)