Cargo and property damage paid by company driver

The sad thing is most cpm companies already do. Oh they call it a safety bonus or fuel bonus. It amounts to the same thing though. I.e. the driver gets less money when the company runs them heavy over hills all month.

 

I had a previous employer try to have me sign a form at orientation stating that I was personally responsible for damage that I caused to the truck/trailer or any residual damages caused to property. I thanked them for the opportunity and walked out. The owner ran after me asking what was wrong, and I explained. He tore it up and welcomed me aboard.

Anybody who asks drivers to take financial responsibility for damage isn't worth working for. Even though I worked for this guy for a year after he tore up the form, I came to find out that he was a real POS in many other ways..

 

You are correct, sir. Fuel bonus is just smoke and mirrors.

I’ve never seen one of these contracts that Opie was referring to. I’d really like to see one. Yes, it’s BS, but it’s probably written in lawyerspeak, and I would loooooooooove to see it in writing

 

NO. Not normal.

 

Don't sign &^%$.

I dealt with OSD all the time. Most of the time there is some form of settlement to the company for that relatively small amount of damage. Even a entire rejected load going to the landfill incurs about a little over a thousand in fees paid by broker etc.

Do NOT ever sign anything that opens you to abuse or liability personally.

 

Sorry, but you're wrong. Local consumer advocate show has had this question asked a multitude of times, and every single time, his employment lawyers have stated it is legal for an employer to make an employee pay for the deductible or damages they caused, up to a reasonable amount, typically the insurance deductible.

Now, where you are partially correct, if that if the employer refuses to allow you to see the damage or a specific list of damages caused, at that time, it's highly dependent on the court. There is case law to support both sides.

As for it being legal, I work for a company that does this, we've been sued a few times by former employees, AFAIK they've never once lost. Every driver signs as part of the employee handbook that this company policy.

BTW, this topic has been discussed ad nauseum. Something to consider, how many times do you look at some POS tractor, torn to hell at a truck stop or customer, driven by someone who obviously doesn't give a ####. Do you wonder why, do you ask why the company doesn't fix it? Imagine how much a company, especially some of these smaller fleets would spend if they had to eat every $500 to $2,500 repair without getting something in return. I see it every day, my employer requires us to reimburse for damage up to the cost of the deductible, or within reason. Guess what, our trucks are rarely damaged.

One of my neighbors works for one of our competitors, in May, one guy got a brand new Pete daycab, backing into a dock, he ripped the right side mirror apart and busted up the front fender and bumper. Company gave him a choice, they could fire him or he could pay the deductible, $1,000. He refused to pay, they fired him. They gave him his full final check, but it's also on his DAC that he was fired for damaging company property. I imagine that's going to take some serious explaining when he's applying at other companies.

 

(someone sent me a copy of one of these type contracts. I asked permission to post it in the open forum and I am waiting for a response), but in the language of the contract, it is saying that I, the driver agree to pay

-for the REPAIRS to the issued equipment,aka truck and trailers and all the stuff inside.
-for the VALUE of the cargo as agreed to by the trucking company and the customer
-for fines from the company for not following fueling and routing policies.

It doesn’t mention DEDUCTIBLE.

Interesting...I’ve never seen anything like this.

 

Common occurrence driving cement mixers and garbage trucks. You do ANY damage, they investigate and determine it to be an "avoidable" incident (strangely it always is) they hit your paycheck with automatic deductions for what "their" shop charges would be to fix the damage even if they never do. Then, if you quit or get fired before the payback is complete, they put you in collections. Nice.

 

Absolutely not!! Probably Illegal also