H.O. Wolding is a TERRIBLE company!!!

I am the wife of a trucker who was recently let go from H.O. Wolding by the safety director. He was let go after completing his training, right before he was headed out to take his first load in his own truck.
My husband has been around tractor trailers all of his life. My father in law owns his own trucking company. Nonetheless, my husband is going into this as a new driver. He got his CDL in December and started working for H.O. Wolding in January of this year (2011).
My husband rode up to WI with another driver for orientation. They make you stay in their bunkhouse, which has bunkbeds. The town is so small, you cannot even get cell phone reception and internet is a hit or miss. It was very hard for us to communicate. Nonetheless, my husband stuck with it and once he went out on the road with a trainer, he was able to come home for two weeks. You have to acheive 5k miles before you are even sent back to the yard.
After being out on the road, they require you to come back to the yard, where they leave you twiddling your thumbs while they try to figure out what to do with you. They give you a road test and if you fail it, they send you home (the road test is after you have already driven their trucks for three weeks!). They also given you another written test and a field test (this is for the second time because they give one in orientation). Additionally, they require you to buy $200+ of equipment, including a second key for THEIR truck and misc. items that they should furnish!!! They tell you that if you don't buy these items, they will send you home.
The entire time you are up there at the yard, they are looking for a reason to send you home. Any little thing you do will get you sent home. My husband was 1 of 6 drivers that quit or got fired in one week.
If you are going to drive for them be prepared to spend alot of money upfront in addition to spending money for food while you are up there. They hold your first week's pay, which they don't you about upfront. They only pay for food during orientation. Also be prepared to be sent home at ANYTIME without cause. My husband was sent home for not revealing military experience on his applicationl; however, he was NEVER in the military! He FALSIFIED NOTHING on his application and was sent home for NO reason. He tried to tell the safety director that he was never in the military and so did I when I called him. He called us a bunch of liars. This after driving 3200 miles for them in the FIRST week!!! He was sent home on a Greyhound Bus in the middle of a winter storm.
PLEASE, PLEASE stay away from this company!!!!

 

They claim that they pulled his information up and it showed 8 years of military experience. He is a junior and his Dad was in the military; however, we know the records are not mixed up. My father in law receives VA services which he would not receive if his military experience was mixed up with my husband. What reason would my husband have to lie about his military experience!!! The safety director was just looking for a reason to get rid of him! He didn't like him because my husband told him that they needed to salt/sand the field that they were testing drivers on because the tractors were slipping!

 

I agree RocknRoll...wrongful termination it is!!!

 

Actually, my father in laws company has 6 trucks total. He doesn't drive for him because he hauls explosives etc out of CA. We live in TN and do not want to relocate back to CA where we are from.
As far as the company paying meals, I feel that if they have him come back up to the yard for a week after he is out on the road, they should pay for his meals. That is not the real issue here any ways. The real issue is that they fired him for no reason. I was simply using the meals as an example for drivers to understand that they will have to have money upfront for these expenses.
There is not more to the story that my husband is hiding. I talked with the safety director myself who told me why he let my husband go and it is EXACTLY as I stated here. I understand about the social security numbers, I am not an idiot; however, my husband tried to reason with the SD and was just told he was a liar. We put in apps with Western and US; however, HOW was one of the first to contact and he liked what the recruiter said when he came to his school.