Hi fellow Professional Drivers, I am new to this forum, but not new to Trucking. I was attracted to this site when I learned of the ability to report a Trucking Company for BAD FAITH. I leased on with Celadon with great expectations of a mutual profitable partnership. What I have ended up with is an else wise unblemished driving record now ruined! Please allow me to explain:
My day began at 0300 in McCalla Al. Celadon was supposed to have a load waiting for me on the yard, in Greensboro, NC. to carry me a little closer to the house in Jacksonville, NC. Having relayed the load on time (1100) I was tired and anxious to get home. At this point, I had been gone from home for 3 weeks.
As with most major trucking companies, Celadon has a requirement of "Time off request" being requested and approved seven days in advance. My approval had been transmitted as such.
Greensboro, NC is approximately 198 miles from Jacksonville or roughly 3.5 legal hours, more if a driver gets caught in the Friday evening commute.
I received a Quaalcom message asking me if I would like for them to find me something closer to home, I replied "Yes Please". I then received a message to reset my PTA (Time available) I did so setting my PTA for the following Monday at 1500.
I was then directed to set my PTA for the current time (IE. 1200) I did so stating my remaining drive time as 3.75 hours.
I had already caught my log up, scanned my trip sheet and B/L and was only waiting on the promised load to take me home.
At 1300 I received a message to go inside and see the Terminal Manager. Upon so doing I learned that I was to drive somewhere in Greensboro to a clinic and take a Random Drug Test. I explained to the terminal manager that I didn't have enough hours to comply. I was told that I did. Not one to argue, I called my DM (Driver Manager) and ask what was going on. The DM stated that my time off was no longer in the system and that I had enough hours to comply.
I promptly told the DM, safety representative and the operations manager that I had no problem taking a drug test anywhere that was within a 50 mile radius of the house, anywhere of their choosing, but not in Greensboro where I would have to set for another 10 hour break. I was told by the Ops Mgr that perhaps that could be arranged. I put my big truck in gear and headed for home. Half way home the Ops Mgr called to inform me that I would be terminated unless I returned to Greensboro to take the random. I told him it wasn't going to happen in Greensboro!
Immediately upon arriving at home, (4 hrs after the drug test was requested) I drove my pickup to the clinic and paid for a Federal DOT Random Drug Test out of my own pocket. The negative results were faxed to Celadon's Safety department.

Unfortunately for me, I am now required to attend a Substance Abuse Program before being allowed to drive my commercial vehicle again. Celadon not only terminated me, but DAC'd me. As a result, very few trucking companies will ever consider me for employment, effectively blacklisting me. It's easy for a tired driver who has been away from home for an extended period of time to make a hasty decision, it very difficult to overcome the consequences. A decent trucking company in touch with their drivers and concerned with their driver's welfare would not have put the driver in this position to begin with. Too late now for a driver who just wanted to get home.

In the past there has been several instances where I have requested, and received time off approval, only to be told that the time off approved is no longer in the system. (Never an explanation from Celadon)

So please think long and hard before you sign on with this company.

Not to bust your bubble, but you should be lucky they didn't fire your butt for refusing a drug test!

NO D.O.T. would hassle you for going over your 70 for a urinalisys.
You should have went IMMEDIATLY to the clinic and donated a cup of pee!
As for Celedon doing something wrong, I don't see it.

Drug tests' take priority over everything else, as do Alcohol test.
You could have shown 15 min. for a piss test and 3.5 hours to the house and had a LOT LESS worries.

AS an O/O for years, I have NEVER made any stink what so ever about a test, I do it at the company's request, THEN I TELL them I am going home. They dont like the "Home" part, they can kiss my butt! I would tell THEM what I will and will NOT do with my truck , but the DOT regs, I fully comply.
My favorite response to a Company that TELLS me to do "X" with my truck:
"You start making the payments on this truck, and only then may you dictate where it goes!"
Never been canned nor ran-off from a company for this attitude.

I don't think they intended to do you wrong in this case. If the Feds order a drug test for someone, the company's hands are tied, and the driver must report. Hey, it happens sometimes.

In your case, however, I would have been demanding time off after the test.

__________________
Z-Lady's devoted hubby.

You must understand that while them requesting that you appear for a drug test, would have royally screwed up your getting home without taking a ten hour break, it's also rule that cannot be screwed around with. The company has to document the place and time you were notified to report for a random, and the collection site must document when you arrive. Any unusual delay from a reasonable travel time to the collection site, is going to net the company a serious violation of the FMCSA part 40 rules.

You simply cannot do that. The wiser alternative would have been to remain there for a clarification and an alternative collection site near your home, and in the absense of that being afforded, there was a way to have done this and still retained your driving time. You could have simply logged all the time on line four, assuming that you had enough time under the 14 hour rule to allow for it. In fact, you could have logged the travel times on line one, and only the time spent at the collection facility on line four.

All meaningless, because the rules mandate that the process has to be at the motor carriers' direction and control throughout the entire process. However, because you did this, it will allow you to clear the SAP process with a bit more ease, because there will be a little more doubt that you were actually attempting to avoid a drug test because you were dirty.

And unfortunately, they were well within the guidelines for doing so, because you essentially refused to appear for a random screening. The rules are clear on this. I have every ounce of sympathy for what happened to you, but this is a hard lesson to learn, and I hope that every driver who runs across this thread understands one thing.

When you are told to appear for a random test, you drop EVERYTHING and get it done. Fix the problems later, if there are any.

In a perfect world, we wouldn't be considered guilty before we prove our innocence.

Don't you just love playing games?

I don't know what you had invested in terms of time with that company, but I do not place them high on my list of companies worth a hoot, so outside of the fact that you have to fix a big issue on your record, you probably haven't lost much.

This is another fine circumstance, where a little communication and consideration on their part could have resulted in your being retained as a viable associate, but who has the time these days to communicate and consider important things like this. After all, they were merely in the middle of counting the minutes until THEY were going home to their families, so how can they be the least concerned when you will see yours?

The fact that you did take a drug test, will be your ace in the hole...a small one, but evidence that you were not intentionally avoiding taking a random.

I wish you well.

You need to get a hold of a transportation lawyer and talk to them.



My question is that he took his test 4 hrs after being requested. Is it or is it not within the allotted time that DOT allows for after being informed you must take a test?





I would take it from your comments some explanation to why Landstar got a little worked up on my last random. They called me around 8 to 9 AM while I was at home and told me to go take a random that day. I was already planning on going to town for errands that afternoon. When 5 PM eastern was approaching they got a bit concerned when I hadn't called them with the paper work number. I reminded them that I had told them I would do it that evening. The clinic stays open till 9pm. Oh OK, MAKE SURE YOU GET IT DONE TODAY


So you are saying that a test must be done with-in a couple hrs of them informing the driver? I was under the impression a guy had 12 hrs or some thing like that in which to go in.

The FMCSA allows the Motor Carrier to set forth the policy they see fit in terms of time allowed to appear for a random screening. The carrier can also alter it as they see fit, according to the expected and reasonable time that it should take for a driver to arrive at the collection facility. The factors can include where the driver is at the time he is notified, how far he is from the collection site, and the carrier will usually provide a window of opportunity to report for collection. It can be 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, or even more.

Most carriers will document the fact that there was absolutely no reason why the driver did not report as instructed. In this case, he was not under a load, not under dispatch, and thus was free to report to the collection site, and he was very local to the collection site when he was notified. There's nothing to challenge. He made a bad decision, and I'm sure he knows this.

The key thing here is, the rules call for the driver to be notified at the time he is informed that he is to report to the collection site that the carrier directs the driver to, and how long he has to report for collection. All of this is recorded in a log that the motor carrier is required to keep. They obtain the time the employee arrived at the site from them, and record that time as well in the log.

The problem with the way it was handled here, is that he took it upon himself to take the test at a collection site, OTHER than where he was directed to do so. It invalidates the entire process, and Celedon is within their rights to consider that a refusal to report for a random screening, and report it as such.

That's rather liberal, but not unheard of. I've always had a time established at the time I was notified, that would be considered too late if I failed to report. When I was notifed while at home one time, I was afforded much more time than what would be afforded if I was in the office of the company.

It's all up to the carrier. The FMCSA does not establish minimum or maximum times. However, in audits of the records, they look for inconsistencies in times afforded to report for random screenings, or any evidence of record tampering. The company is to have a written policy in place for examination by an auditor. If there are deviations from that policy, or inconsistencies in times afforded some employees, those eyebrows are going to twitch.

The motor carrier is also required to submit their records of all testing to the FMCSA by March 15th each year, and retain all records for five years on the premises.

Some companies are more liberal than others. My current company tests for randoms in one place and with one facility, and I have thirty minutes to report, but then I will be asked if I am free at the moment before they drop the bomb. I know that what my next course of action is, will be to immediately walk to my truck and drive the two miles to the collection facility.

I wasn't given an exact time deadline, and I communicated with the original caller that I was going to town that AFTERNOON for errands and was that OK with them.


I know that random testing is nothing to screw with.

I've been with Celadon for over 2 years and have NEVER seen or heard of a Co more reliable/concerned with meeting their requirement for driver home time! The requirement for a QCOMM msg requesting home time then followed with a approval is close to being the word of God with Celadon. A DM must explain in person to the CEO any time a drivers arrival at home isn't on time per the approval msg. Also for those that don't know of Celadon, They have you arrive home by noon the day before your off time is to start and you are not available for dispatch again til 0800 the day after your home time ends.
Others have responded to the Pee Pee stuff so I won't go there other than to say the Celadon term there has a company van for just such thing. They would have gladly taken you to the test so you didn't have to drive at all.
My friend I'm sorry for your trouble but it sounds like most of it was brought on by yourself.
Best of Luck to YOU!!

I have, but that's really not the subject here. Apparently, the random screening overrode the need to see that this man got home that night. I don't get any impression that he was difficult to work with, based on how he presented the set of events that led up to his dismissal.

That may be the case, but I seriously doubt that there are not problems in getting one home on time, every time. The nature of trucking itself prevents that from being the case at times.

If hours were short, that would have been a viable option to overcome that problem as well. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like they offered any assistance in seeing that the difficulty presented to him with being short on hours, was worked out to his satisfaction as well.

I'm sure he understands this. The good thing is that someone, or a bunch of someone's will read this thread, and understand that not following the rules as they are, could cause them immense difficulties, including the having to weather more time off to fix the problem, than they dared wanted.

Now...for my reference on them:

I had a personal experience with Celedon, after checking them out several years ago, when I wanted to lease on a couple of trucks to them. I liked what I learned about them, and to make a long story much shorter, I found the welcoming I received when I drove 435 miles to Indianapolis, Indiana from my home, to be less than acceptable. My practice was always to sign on with a company first, before I would send a driver up there with a truck.

I arrived at the terminal, checked in, and was handed a key to the "on-site motel" room that had been reserved for me. When I went upstairs and opened the door, I was greeted with the site of four military style cots in a very small room that had to be about 100 degrees at the time I opened the door. Three of the cots had people's stuff on them, so I knew that I was the fourth to be sharing this small, and very sparse room, and as the last to check in, the cot I was to use was located directly under the heat vent that was blowing out some rather stifling hot air, with no respite in store.

I went downstairs, and inquired of the less than friendly man who was behind the desk about the situation, and was basically told that this was like it was, and that no other accomodations were available, unless I wanted to search for them on my own, and at my own expense. I pondered the situation, and after he made it clear that the heat could not be adjusted, nor did he seem interested in checking into why it was so darned hot up there.

I nicely handed him the key back, thanked him and informed him that I would not be there in the morning for orienation, walked out the door and went to the parking lot with my stuff, got into my car, and drove back to Chattanooga as fast as I could. Those people called me five times a day for a week, before they quit bothering me. Thanks, but no thanks was not good enough for the recruiter.

Now I ask you, if the welcome they give a driver is so detestable, what gives me any reason to think that I would have much better working conditions to look forward to, had I put those trucks on with the company?

I will never forget that experience as long as I live, and it left a lifetime impression upon me of that company. Call me spoiled, but if a company has to throw four people into bunkhouse, while representing it as a motel room over the phone, and will not spring for more comfortable accomodations as a way to welcome a driver to their company, don't expect me to think very highly of them, nor suspect that they are financially fit.

I have no idea if this is still the accomodations that is offered to new drivers, but if it is, I know that I was not the first, nor the last one to walk away from them BEFORE they got their hooks into a driver. I have no problem with a company that would attempt to provide on-site accomodations, but what I saw that day was ridiculously inadequate, and totally misrepresented.

It's one of the reasons why I have always adopted the general rule of driving myself to an orientation site, and retrieving the vehicle later, if all goes okay. If not, I'm prepared as I was on that day to leave on my own.

Trust me, it was a learning experience, because I have never forgotten to inquire into the EXACT accomodations that I will be receiving since that day. Never before, and never after, have I been asked to share a room with strangers, nor would I.

Did you see Dateline on NBC......*****Per terms of service , you can't post internet shorthand for cuss words**********LMBO would probably be all right****kc0rey******