FMCSA final rule, driver coercion (get your dispatcher arrested)

Now you can sue, get 10 million and never have to work in your life anymore

 

Coercion? Sure, it happens. I've had my fair share of idiots trying to get me to do something illegal or unsafe. I've dared them to put it in writing. Of course, they won't. Most know better. I've never dealt with HOS coercion, though.

There's no reason to kowtow to these idiots. The laws we needed were already in place to protect us. You have to learn what they can and can't tell you to do. Keep your nose clean, run a tight ship and tell them to get lost if they try to get you to run against safety or HOS standards. Jobs are a nickel a dozen in trucking. I can walk out today and have a job as soon as I can pee in a cup - Any of us can.

 

I have a question. My employer called me several on the phone interrupting my 10-hour break over info on a reassignment that’s could have probably waited until later...except it was Friday and I know the idiots wanted to go home early. Briefly, I’m thinking that I don’t have to work that night because the Fleet Manager would surely know that the interruption would exempt me but here they go, less than 3 hours later, where are you? When I tell them I’m fatigued they eventually fire me after I hurled some colorful adjectives at them. I made a complaint with OSHA and FMCSA over coercion. The one with OSHA went well after I told them what happened and is pending. However, the one with the FMCSA resulted in a letter from them asking for evidence. WTF! Now I have 90 days to produce some kind of evidence. First of all this company always uses the cellphone because they know how difficult it is to record calls especially in this day of security. I’ve tried using the apps that say they can record cell phone calls but they are so unreliable that I got tired of throwing my money away. I have the times they called and who I talked to which is evidence by itself in that they called before my 10 was up. What else do they need. Of course I know it could turn into a he/she say thing but the phone calls speak for themselves. What good is the FMCSA rules on coercion? If I would have took the load I would be looking like a fool if I killed some poor family on the road and all eyes would be on me with the trucking company talking about he shoulda called us and told us he was tired but we have nothing to do with that one. What does the FMCSA want...a bunch of tired drivers on the road because they know we can’t come up with evidence? Any ideas?

 

Once had a Driver I worked with get called on his 10 he told the dispatcher since you called me while I’m on my break I’m going to put myself on duty while I’m talking to you because it’s work related then after I hang up I’m going to restart my 10 hour break and then let safety know you interrupted my break don’t think I would’ve done something like that but he never got called on his break again

 

Absolutely.

You call me while I am supposed to be in sleeper or off duty at home etc. Guess what. You just bought yourself a 10 hour postponement of any work which is documented.

Don;t bother me at all with anything until my time off or time resting/sleeping IS up. I don;t bother YOU and your family going by the house with the truck knocking on your door at 4 am on sunday...

Thats what I do. I absolutely log it as a work event, then write down name of so and so, what was said, time, date and so on. log back into sleeper or off duty for another 8 or 10 hours or whatever it be. Roll over back to sleep.

I continue such logging of interruptions until the Boss learns to quit it. I don;t care if I stay somewhere the first week waiting on the interruptions to stop so I can legally rest up and then drive.

I also recognized I am not allowed to split sleeper anymore since the pre-2002 HOS so interrupting me with work related stuff is definitely a violating all around.

Dont bother being angry or emotional about it. It's the ELD you put into my tractor trailer. Then interrupt my rest and off duty time with work onduty crap that can wait until tomorrow? Thank you very much for making everything late.

Get me a new appt time. Or fire me. One or the other.

I am a little more difficult than your average young graduate. Violations have no meaning to me. While violations might scare young ones not used to them. So stop that Mr Boss. You know better.

 

I had a similar experience with my former employer who, I later learned, is notorious for making drivers fake 10-hour breaks (if a driver does not follow instructions to fake/violate the logs and work while being instructed to be logged off-duty, it puts him on the collision course with the company). I resigned and reached out to the FMCSA to protect me against retaliation. I described the situation, including how it went with the FMCSA here in the forum, in greater detail.

It ended up being a waste of time for me, I spent 2-3 full days gathering the evidence needed, I had dozens of photos of messages from dispatchers, dispatched times via Qualcomm showing various violations, I had voice recordings of phone conversations, I provided precise information. With all the evidence, the FMCSA officer told me if there are 50 drivers to come to the FMCSA with the same complaint against the company, FMCSA will investigate it forward, this way it was only 1 driver/me and he classified violations the company was making as 'minor'.

 

Oh they’re minor infractions until something major happens wtf is the FMCSA there for, with that mindset no wonder companies are always trying to pull that crap.

 

I agree that the FMCSA/DOT should be more proactive in investigating companies shady business practices, especially to make a greater effort to close the 'loopholes'.

FMCSA program specialist said some of the violations my employer was making were 'loopholes' in the law the trucking companies use that his office can not do anything about.

Some of company's clear violations he went on to justify, example of his words: "K&B must have though having a minor 14-hour violation was better than not getting their load delivered on time. This is their decision.". An FMCSA specialist giving justifications for a trucking company's violations doesn't seem too proactive in preventing company's shady business practices to happen again.

 

I would advise drivers to manage their personal time wisely by getting in contact with the FMCSA to get a feel of things first rather than concentrate/spend days on gathering a bunch of evidence the FMCSA may end up not being interested in.