liked my job till now, any good lawers out there?....

You had the bumper sticker?!
No kiddin'?
I went with the tattoo.
YuP! :smt045
Put it right smack-dab in the middle of my dad-burned forehead.
Hurt like hail, lemmie tell y'all.
I figured it would, --- so I had the artist tattoo it all backwards,
to remind me,
when I look in a mirror.
Can't miss it.

It works, --- but I don't really recommend rememberin' it that way.
I'm sure there are easier methods.
Like a bumper sticker, ---
that's what I shoulda got, too, ---
insteada the tattoo.
But who can read a bumper sticker
when it's stuck on the bumper.....
Up-Side down and backwards to boot?

:smt047
​

 

My CDL A is new, but I'm not new to driving large trucks in the city OR companies that somehow figure out that they can run a business without any of the risk/losses associated with their business. I used to do med duty towing and most of the time we were pulling trucks and putting them into some real weird/tight spots there was always high risk of rubbing/hitting stuff and sometimes is was unavoidable. But my experience is when a company wants all the profit while simultaneously passing all the loss to the employee, that's when it's time to run. Obviously accidents do to negligence is a different thing.

 

first .....was this an " at will " employment ?

second.... if you didn't sign anything from day one saying you are financially responsible for any damages


third... I would wait it out to see if they subtract any pay for the damages, if so ? then contact a lawyer

 

What does personal responsibility have to do with being perfect? I drove a frtlnr century condo with a 53' trl for a year doing local work. If the place I was del to was to tight? Guess what? I did'nt trash the truck trying to cram in to a space to small.

If you can't do the work safely and without damage then you don't do it.

Truck spec's? Irrelevant, common sense relevant.

 

I my short 9 years of driving, I have destroyed more then my share of equipment. I am not proud of it. However, companies have insurance. Why? Because they know that accidents happen. The IRS lets companies write off their equipment over time. Why? Because things get scratched and the value of equipment goes down overtime.

Now the legal argument. No contract is legal if it is signed under duress. Telling you that you will be fired if you don't sign is duress. Duress makes for a Hostile Work Environment. Document everything.

Tire damage is considered road hazard in most cases. They would lose that case. The other stuff seems like normal wear and tear to me.

Finally, it sounds to me that you are working for someone that is real Chicken ####. I would go to the head of the company and find out if that is what the CEO wants as Company Policy. If so, do you really want to work for that kind of outfit. There are too many people wanting to hire drivers right now for you to settle for the BS that many companies are handing out.

Write your Congressmen but send a copy of the letter to your CEO if you decide to quit.

 

No warning that if you caused damage to the equipment you would be held responsible? That seems obvious to me. You are being paid to drive the truck without hitting things. Avoiding obstacles is part of the job.

As far as things being the employers fault because you couldnt spec the truck? No way. If you dont think you can do the job with the equipment they have DONT TAKE THE JOB.

 

No it's on the DOL website it is illegal to coerce you into signing to pay for damages. Their only recourse is to sue you in court which they would win. They can force you to sign an agreement to pay for future damages but too late on the previous ones.

Can they fire you? Yes they can fire you for any accident or incident. They just can't play judge and jury with your paycheck. If you already signed a piece of paper after the fact is it legal? No because they threatened you that they would fire you. That's coercing.

All this stuff boils down to doing everything the right way in accordance to the law. People have accidents everyday, that's why there is insurance requirements. The truck is a tool. Tools wear out, tools break. It's the cost of doing business. Like someone else said if you have to be responsible for their business costs then they need to share some more of the profits with you. What about benefits?

If they are like you said they should be law abiding citizens and have a bit of compassion for their fellow man. They sound like they are money hungry and hypocrites to me.

 

Like someone else said if you have to be responsible for their business costs then they need to share some more of the profits with you

Great IDEA but then when there are NO PROFITS as a result of excessive EQUIPMENT DAMAGE would the driver then kindly kick in some $ to offset the loss same as the owners must do.

 

Original poster said he put a couple of scratches on tractor and trailer, I know only he knows what that means. We also dont know what the original poster was getting paid which also plays into the whole conversation (remember he got no benefits from the company).
Yes if he was getting paid $1500.00 clear for a forty hour week he should just probably just shut his mouth and pay for the damage, but what if its a low budget company that pays zip and wants you to pay top dollar for new parts - i think its all relative.
For those of you that think its the drivers responsibility to pay for any damage, I think you only say that till it happens to you.
So hypothetically your in the truck stop eating and some other driver pulls your fender off the company truck -- or maybe just some driver doesn't like your company and gouges his keys down a door and a fender -what, you should be responsible for that because you dared to walk away from the truck.
A business is a gamble, if your a company big or small and you think a driver should be responsible for every scratch or ding in your equipment then maybe you should immediately fire him/her after any incident no matter how minor and keep the companies and the drivers losses to a minimum.
This is all an assumption based on the original poster being a good driver with a bad streak of minor instances, If he is a bad driver and this happens all the time --still companies fault for keeping him/her employed.