Home time and drinking.

this is true, but the o/p admitted to drinking, perhaps at the time dispatch needed him to return to work. i see where most likely, he (the o/p) did not inform dispatch of the repair shops telling of the repair time. all he had to do as well was to tell dispatch to call the shop. from there, if he HAD to return to work, then he had to go. he was not on any actual home time he earned, but on hometime that was quickly brought up by a repair.

(he never mentioned he has scheduled home time, this is what i am basing this on)

 

Regardless of all that, who does the dispatcher think he is? That driver isn't that dispatchers child.

 

I used to drink only when I was alone or with someone. That got to be a bit to much, so I cut back to only drinking on days that end in “Y”.

 

Lol yeah......me too!!!!

 

You did nothing wrong. They'll find any reason to give a random test of any kind. Bro, you can't get too personal and free with dispatchers. As you can see, they will double cross you given the opportunity

 

unless he is the red headed step child!

 

i agree, days' that end in "Y" are the best days to have a beer, did i mention i like beer..>??

having a beer with a friend, is ok, but many times, friends want to talk about women, sex and male pattern baldness......

 

Sure. Legal. And rightfully so. You disclosed drug and alcohol use and boom Tested. If you were positive you will have been eliminated from this industry pretty quickly with that big mouth.

He was also not just legal but in the right as well. Next time keep that to yourself. Stop your drinking 24 hours prior to driving. If your company forces you to go out, say no you are not qualified right now to touch a big truck medically and then shut up.

Next time pull the battery from your cell. Home is home. They can fill the voice mal. That's what I do. No land lines either. If it's wed they want, that is exactly what they get. Not a minute before. BTW, I call the shop direct and inquire about the truck and go there to get it. Then report ready to company.

Hometime isnt really hometime. Your problems with sick wife etc don't matter anymore. It's literally not the company's problem. No point in boo'hooing to dispatcher.

 

Reasonable suspicion is a tough call and I think that the OP's dispatcher was being a little too zealous with this one BUT the OP's admission of alcohol use does open the door just a little bit...

I remember seeing the first training film on this. Burly Joe the driver is clearly having a bad day...harvey milktoast the supervisor [any trained stupidvisor can do] walks up to Joe and says you don't appear normal to me, go take a reasonable suspicion D and A test....

They used to joke that that's when Joe pile drives Harvey into the ground....

Matlack required (2) supervisors to report in writing why before ordering a reasonable suspicion test...

BTW since 1990, or so, when all this stuff started until today; I have NEVER sent anyone for a reasonable suspicion test. Had plenty of pre-employment positives; a hand full of random positives and one post accident.

The new expansion to include synthetic opium compounds might change this but I feel that Reasonable suspicion should only be used when two people can articulate why...

 

Legal ??

NO it is not.

It is your personal time and the dispatcher has no valid reason to call you in for a drug test when you are off duty and have no assignments.

IT has to be tied to one of several things, one is a true random selection of the driver to avoid harassment (thanks FMCSA), one is an accident and the other is pre-employment.