Should a driver pay for leaving their keys inside the truck?

My company pays me well enough that $70 would be no skin off my back, but if I were working for a low-paying, hand-holding, bottom-feeder then I might not make that offer, at least not the first time it happened. Anyway, I would handle it my way, not because it's the "honorable" or "right" thing to do, but simply for a selfish desire to protect my reputation, which in the long-run is what makes all the difference.

 

At any small business in America, that wants to be successful. Ironic huh, that the American dream is to work your ##* off for 50, 60, 70 hours a week to succeed. However most "entrepreneurs" understand investment of time, blood, money and sweat as necessary for success.

 

That is your opinion, you are entitled to it, but I disagree. Your last paragraph was spot on, but in this day an age where steering wheel holders out number truck drivers it probably doesn’t happen very often.
FWIW that is exactly how I would handle it.

 

You're not with holding wages. You either advanced a driver money for/driver paid for an expense that is not reimbursable under company policy.

 

No, it’s not my opinion... it’s the law.

 

Well, that depends on how it’s handled. If driver calls dispatch and says he’s locked out and needs help and he has no way of paying (or will not pay), then the company would have to foot the bill to get the truck moving again. And, they would be breaking the law if they deducted the expense from the drivers pay without a signed written agreement from the driver.

 

10-4

 

Been there, done that. That isn't wages. If there is a company/driver handbook it will list normal reimbursements. Anything else is on a case to case basis. Company might "advance money" under the threat of abandonment but that doesn't make it wages.

 

That greyhound bus ticket will cost more than the locksmith. There's no law in preventing the company from dumping said driver out on the side of the road.

 

Reason 131 why I only run one truck.