Roehl begins contracts to work there?!?!?!!

The way my letter states is this. They essentially give you a line of credit aka an advance of $3000 split into five parts the first 4 months. You are responsible for repayment of you don't complete at least 75000 miles with them.

 

OK, that helps. One would assume though that if you don't take any advance, you don't owe anything? As long as it's just an option that they're offering, seems reasonable/fair.

Edit: I just realized the original poster is likely describing the terms of the sign-on / stay-on bonus. You can take that as an advance (which, of course, you have to pay back if you don't drive the number of miles needed to earn the bonus), or, not take the advance and wait until you've driven the necessary number of miles and then get the entire bonus at that time. Be aware though -- the bonus isn't truly yours until it shows up in your paycheck, several weeks after you've hit the mileage number. If you leave before the bonus is actually paid (even though you drove the required number of miles), you lose the bonus.

 

This is a perplexing issue worth investigating. But of course, the only way to get accurate, up-to-date information about this is or any Roehl policy is to ask Roehl. Trying to get the "truth" in an online forum is a fools errand. Some of us know not whereof we speak and some of our information is old.

 

Correct; I was just offering another explanation for what the OP was seeing, hopefully to encourage them to ask more questions.

 

I've had several students lately that obtained their CDL's elsewhere, and not one has mentioned any such a contract.

 

This is what I received last week:

Congratulations on your acceptance into the Roehl Transport Safety and Job Skills Training Program (“SJSTP”)! This powerful and effective education and training program will prepare you for a successful career as a heavy duty truck driver.


We’ve made tuition reimbursement a part of our training program. This program relieves you from the heavy financial burden of paying for your schooling because we will reimburse you the cost of your tuition at the rate of $150.00 per month for attending an approved truck driving school, up to a maximum amount of $6,000. You earn tuition reimbursement when you complete 75,000 paid solo miles. Please provide us with a paid and itemized receipt showing the amount of tuition you paid and we’ll get started on reimbursing you.


You will acquire valuable experience, training, and information concerning the competent, safe, and efficient operation of tractor/trailers. Roehl will expend a significant amount of time, money, and effort to provide you with first class job training through our program.


To help you out financially while you’re learning how to be successful as a heavy duty truck driver, we’ll provide you with a $1,500.00 advance as a longevity bonus to help ensure you’ve got good “cash flow” during the early part of you driving career.


This letter explains our financial commitments to one another. As much as we want to avoid the language of lawyers, we have to be particular about using precise language to govern this financial relationship, which is what we will explain next.


This agreement is between you and Roehl.


Credit Line. On this date, in return for the value you receive from the SJSTP, you promise to repay to Roehl for the value of the SJSTP, the sum of $3,130.00, which Roehl has expended for payment on your behalf for the SJSTP.


Advance on pay. You’ll earn $1,500.00 in bonus pay upon completion of driving 75,000 paid solo miles for us. We’ll advance you your $1500.00 bonus when you are actively at work in five installments: $200.00 the first week following your graduation from Phase 2 then, $100.00 per week for the next three weeks and finally, $1,000.00 the first week following 4 months of employment.


Interest Charge. Roehl will impose a 0% interest charge per month on any unpaid balance when and if you are employed by Roehl. If you do not satisfy the agreement, interest will accrue at the maximum rate allowed by law.


Promise to Pay. By signing this agreement, you promise to repay to Roehl the value of the SJSTP, tuition we’ve reimbursed you that you have not yet earned, and any advances on your pay received but not yet earned if you do not complete 75,000 paid solo miles for any reason which shall include, but is not limited to termination (with or without cause), voluntary termination by you, or inability to work for any reason. This debt goes away when you have completed 75,000 paid solo miles.


You begin earning paid solo miles after your graduation date from Phase 2 Training and when you receive your first load assignment.


Deduction of Amounts Owed From Wages. By signing this agreement and acknowledgement of pay advance, you agree to allow Roehl to offset and deduct any and all amounts owed by you from any pay owed by Roehl to you pursuant to this agreement, provided that any deduction will not contravene state or federal law or reduce your wage to the extent prohibited by any state or federal law.


You are still obligated to pay Roehl for any balance owed for the value of training that is not deducted from your pay and any advances on your pay received but not yet earned. Roehl can bring a claim against you for any sum or sums owed to Roehl. You agree that if Roehl is forced to bring such a claim, Roehl shall be entitled to recover all costs and expenses incurred in connection with that claim and the collection efforts leading up to it, including but not limited to reasonable attorney fees.


If Roehl is not able to recover the entire balance owed for the value of training and for any advances on your pay that you received but did not yet earn then, you agree to repay these amounts within thirty (30) days of your separation date.


Default. If you fail to repay the entire balance within thirty (30) days following your separation date, you understand and agree that Roehl will immediately begin collection proceedings to recover the entire unpaid balance.

If this agreement or pay advance or any part thereof is not paid when due and is placed in the hands of an attorney for collection, or if this agreement or pay advance is collected by lawsuit or through other proceedings, you agree to pay the reasonable attorney’s fee and court costs associated with collection efforts. Should you not satisfy the agreement, interest will accrue at the maximum rate allowed by law.


Term. This agreement has a stated term, which begins on the date you sign it and is ongoing until you have satisfied the terms of this agreement.


Waiver. This agreement is the final agreement between the parties and may not be contradicted by evidence of prior, contemporaneous, or subsequent oral agreements of the parties. There are no unwritten oral agreements between the parties.


Applicable Law. You acknowledge that the aforementioned debt exists and know of no reason why the debt is not a valid debt, or of any defenses to your obligation to repay the debt. This agreement and the rights and obligations of the parties to it shall be governed by and construed and interpreted in all respects with the laws of the State of Wisconsin.


I understand that by signing this agreement, I agree to the terms of this agreement.

 

Yep, have seen that being started now.

 

This might have an interesting effect on recruitment.

 

I've been thinking over the last day or so, what might have caused Roehl to begin a policy like this. I don't have any visibility to their internal decision-making, of course, but having run a business myself during various times in my life, I can imagine it was a decision they considered pretty carefully. So read this and see what you think.

We've all read comments that various drivers have made on this and other forums in the past...variations of "Roehl is a good company to start with...get your training there then move on to another company once you get enough experience for another company to hire you." (Just why someone would want to move to a different company is not really important to this discussion, so I'm not going to get into that...besides, there are as many opinions on that as there are drivers.)

Historically, most of the "non-training" trucking companies -- those that don't hire people right out of CDL school -- would typically require at least one year of experience, or even two years minimum for some of the companies that are hardest to get into. That one or two-year minimum would give Roehl, and other "training" companies like them, time to recoup their investment -- which is substantial -- before a driver was able to leave and sign on with a non-training company.

Lately, it's been in the news that there's been more demand for drivers industry-wide as the US economy continues to recover and older drivers retire. The drop in the price of diesel fuel also makes shipping by truck (vs. by railroad, for example) more economical than it would have been even 6 months ago. All these things tend to increase the demand for drivers.

And as the demand for drivers increases, trucking companies are finding that they may not be able to be as picky and selective with their years-of-experience requirements. What may have been a one-year minimum before, becomes nine or six months. Six months might become three months, and so on. You can maybe see where this is going -- basically, if too many fresh-out-of-school drivers sign on with Roehl and then jump ship in say, three or six months to go somewhere they perceive has "greener grass" (Roehl's phrase), it could put Roehl in a tough spot -- they've spent a fair amount of money on something they wouldn't be able to recover their investment on.

So, my theory is that since the minimum experience required in the industry is under pressure to drop, Roehl had to come up with some (other) way to ensure that drivers stay with them at least long enough for Roehl to recoup their investment in training those new drivers. (And having gone through it myself, I do agree that the training they give you is hard to beat.) It's maybe a little surprising at first to see something like this pop up, but it could be that they're just reacting to these trends in the industry and doing what they felt they had to do. The alternative might have been to stop hiring fresh-out-of-school drivers and start requiring prior trucking experienece, which would arguably have been a worse thing to have to do.

It would be interesting to see if other trucking companies that hire fresh-out-of-school inexperienced drivers have, or will start, agreements like this.

 

Like so many others on here, I am getting back in the seat after a 17 year absence. I spoke to a recruiter at KLLM today and she told me that I would have to sign a 6 month contract even though I would be going to CDL school elsewhere