So frustrated...PLZ HELP! Fired for using GPS

Ok folks lets try to imagine her passenger. He or she is probably in the bunk sleeping and they keep hearing the truck run on the rumble strips. If anybody has ever drove team. You know coming out of a sleep and you are hearing rumble strips. You think your partner has fell asleep so you wake up and prepare for the worse. You open the curtain and instead of your partner falling asleep. They are being distracted playing with the gps. Lets just say this happens all the time. She doesn't head to the warning to cut it out and keep her eyes on the road. So partner is fed up and takes a picture of her playing with the gps.

I don't know if this happened like this. I just don't think out of the blue. Somebody is going to take a picture unless they have already warned the fleet managers and their team partner that its distracting and cause an accident. All the talk about trying to clean up her DAC won't go far. Because she was fired for violating a company policy. Just like if I get caught talking on my phone that's not hands free. I'll get fired. You know the rules so don't be surprised when you get fired for violating them. Truck drivers will tell on you in a heart beat. So if you are going to do dirt. Make sure a trucker is not around.

 

Well if you know he is mad at you already. Why would you do something that he can get you fired for. If he was up couldn't you have asked him to look on the gps for you. I didn't say you were a bad driver. Even when I take my eyes off the road I'll hit rumble strips. It doesn't make you a bad driver but a distracted driver. This is why they have set up most qualcomm not to be operated while driving.

 

So now the codriver is a male and he was pissed at u??? Lol y was he pissed?? after 10 pages this story just gets better by the min...

 

Sounds like someone was just finding an excuse - any excuse - to get rid of you.

Your co-driver was male? Do you think that maybe your co-driver was jealous or had a chip on his shoulder because you're a female in a male-dominated industry and he did this for spite because he was intimidated by you?

And before anyone here bashes me for saying "sexual discrimination", please hear me out. I say this because it's still an epidemic in this country and I've experienced it first hand in my career. Being a woman and working in an industry that is primarily male creates many obstacles that make it very difficult for a woman to succeed. In my experience, I was ridiculed, harassed, stalked, and one time physically assaulted because I was not respected in my position. I had paid my dues, gained my field experience and received my education just like my male co-workers.

 

Yea you are right about women, and we are not trying to bash her in any way.. were just trying to give her advice, but this is 2013 and trucking runs off DAC and CSA, so with that being said.. she has 3 months experience, and I doubt she will be able to use it because PAM fired her for handheld device use, so 10 pages later we have tried to tell her ways to fix this and whether or not she listens is up to her... but after 10 pages there have been new things come to light each page... it went from co-driver to a male co-driver.. and then he was pissed at her... Personally I think that she was still in training with a male trainer and the male trainer wanted sexual favors and she wouldn't do it so thats what he did to get back at her... just my opinion..

 

Yes, I agree, there are new details coming out on this thread and I'm like the rest here - wanting to assist with her problem. I can't offer any advice concerning a DAC report or CSA, because up until the other day, I didn't know what those reports were. I was trying to figure out the reason as to why she was terminated in the way she was.

In my view, I believe she's gotten the short-end of the stick here - new to the industry, terminated over a company policy violation, questionable means to her termination, etc. I really feel for her and her situation - it's just a bad situation all around.

 

Well what sucks is its like a criminal record... if you get the least lil bit of thing on it no company will hire you, unless your an O/O with your own authority. Smaller companies will, but most smaller companies require 2 years unless you know someone...

 

I've been reading up on these reports and although I understand the purpose behind them, I lump them in with credit reports. It seems a company can put anything on them regarding your professional image as a driver, but if you don't agree with what's in the report, it's like an act of congress to get it changed or corrected. Same thing with credit reports.

Meanwhile, if you're in between jobs or struggling to gain employment, the lengthy appeal process to correct items in the report could cost you a job. It really is a sad situation that employees have to jump through so many hoops just to work nowadays. It's almost like the people that come up with all these reports & requirements want the average person to be 100% dependent on social services.

 

I agree with what you are saying. Sexual discrimination is happening in this thread as well. If the OP would have been a male, he'd be getting his ### ripped by many of the posters in this thread. Lets be honest. The OP wasn't fired for using the GPS but was fired for breaking company policy. It's amusing how many are here defending her. In my opinion its because shes an attractive woman. I've seen many dudes get their ##### ripped in similar threads. With that said I dont think she should have been fired. Maybe a warning would have fixed the situation but lets all be honest. No matter how silly, she broke company policy. She knew she wasn't supposed to be using a GPS and she did anyways. If I was an employer that would concern me. She's new to trucking and broke policy. Would she do it again? Probably.