Lawsuit Against Swift Transportation Forced labor Minimum wageThis lawsuit is brought

I agree that some lease contracts can be a bad choice for some,but the lease works pretty muh the same at all co's not all but most.This is what I see as aunion complaint pure and simple.driver's go into a lease with the idea of being in buisness for them selfs they knew what was invilved going in and to make money you have to take risk.risk is involved with every buisness some make it some dont some work hard some dont.this is a get some thing for nothing law suit.just my point and no i do not work for swift.so go head hammer me if you want this is just what i think.and if your going to do a suit like this then you need to bring it against them all.

 

LMAO....Trucker Wives Magazine?? Seriously??? Yuh...there's an unbiased and respected periodical.

As for the case in the initial post, yes. This has been ongoing for a long time and will likely not be settled for a long time. The last time a similar suit was filed and won by lease ops, Swift eliminated the offering of medical insurance for the group rate premium to lease ops. Now, I have to buy my health insurance on the open market. Other than that and some minor contract changes, it's business as usual. Thanks for nothing, plaintiffs. Way to "help" your fellow lease operators.

That said, "business as usual" seems to be working great for me.


Gary7, do you honestly think my, or anybody else's, memory is that short? Are you going to make me link to your very first thread on these forums? Still without a job, as a direct result of your own doing and, rather than find something productive to do, you're back on here digging up stuff we already know about. Them's some pretty sour grapes!

 

I certainly hope that the plaintiffs prevail, but I highly doubt it happening. There is no doubt in my mind that Swift "owns" the judge that is going to hear the case. Judges have become 'hatchet men" for corporations. They play golf together, they go to the same country club, they are basically (edited by moderator). There is no "justice" in our courts today, only money talks and Swift will make very sure of that.

 

I don't get the idea behind all the lawsuits. There are literally thousands of trucking companies out there. If you don't like the way one of them does business, go find employment elsewhere. Or is that too simple?

 

This kind of stuff happens everywhere, and most people do not get it.

Just a general comment, but to the people that want to go after "big business" owners and make them "pay their fair share", that's fine, but the "evil" owners will NOT cut their quality of life.

Want to make them pay more taxes? Ok good work because they will then simply cut your benefits to make up for it (like mentioned above).

It's not always as simple as it sounds, there are always unintended consequences for making other people "pay"? It will come from somewhere.

 

And I will admit. I have a manufacturing plant, we almost touched $15 million in sales for 2011. Business has been slow for the past month or so, and I will cut workers overtime and benefits before I cut my own pay. It's my business, I work the most out of everyone, I put out the fires 7 days a week, and that's the way it is.

I pay nearly 100% of all my employees health insurance (I make them pay $10 a week for a family plan). And when some of them griped about going from 50 hours a week down to 45 recently I lost it!

Don't like it? Run your own business.

 

One of the biggest problems are frivolous lawsuits.
I could understand suing a company if the company truly did something that was negligent causing injury or death...the shyster ambulance chasing lawyers are the problem nowadays.

They don't care about you per say..they just see you as $$$$.

 

Exactly.

You work long & hard, sacrificing time, energy, and putting at risk everything you've got to get a business started. It may take YEARS for it to get off the ground, meanwhile you're working 20+ hour days 6-7 days per week trying to grow the business and make it succeed.

Then your long, hard work pays off. Business picks up, and you can grow...hire a few people to "help" you with some of the tasks. Before long, you've got a handful of employees under you...and you grow a little more. Your first employees are promoted into newly created management positions and more employees are hired to continue growing the business.

Then somebody gets PO'd because they think that just the mere fact that they happen to punch a clock at your business entitles them to some sort of ownership interest in the business....they forget that it isNOT their job...that it is YOUR job which you have been kind enough to allow them to fill for as long as they remained useful in helping to grow your business. They forget that they are free to leave at any time to seek employment elsewhere, as they have NOTHING invested in the business other than a week or two of their time (which will be paid next payday).

So they sue. They call it "wrongful termination" or some other BS like that when in reality, they weren't pulling their own weight...you weren't making any profit from having them fill that position for you, so you fired them.

What's worse, though, is when a person CHOOSES to go into business for themselves, yet DEMANDS they still be treated like an employee. They sign a contract taking responsibility for the tools of their trade...whether it is a bank loan to buy the tools, or a lease contract to rent them...and proceed to "go into business" for themselves. Then, they are unwilling to put the effort into their new "business" and when it fails, they sue the company they contracted their services to in order to gain "employee" status.

Read the friggin contract. EVERY contract you sign. Read it. Every word of it. If you don't understand a part of it, read it again. If you STILL don't understand it, find someone else (i.e. a lawyer you hire) to read it and explain it to you. If you sign the contract, you are bound by that contract....whether you read it or not, your signature on that contract is saying you read and understand the contents of that contract.

So if you are stupid enough to sign a contract taking on lease payments on a truck for 3 years whether you are still in the truck or not, guess what...you are responsible for those lease payments whether you are in the truck or not. Read & understand the contract BEFORE you sign, and don't sign a contract where you are agreeing to ridiculous terms. If you can't do that one simple little thing, don't go crying to the courts claiming you were hoodwinked into a bad deal.

If you want to be your own business, ACT like it. Take responsibility for it, and take the time to do things right. If you screw up, own it...LEARN from it...and figure out what you need to do going forward. It's your business, your responsibility. Don't go crying to the courts to have yourself declared "still an employee"...because that decision affects everyone else out here trying to do it right.

I own my truck. It is my business. I contract my services to a motor carrier, running under their authority. I am not an employee, and have no interest in being one. As such, whenever a L/O sues a motor carrier to try to gain "employee" status, I have to side with the motor carrier.