Forced to go off-duty

That used to happen where I work ...it would amount to about a 26 hour day by the time it was all over .
Reported it to the DOT , it ceased shortly thereafter .

The new coercion law should block this from happening in the future

Its unlawful to drive after handling company business " off duty " .

They are getting you to lie for them

They get you to do it because they are to cheap to hire outsiders .





call these guys at the FMCSA and they will back you up and save possibly your life

tel:1-888-368-7238.

its anonymous so it's ok to call them

 

If that's the case log it off duty instead of sleeper. You will not get that time back and your day will shorten to 14 hours. If the company persists then make sure you are telling them over the Qualcomm that you are not in the sleeper birth and cannot log that way. If they reply to log it anyways make sure to save those messages any way you can. At that point you have the evidence necessary to make a call if they fire you.

 

That actually is off duty. You were sitting and waiting.

 

As you describe it what they are telling you to do is absolutely legal. You are waiting to be loaded. You are not loading or counting or any other work.

 

I see a youtube video coming soon.

 

My company slip seats their trucks (Regional interstate, home every night). If I get assigned to a load where I start after 5am, I will usually not find a truck available. The first few times that I showed up at the terminal at 4am and was told to wait for a truck, I finally got one around noon, and was then expected to run my assigned load even if it used up my 14 for the day. The way I fixed that problem was that I told them that my 14 hour clock started at 4am when I arrived at the terminal, and that I didn't have enough hours to complete the assigned load that I was given at noon. They tried to tell me that I was off duty for that time, but I refused that argument because I was under dispatch. Now it's a rare occurrence that a truck is not available when I show up.

Stand firm on your 14 hour clock. If they make an issue of it, then contact OSHA with your concerns. OSHA will straighten them out in a hurry. They cannot fire you, nor can they retaliate against you in ANY way for refusing to violate HOS.

 

Once he starts his day he still only has 14 hours till he can't drive until he takes a ten. They have him lying a bout starting time so that he can show a later start time and therefore a later end time. I worked for a National Freight company that did stuff like that, I left after 3 months. Another thing they expected us to do was just sign off the Qualcomm after we ran out of hours and keep on truckin'. I see this companies trucks all over the US, so yeah, you would be surprised at some of the companies that pull that crap.

 

it's that way in the states as well,