Fired because...

Nope never had this problem. I make them believe that I will call USDOT in a heart beat. As well as every news agency I can.

 

I've often been asked to run an impossible load. And I firmly believe there should be some recourse for a driver who is fired for refusing a load because of his hours....period.

Some times I will, other times I won't. The majority of time I am running 100% legal.

I'm fortunate enough at this time to be working for a company that requires us to run 100% legal at all times...wink, wink. Seriously though, they watch our hours very closely and generally plan our loads accordingly.

But the occasional emergency pops up and our lead dispatcher knows who he can count on to get the job done, in a pinch. He also understands when we tell him no....we mean no.

Good luck with the lawsuit. The DOT can really use the money right now. Doubt they share any of the fine with you though.

 

Questions:

What would calling DOT do?

Running legal MOST of the time? Your either legal or your not, right?
Not being a smartas just asking so that I understand...............

 

I was running a dedicated account out of Ohio....I got to the yard, and where the dispatchers office was....He comes out and says...."Look....I understand you can't do this load legally, but you're the only driver I have that has the hours to even come close to being on time....just do your best"....I took the load, and ran as much as i could....They were expecting me there about 6am the next morning just as recieving closed, but I managed to get there by 3am....

That's about as bad as I ever had to deal with....Whn I was in the system I was always 6-8 hours ahead of the time they wanted the load there by....I'm hoping this still happens since I'm going back to work for this same company in a few weeks...

 

Chances are a full compliance review (CR) would be performed, HM, D & A, CDL, insurance, driver qualification, HOS, and maintenance. Not much fun to be under the microscope for a week to three months depending on the size of the company.

Be safe.

 

TMC Caught the whip for this kind of stuff, and it wasn't much fun for the drivers or anyone else either.

I'm glad to hear about things like this, instead of always seeing the driver taking the heat.

 

Simple for me... if they try to pressure me into running an illegal load, which they love to call a "hot" load, I ask them where's the fire? You tell me it's a hot load, that #### trailer better be on fire. Otherwise if a receiver wanted it on Monday, they'll really want it bad on Tuesday.

 

I used to tell dispatch to send that load information over with a message that said that they would accept all the liability if i was ticketed or their was an accident. They would say "you know I cant do that" and I would say goodnight.