A former trucker for Neier, Inc. is taking home just shy of $200,000 after a judge found that the company illegally fired him for refusing to drive past his allowable hours of service.
Michael Butler was fired from Neier on September 14th, 2013. According to the lawsuit he brought against Neier, his termination was in retaliation for an incident just a few days prior when he refused a load which would have forced him to drive for longer than would have been legal.
Luckily for Butler, the Surface Transportation Assistance Act makes it illegal for carriers to punish drivers for refusing unsafe or illegal loads or for refusing to drive when they are too tired or too sick to safely operate their vehicle.
Neier however maintains that they did not fire Butler in retaliation for his refusing to drive, but rather because he had a history of refusing loads without reason, he was two hours late for a meeting with his boss, he was hard to reach on the phone, and he didn’t tell the company about a previous employer when applying for the job.
The judge in the case ruled on Butler’s side on every single one of those claims. For example, the judge pointed to records which showed that the only other time Butler had refused a load was when he said there was something wrong with his brakes – a claim which was backed up by the maintenance report when the truck was taken into the shop for repairs.
Neier will have to pay Butler a total of $182,585 plus undisclosed attorney fees. $122,585 of that is to cover back pay and interest, $50,000 is for punitive damages, and $10,000 in compensatory damages and post-judgement interest. Neier has also been ordered to reinstate Butler to his previous position and to post a notice in its employee notification area for 90 days to tell other drivers about the ruling.
Source: overdrive
This guy sounds like a real sissy… Trying to make easy money. Drive the truck, punk
Looks like the Judge got it right
Praise god it’s about time someone sticks up for truck drivers I’m so glad to here this, companies no matter the size always wants to try and gorse drivers into something and Elogs don’t help companies can Chang that I know it’s been done to me if it benefits the company I hope they get thrower out again but anyway great job!!! Micheal ? And enjoy your winnings I wish the government would crack down on companies instead of drivers that’s where the problem is.
This should be the norm instead of an anomaly. I remember having a load that was late getting loaded and stopping at our terminal where I was informed that I needed to watch a video and lecture on the (new rules). After the lecture from our safety person, went to see what my appointments would be, and out of the 5 stops that I had 2 were illegal according to these silly new rules. When I questioned that, I was told you can work that can’t you?
If we all would point out things like that it would send ripples through the transportation industry that we no longer wanted to be treated as a robot. If I had run those final stops (legally) I would had made maybe 15 miles for the day, I don’t know many people in government that would work for 20$ a day!
Great judgment for the driver…I wouldn’t go back to work for them…They’ll starve him to death!!
lf they are stupid enough to try that ,they deserve to be sued again.I think it was a fair judgment by the court for a change, we win this time.
He is in a perfect position. If he goes back to work for those guys, and they even attempt to do anything, including starving him to death, even in the slightest way, that will viewed as retaliation and after this judgement, they wouldn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of winning another go around. They may despise him, but they sure don’t dare mess with him.
Yep. He has already attempted to go back but carrier is not complying with the order.
Good for him but the problem is it takes WAY too long for such cases to work their way through the system. Good luck finding a good job while you are waiting for a ruling on your cause of action after a company fires you and trashes your DAC..
Why would anyone want to work for them? He is obviously not the only driver they’ve done that to.
Great think I need his lawyer. Please forward any good lawyers keep telling my boss .
If you work Google you will find his attorney.
This could be a good thing for a few, but wait till companies start holding drivers financially responsible for their screw ups. Judgements are too high in these cases.
I would NEVER go back there. They will try to kill him. Something slight, hardly a problem at all , Like ,strucking companies are evil .say, north Dakota in the winter with a junk trailer? Miami in august? They will just keep chipping away at him. They probably won’t even pay,they will go broke instead
Glad to hear of the judgement. I’m in Belgium assessing polices among truck companies now. Wow is all I can say. Belgium has it together
-Dan Van Hee
Caledonia Ontario Canada
I wonder how the BIG TRAINING CARIERS are gonna react to this. They constantly book team loads onto solo drivers who run it legal or illegal in some cases. The solo gets the bad end of the stick because he waits to load then rolls…only to be promised a repower that may or may not take place, AND when it does its usually on the low end of the route causing that solo driver to forfeit his potential earnings for the load and weekly average miles are lowered. Thus the solo trys to refuse these loads that he cannot make and is Threatened to be reprimended if he does not do his part. Stevens Transport of Dallas Texas operates on a system of repowering solos with trainers and student trucks or full teams. Many …as much as 70% of the first year solo drivers are forced to quit because of negative earnings and loosing good loads to scheduled team loads placed on solo drivers. Its a tough choice to turn down any milage espiecally if you work in a AT WILL WORKPLACE STATE like TEXAS and the courts fall to the side.
I worked for a similar company but much smaller judgement. Post lawsuit they where very accommodating when you said you where out of hours lol
Good for him . Screw that scab company . It’s a shame this kinda crap goes on way too often . Now they can pay up ..take out a few full page ads in the media about that companies illegal business practices . Warn prospective customers to go to another trucking company to ship their freight ..
if he does go back to the company you bet your butt that his name will have an asterisk next to it. dispatch will note it as driver is a p—y and can’t handle driving an eleven hour day. dispatchers will only give the driver short or local hauls and may have to sit a day or two between loads. eventually the company can then let him go for poor performance.
Need help, problem! I’m helping out this Drum and Bugle Corp (Pioneer Drum and Bugle Corp) we pulled into Memphis on the 28th of July into a big school parking lot, while waiting for instructions on where to park ( I drive the food truck) the equipment truck was in front of me, I had my head down doing my log book when the other driver had got out of his truck and didn’t set the parking break and it rolled back and smashed the front right side of my truck all into the windshield, good thing the wheel is on the left side were I was sitting, I’m looking for legal help, I live in Milwaukee, 312 522-3961, now I’m being giving the cold shoulder by the owner because I refuse to drive that truck.
I’ve had more than one dispatcher try to force me to drive when I didn’t feel safe doing so or it was illegal to do so. I finally told one pushy one that I’d be happy to leave his truck & his load right where it was sitting & just head home because I wasn’t going to risk my life & the lives of others by driving in unsafe conditions. That was when he finally shut up & let me stay parked until I could safely travel. The companies & the dispatchers will bully the drivers & it’s the driver who gets the fine or gets fired due to an accident under unsafe conditions, or even who dies & takes others with him. Good job, judge!!
But if we a couple hours from home and run out of time, we want to go for it.
AWESOME…GOOD FOR YOU…ITS ABOUT TIME A JUDGE RULED IN THE FAVOR OF A DRIVER PROVING THAT THIS”DISPATCH BULLYING” DOES GO ON ON THE INDUSTRY. Sorry for screaming .As a matter of fact just yesterday my dispatcher got upset at me to the point of threatening to cancel a load and making me sit until Monday waiting on another load if I did not take a load which would have put me over my hours by 2 two and a half drive time hours. this dispatcher knew this was not legally possible. Of course when I called my owner operator and told him of the situation, I had another load which was legally possible to do. I am sick and tired of being asked to break the law by so-called Christian companies. Thanks for letting me rant
Finally!!! That judge rocks!!!!
I am working for a company now that consistently does that. They also tell drivers to go off duty while loading and unloading. They promised home every other night but I haven’t seen it. Unless it’s a holiday or a load gets canceled. They dispatch you so tight that it is impossible to do your next load without falsifying your log. To keep themselves protected they have logs assigned to staff. So if and when you run illegal they doctor the books and tack the time to a dummy log.
The problem is if he tries to look for another job, Google will alert them to the fact that he was involved in a lawsuit and view him as a potential sue-happy employee and not hire him. Good luck with that because $200,000 isn’t enough to retire on.
$200k buys a fine truck, use the load board instead. You don’t need an employer
$200 k judgment is plenty if he invests it instead of living on it. I surely wouldn’t go back 2 work for that company either, no way. Good ruling Mr Judge!