A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a trucker who filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her carrier and the co-driver who allegedly harassed her.
Robin Anderson drove for CRST International along with team driver Eric Vegtel starting in 2012. They had only driven together for a few weeks when everything fell apart. Anderson complained to her supervisors that Vegtel had been sexually harassing her with inappropriate remarks, gestures, innuendo, and propositioning her for sex.
During one encounter, Anderson claimed that while their truck was broken down, they had been forced by CRST to share a motel room. At one point, Anderson woke up to see that Vegtel had taken off all of his clothes and was sitting on her bed.
According to the complaint against CRST, the company did not investigate her charges. CRST claimed that they took steps to remedy the situation by reassigning Vegtel, but they had to fire Anderson because she failed to report to work. As the court ruling points out however, “although CRST argues that Anderson failed to report to work, Anderson insists that after hearing her complaint she never received any work assignments.”
The judge ruled that CRST had actually fired her in retaliation for submitting the complaint.
This ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a previous decision by a lower court which found that there was not sufficient evidence to prove that there was a hostile work environment.
This is not the first time CRST has been caught up in sexual harassment lawsuits. The company was involved in a multi-million-dollar class action suit brought against it by a group of female truckers and trainees who claimed they were routinely sexually harassed. The case ended up going all the way to the Supreme Court before some claims were dismissed and at least one was settled.
Source: findlaw, overdrive, ccjdigital, businessinsurance, ccjdigital, kcrg
Females are harassed on a DAILY basis, only because of insecure males! They perpetuate the same old rhetoric that proves they are just insecure,there are no two ways about it. And when a female stands her ground they can’t handle it and never will and until people start raising their male child differently, in ways that does not make him think he is superior nothing will change!
It’s not just the companies it’s also their clients shippers and receivers the list is long. I fight back and bring them to their knees and let their coworkers watch as they crumble under an alpha female !
I bet they don’t choose me again!!!
Why a man would ever put himself at risk or a woman for that matter get in a truck and train with a person of the opposite sex is just asking for a bucket of problems. Sexual harassment is high on cases of litigation so why be a bullseye?
When I was thinking about getting into trucking, I was contacted by CRST to join them. Before I committed, I researched online and talked to a lot of people, including friends who were truckers. I heard that this sort of situation is not that uncommon, and I should be prepared for it when it happened. Being a woman formerly in the tech field, I was used to being treated differently by men in the business, but at least there I wasn’t forced to spend the night with them in a small metal box on a daily basis. I decided not to go forward into trucking.
I don’t know who you talked to but you never have to be stuck in a truck with a man. There are female trainers. You can specify whom you choose to team with or you go solo. I personally chose to have a male co driver and have never been harassed by him. Of course you get hit on a lot, it’s a bunch of guys that haven’t been home in awhile…but these guys out here look out for you being a female a heck of a lot more than they harass you!! There are so many female friendly companies. There’s no reason to put all men in a box by their profession and say because of said profession they’re all sexual deviants.
I worked for CRST, and yes you can request a female trainer and a female co-driver, but the fact is there are aren’t a lot of either. So if that’s what you request, you will usually end up waiting a few weeks after orientation to get with a trainer, and then after training, depending on where you live you may have to wait a few more weeks to get a female co-driver, and you don’t make any money during that waiting time. As far as driving solo, CRST is strictly a team driving company, so unless something happens to your co-driver and he or she gets sent home for some reason, they don’t send you out solo. If something does happen and you get stuck solo, it only lasts until they can get another co-driver -driver yourself.
Agreed!
Shouldn’t put women and men together in the truck. Easy fix.
Don’t blame you Laurie. Not a bit. The better trucking days are long gone now anyways and the industry is full of no class degenerates that companies who are desperate for drivers hire just to get somebody in the seat without doing much of a vetting process.
A year ago I was ‘shopping around’ for another carrier just to see what was out there. Normally it takes a couple of days once you apply for a company to do their due diligence and get your background, previous employment history, any criminal history, driving record etc.
I applied online before noon and less than 2 hours later I received a call from them stating everything checked out and when could I start. Really? If that was the extent of their background research on me I can only imagine how many snakes they hired that slipped through the cracks and are driving for them that have no business driving a rig, much less driving team with somebody.
You made a good decision not to jump into trucking. I bailed out myself last summer because of all the bs I got fed up dealing with and I don’t miss it one bit. I’m working in real estate now and love it.
The best days in trucking are nothing but a distant memory now and just a spec in the rear view mirror.
The trucking industry has come a long way, but apparently treating females with respect and dignity still is a major problem, it’s the big companies responsibility to have mandatory sexual harassment classes for their drivers and enforce the laws in the books and fire those who break them, this should be a wake up call for companies like CRUST and others who circumvent the system and laws
I trained a female. I have a very good work ethic and my reputation with the company I was with was impeccable.I was the type of driver that the company sent to a customer that another driver pissed off or screwed up something. My job was to to smooth it over and put the company back in to good graces.
I was a trainer and I was picky about the trainee. The female trainee was asked if she would be willing to train with a male trainer as the female trainer was not due back for several weeks. She told them if I wasn’t a smoker and a complete a$$hole. I did my best to be a good trainer and not be a jerk. Things turned out very well as it is now going on 20 years we have been together . So I guess I was not a complete a$$ hole and I still don’t’ smoke.. Not all male / female trainer trainee situations turns out bad.
Some trainers do it for the extra money and really don’t care about personal relationships or any thing else.The biggest reason male trainer and female trainee doesn’t work is basically due to one simple ingredient that is missing. RESPECT. It works both ways.
I trained for Matlack..back in the day. I would NEVER train a female. Not because I have any preconceived notions or biases, but because the harassment can and does go both ways. I’ve been in this industry for 28 years, both Company driver, O/O, and Company Owner.
I was stuck with a male trainer he was the way and I got out of there while I can and I had sexually harassment done to me and he use the peeped bottle while I was driving and it was not suppose to be one on there
As a practical matter seems questionable that men and women would bunk together and run team given very little personal space unless they are husband wife team. Even Husband wife team wants personal space.
If I was a trainer, I would never accept a female student.
I work for CRST, and yes as a female TRUCKER I do get hit ON constantly. Why does it have to happen just because I’m a attractive female? There’s NO justification to what male driver’s do and say to me. Their statement’s are inappropriate,vulgar and even disgusting “. Even after the fact that I make it clear to be proffecional,respectful,and Good work ethics they still think that it’s a turn on for them to say that. I dress appropriate and proffecional and I do nothing to give them a reason to behave in that behavior. On the contrary it Tell’s me their insecure and the group Of the dysfunctional and rejected group of men. I have been driven to the point Of leaving their ASS behind in what ever state we’re at when they’ve crossed over the line excessively with their inappropriate behavior. I’m a female TRUCKER” to work,drive and travel! Nothing more. The Male driver’s I’ve had think I’m going to be their SB night ASS. When they realize it’s not going to be that way, they’ve become rude and then I become a rude “bitch ” so they say. LOL” just because men can’t keep their Pecker’s in place doesn’t justify that I should tolerate their stupidity.