Fired over not picking up my phone

where ever you go next,

don't forget to answer your phone !!!

 

Sucks you got fired, but I'm not buying that the only reason was you not answering the phone. So what it was your day off. Maybe something came up. Maybe there was a emergency. Maybe you screwed up. Who knows. Can't judge based off of one side of a story. It's simple to answer the phone, have a brief conversation then go about your day.

 

I believe PA is an "at will" state. That means the company can fire you without cause. Sure there are limitations like violating the rights of a driver but in your case I believe they can fire you and they do have any obligation to give a reason why. So like a lot of us you got the short end of the stick and there's nothing you can do about except spend a lot of money with a lawyer and maybe he or she can reduce the charge and you would come out with a better record. How much better I do not know. You got shafted and in my opinion I would just walk away.

I'm a little confused here about you having a learners permit and you're ok. You will have to pay them back for the remainder of the cost for the school. No private industry can take your CDL away from you. The DMV reserves the right to do that. I could be wrong here but I don't think so. There would be no continuity here and companies then would be judged on how they handle the CDL. The states control that as directed by the Federal Government.

What they will do (and again I'm going by what I've read and heard) they will recoup their money and if they can not get it they will smear your name and send you to a collection agency. You're going to pay for that school and what the shame really is you'll received some really crappy training.

I hope others that are new to this industry see how the big megas really operate. Do you think they are upset about firing you? No way, they just made a ton of money in getting another new driver with low pay that they can beat around for awhile. When they see you're starting to wise up then they watch and can you for really no reason. It would be great if you were out of hours because the FMCSA has direct regulations protecting you a driver from killing yourself.

 

Fired for not answering the phone one time? As others have stated, methinks there's more to the story than that.

IMHO if you decide to be a professional driver you answer the phone, no matter what. If you can't answer the phone you return the call ASAP. We have a hard job, but being in dispatch or load planning isn't any piece of cake either. Make yourself available to COMMUNICATE so the TEAM can best serve the customers.

In my current job we "go on the board", then get a call when we are first on the board when the next available load comes up. We MUST arrive to the shipper within one hour from the time of that call, if the shipper is within a 30 mile radius of the terminal. That's our level of service. Doesn't matter to me if it's 2:00 pm or 2:00 am, I answer the phone at all hours.

 

Not everyone works where you do.
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