EEOC Brings Class Action Against Prime for Sex Discrimination

And how much time and money should one have to spend to 'prevail' against false claims,which according to you,will happen?

If you could see into the future,and see a false accusation being made against yourself, would you avoid the situation which would lead to this false accusation,or would you just go along,confident that you would 'prevail'?

I guess i'm too lazy. I'd rather avoid a problem,than have the problem occur and have to find a solution,but as i said,might be that's just me.

 

And what if the instructor then decides he no longer wishes to train? Should the company force him to continue to train? And what about females qualified to train,should the company force them to become trainers?

 

That is a very open minded and good philosophy,but wouldn't it overcome your not having the temperance and patience to be a trainer?

 

This is a very difficult topic to debate with a key board and is also one of the most frustrating as well, especially for people who have done things a certain way for years. I am also in that boat and had to learn to understand the world and the direction it's going, I do speak from experience and can tell you that eventually the trucking industry will have to accept it or it will be forced upon them.

 

Negative. I know where my shortcomings are. I will not place another person in the position of dealing with my high expectations. I am a perfectionist. I expect perfection from anyone who would drive MY truck. My level of perfection is intolerable for someone just starting out and I do not tolerate mistakes well. I am very good at my job. I provide excellent service to my customers. When my company is having difficulty with a customer because of poor service, perceived issues with drivers or just because the customer is, well, difficult, I am the one sent in to handle the customer. When I leave, 95% of the time, that customer is more comfortable with my company. Further, my company has a better idea what exactly is required to keep that customer happy. The other 5% wouldn't be happy if we hand stacked every box and paid them to do it.

The key to having a successful company with happy customers and employees is find out what your employees are good at and enjoy and place them in those positions. Forcing an otherwise excellent employee to do something he or she detests and is terrible at doing only lowers the quality of your company. I don't mind doing training as long as it does not involve my equipment or living with someone for weeks.

In other words, I will teach log books, weight distribution, paperwork, PTI, how to perform minor repairs, but I will never make a good road instructor. Otherhalftw is the guy for that job.

Besides. When you send me in to smooth over an unhappy customer, the last thing you want is for a student to back over his new Corvette. There's no way I would be able to fix that.

 

Companies should be able to establish their own polices concerning training or anything else, without fear of litigation. If you continue to put men and women together in a closed area and for an extended period of time, an incident will happen. It is only a matter of when. I think that most people will act responsibly, but it is the one who doesn't that will cause the problem. There is absolutely NO way that a carrier can guarantee an individual's personal safety when they are in a truck hundreds or perhaps thousands of miles from any sort of oversight. They may only be made aware of a problem after the fact. And, what should they do if there is an incident? What if it is the woman who is the aggressor? There are a lot of married men on the road. What if a married man doesn't feel comfortable training a woman out of respect for his wife or perhaps his wife is uncomfortable with him having another woman in such close proximity for several weeks or months? What if a woman makes an accusation about a man that is later found to be untrue? It could cause problems not only with the carrier, but at home. He could then file suit against the company for not protecting him from such false accusations.

The think is that once accusations have been made against a man, they don't ever really go away. Even if found innocent of any wrong doing, there will still be a stigma that he may never be able to over come. What if the incident causes problems in his marriage? Should he have a right to sue his employer?

From the company point of view, this can be a no win situation. I would expect that some would consider it not worth the effort. People do sue in this country. There are many frivolous lawsuits. Whether valid or not, the company and perhaps the individual will accumulate legal costs and those will usually not be recoverable for the plaintiff.

 

What kind of protections can be afforded to the trainer... The trainer decides whether he takes a student or not.

Lets say a trainer is willing to take a female student. The trainer interviews the female and decides that it isnt going to work out with that particular female student. Is that discrimination? It doesnt mean the student is fired, it just means Prime will match them with another trainer.

The big thing about being a trainer at Prime is I dont get to handpick my trainees. However, I do get the right to reject someone I feel is not compatible in attitude and demeanor, given the living situation on the road.

There is a consequence for my rejection.. I go to the end of the line of the trainer list. Sometimes its a couple weeks before I get the call.

Ive trained old, young, white, black, brown, North, and South trainees... I only discriminate against certain attitudes and responses to interview questions.

Im a trainer, I dont want to train females. I dont feel comfortable with the close quarters or even the possibility of an accusation.

If it means not being a trainer so be it.

Ive failed to see it mentioned on this thread... but I bet there are male trainers that have no problem training females. However, their wife or significant other sitting at home would have a problem with it.

I used to be on Submarines in the Navy... You should see how many wives are raising hell on Facebook and other forums dealing with Subs when discussing the Navy's recent decision to put women on subs.

 

A lot of what is being said is something you need to think about before becoming a trainer how the wife/husband or significant other feels those would be my top things to look at before I would even commit to training anybody.

Second thing would be what is the companies policy and procedures for dealing with this issue and is is trained on at regular intervals with employees current and new. Has the company had any complaints founded or unfounded and what was done to either party. Is the company willing to show you this information, protecting those involved of course. Are you covered by the company if a complant arrises and you were following company policy. This could involve a separate inquiry to determine this.

I am coming out of an environment where this is a real big deal but there are procedures in place that the EEOC has accepted, yes they will monitor a case but they very rarely ever get involved as long as all that can be done is being done according to federal law and past experiences.

This type of thing will continue to happen. From the white collar type on Wall Street down to the ditch digger, if men an woman are in the same place some will choose not to follow the rules it's the action taken before and after that will make the deference.

 

I did mention spouses in my previous post. There could be problems at home from either gender when comes to training. My wife and I have been married for 31 years and have a good relationship, but I don't think that she would be happy if I were a trainer and had another female in my truck for several weeks. I have no doubt that there are women trainers who would have problems at home if they were married and had a male trainee in the truck for several weeks.

 

You are correct, my wife has expressed her concerns on this subject as well.

Like I said in an earlier post. This is a very difficult topic to debate with a keyboard.