Question:
Hello all,
First of all I am new to posting here but I have read through archives extensively and this seems like a great place for carers to get answers to their questions. I have a dilemma and would like the advice of someone with a background in law or people who have had similar experiences. It’s kind of long though, hope no one minds.
I recently worked for a mid sized popular caring company based in Indianapolis, IN. Upon quitting I was unable to return their car immediately and was unable to talk to my manager due to the holidays. (Christmas/ New Years) The company told everyone in the orientation program that they would provide return transportation for anyone quitting to enable the return of the car. I was mainly waiting to return the car until these arrangements were made since I didn’t feel I should spend money out of pocket.
Soon, I realized it was unrealistic that I would be given arrangements in a timely manner, and I decided to return the equipment at my own expense. I NEVER INTENDED to abandon the car, as I know the consequences of these actions. I did indeed, return the car and trailer to the home terminal and paid for my own way home which totaled a little over one hundred dollars. Seems like everything is fine at this time, I’m just out a little money. Also later I found out my last check was kept for car abandonment and cleaning costs. And yes the car was clean when I returned it.
Now, comes the main problem. I have been trying to acquire employment with a large company that seems to have one of the best company driver packages in the industry. While my DAC report comes back acceptable, when they send my former employer verification, it comes back as abandon car; not eligible for rehire. This company will not hire me, even though the DAC does not report abandonment.
I explain the problem to the recruiter and call the former company to try to settle the dispute. After many calls to different management I was referred back to my previous manager. Talked with him and he agreed that there is no reason it would be considered abandonment. Claimed he would take care of it and asked that I called back to make sure the following Monday. I called him back and was assured that everything was "taken care of." Called the recruiter back and he began the hiring process again. Once again, DAC report was fine, but the fax from the former employer still had the abandon information.
I have called the company again and unfortunately my former manager (who "took care of it") has been unavailable. I need a job and do not want to settle for just anything. I need to be back in a car with a good company that pays well and my former employer is prohibiting that! My main question is this: Is there anything I can do legally to force this company to address the issue, and would it even be worth the time and money? Also, I wonder if the company would be responsible to reimburse me for my travel costs to return the car, the miles I drove to return the car, monies kept from me for the abandonment and from a loss of wages I have incurred due to the issue at hand. Any feedback would be appreciated!
On a side note, I have yet to recieve my w2's for tax purposes. Seems very coincidental to me. Possibly some form of retaliation? My guess is- YES! Take care everyone!

Answer:



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Somethings haywire here?


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I find that unusual at best. Going further, if a caring company stated at orientation "that they would provide return transportation for anyone quitting etc.", I would take that as a bad omen.


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Never, ever spend money out of pocket. PERIOD. You will get burned. I don't care if your load is gonna be late! For example: say the card reader is down ... and the company wants you to pay ca$h for fuel ... so you can deliver on-time. DON'T DO IT! You will get burned.


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Come clean. What's really going-on here?


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That's illegal--and, actionable.


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Yep. What you are describing is nothing new, but rather, par for the course with the DAC group.
You've got big problems. For what it's worth: If it were me, I would find a way to turn this into a STAA case.

Answer:

It seems to me I recall reading in the regs that an employer had to get you back to your place of recruitment at their expense. They cannot just strand you out in the cold and away from home without offering transportation back to the office.
That transportation did not necessarily mean the car you drove or in your time frame. It just means adequate transport back.
I could be wrong and I haven't taken the time to scour the rules for this again.
bc

Answer:

If you are an experienced driver with a clear criminal history, reasonably clean
MVR and good work record, you should not have a problem getting hired by most of the carload carriers. If you have been turned down for a job you really wanted, you should look into the situation. It may be the one you didn’t see coming that got you.
One of the things you can do is review information that has been provided by your previous employers. The Federal Motor carrier safety regulations give you this right, along with several related rights if you don’t like what you find after you have reviewed the information.
Here are three basic rights under §391.23 of the regulations.
The right to review information provided by previous employers.
If you wish to review previous employer-provided investigative information, you “must submit a written request to the prospective employer, which may be done at any time, including when applying, or as late as 30 days after being employed or being notified of denial of employment.” The prospective employer must provide you this information within five (5) business days of receiving the written request
The right to have errors in the information corrected by the previous employer and for that previous employer to re-send the corrected information to the prospective employer;
The previous employer must either correct and forward the information to the prospective motor carrier employer, or notify you within 15 days of receiving your request to correct the data that it does not agree to correct the data. If the previous employer corrects and forwards the data as requested, that employer must also retain the corrected information as part of your safety performance history record and provide it to subsequent prospective employers when requests for this information are received. If the previous employer corrects the data and forwards it to the prospective motor carrier employer, there is no need to notify you.
The right to have a rebuttal statement attached to the alleged erroneous information, if the previous employer and you cannot agree on the accuracy of the information.
If you wish to rebut information you must send the rebuttal to the previous employer with instructions to include the rebuttal in your safety performance history. Within five business days of receiving your rebuttal, the previous employer must:
Forward a copy of the rebuttal to the prospective motor carrier employer;
Append the rebuttal to your information in the carrier’s appropriate file, to be included as part of the response for any subsequent investigating prospective employers for the duration of the three-year data retention requirement.
To summarize, if you have a clean history but can’t get the jobs you want, find out why. Motor carriers are not spending millions of dollars to attract good drivers only to turn them away for no reason. •

Answer:

I am and attorney who represents drivers and am the moderator of this forum. I really need more information before I advise you and I would like to handle that privately.
If you want some free advice, call me at 952-224-9166.
Paul Taylor