The CRST sexual harassment case that started back in 2005 and was handled atrociously by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has taken another turn. A judge has ordered the EEOC to pay CRST $4.7 million to fund attorney fees, court costs, and out-of-pocket expenses.
The suit was originally brought by the EEOC back in 2005 on behalf of Monika Starke, a female driver from Texas who said that the company wouldn’t reassign her after her male trainer repeatedly sexually harassed her. When they were unable to reach a settlement, the EEOC assembled a class action suit on behalf of all female CRST drivers who were subjected to various forms of sexual harassment including crude sexual comments, groping, and even sexual assault by their male trainers.
The EEOC famously mishandled the case when it brought claims on behalf of 270 women, but then couldn’t manage to prepare them all for the case. The judge dismissed the suit when the EEOC failed to have many of the women deposed by the deadline.
Back in February, CRST finally put the case to rest by settling with Monika Starke for $50,000, but only on the condition that they be allowed to continue to pursue compensation from the EEOC for their “unreasonable or groundless claims.”
Of the $4.7 million that the EEOC has been told it must pay, $4.2 million covers attorney fees, $413,000 covers out-of-pocket expenses, and $92,000 covers court costs.
It doesn’t look like the EEOC is going to pay their opponent’s court costs without a fight however. Justine Lisser of the EEOC’s Office of Communications and Legislative Affairs said that the agency is “deeply disappointed in the decision and (is) considering next steps.”
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Source: therepublic, landline
CRST is a terrible company to work for, I worked for them ,they did not pay me my money.they are just using drivers to make money for the owner of the company.they have good lawyers that will get them out this case but law of carma will catch up with them.
When I was hired by CRST, they too set me up with a male trainer. But I had no problems with sexual harrassment, and he was a very good trainer. I was relieved to find he was gay, and preferred men. So I didn’t have a problem in that dept. I feel I just got lucky. But CRST needs to have female trainers available for female students, so there are no future problems. I would also like to add, thats it’s not just the male trainers harassing the female students. When my husband went out with his trainer with CRST, the driver/trainer was rude to him, used fowl langauge, and all around had a extremely bad attitude. If my husband made a small mistake, he got yelled at by his trainer. This driver had no business being a trainer to begin with. My husband had put in a request to be assigned a new trainer, and they took him off the truck and made him wait almost 1 month before they assigned him to someone new.
When both our training was over, and we teamed up as husband and wife, thats when the fun began. My husband ended up breaking his neck for a trailer that we didn’t have to unload. Our driver/manager refused to pay for our lumpers, as he felt $150.00 was too much for 20 pallets and was a break-down load. I felt was extremely fair considering the work involved. So we were forced to unload the trailer ourselves. Almost to the end and finished, when the double stacked pallet on the top decided to give way and come down hitting my husband in the back of his head. C-5, C-6 and C-7 vertibraes were crushed. 5 years of shear hell, from medical appointments, surgeries, workers comp, etc. It wouldn’t have gotten done if it weren’t for our attorney that we were forced to hire. CRST was doing nothing about it, and in hopes that we would have crumbled up and blown away. My husband, by the grace of God! is able to walk and not paralyzed. But he cannot drive anymore, had to give up driving all together. He received perm damage to the nerves in his neck, numbness in both hands, and has hardware in his neck. Thanks CRST! you should learn to treat your drivers with respect.
CRST is simply a company that one never should work for. Best wishes for your husband.
I hear ya! But those don’t mean you can’t drive. I got the exact same thing. c-5 thru C-7, titanium plate screwed into my neck. Numbness and pain in my left arm/hand 5 years out from surgery. I’d prefer not to get bounced around all day…but I got bills to pay.
Leave it to the government to screw up a perfectly legitimate lawsuit. neck ties cause loss of oxygen to small brains……
sounds like someone in the gov made sure EEOC screwed this up on purpose.
whose hand is in whose pocket?
My experience with crst was horrible. My trainers screamed, made me sit in the bunk with no lights or air condition, told me i was not allowed to eat more them one sandwich a day because you are fat 150 pounds, was told explosion made him horny did that make my nipples hard, left me on the side of the road in a rain storm, dispatch made him come back and pick me up. Then they wanted me to pay them for training, i was fighting for survival.
LOL! You lie like a dog! Pretty funny, though. I do love sarcasm. 😀
“Back in February, CRST finally put the case to rest by settling with Monika Starke for $50,000. BUT …Of the $4.7 million that the EEOC has been told it must pay, $4.2 million covers attorney fees, $413,000 covers out-of-pocket expenses, and $92,000 covers court costs.” Look like the “big pay out” goes to the “Legal Whores”,they are called that,because they’ll screw anybody to make big bucks…that includes their own client ! She should have gotten the $4,2 million,after all she was the victim here…not the attorneys. I lost my CDL because the law firm of Crabb,Brown,and James out of Columbus,Ohio never stood up DURING the court proceeding to defend me,but they got paid legal fees I’ll bet.
marten transport is doing all it can to catch up, beware
My trainer was extremely sexually aggressive, and he was another male. I tried to get another trainer, but they told me they would straighten him out which never happened. As a matter of fact, it got worse until I told him if he ever talked to me like that again, or tried to touch me, I would not hesitate to cut his throat. I was very uncomfortable, and feared for my safety, and CRST did nothing to prevent or stop it. They also refuse to pay for reimbursable expenses, such as a hotel room when your shitty truck fails. I went through 7 trucks in 6 months, and had to spend at least 3 days cleaning, exterminating and sanitizing each one
I’m a lead driver for CRST. I often hear through my students how others from their cycles fair. The problem is there is a huge shortage of drivers, so every entry level company hires anyone who has a CDL. Several months later, 90% are gone. In order to train enough drivers, they let anyone with 6 months exp train others. Combine that with the industry wide problem that any antisocial person can still drive, and you have people you want to avoid as trainers. I’ve met a few of them. Most trainers with most companies are really bad at training. Once you make it through training, you get to find a codriver. I went through appx 10 codrivers (narcissist, racist, sexist, drill instructor, the boss, smoking off {and on} the truck, hypocritical perfectionist…) . Eventually I found a great codriver and we ran well for a year until he rolled the rig. Now I train. Besides the difficulty of finding a codriver, this company has no serious issues. When a truck breaks, I’ve often been sent by rental car to another. When a reimbursement is not paid, I send by Qualcomm the load #, transflo receipt #, and the issue. It is fixed that day or the next. Last time I sat 5 days I learned CA had a dock workers strike. Now, my only issues are pay related: 1) If you are between codrivers, running solo, or your codriver is on a safety hold, your pay is cut (15¢ cut for me). 2) pay by home movers guide… If dispatch says it is 900 miles, my GPS tells me it is 1000
… 10% cut. 3) once they start using per diem to help with your taxes, they take 12¢ post tax, give 10¢ pretax. Better than not doing it, but it means they are lying about your pay. 4) no detention pay. 5) layover for 24 hrs free. After that, each full day is $40… So, 47.9 hrs is free, 71.9 hrs is $40.
These are all surmountable. I’ve been looking at other companies, and unless I find a codriver to take with me, I get a pay cut. CRST is not a great company, but if you get a good codriver, it can be a great place to start. Oh, about the lawsuit: document all bad behavior, and let the student coordinator and driver manager know soon and often. The trainer can be fired, but it takes a few students to prove its not just made up. I’ve known students to get a different trainer in only a couple days off truck. If uncomfortable, pack your stuff, send a Qualcomm message, and get off at a truckstop.