In training and unwilling to falsify logs to help my trainer make $. What to do?

Thanks. I've taken notes of all the WTF moments and I've gotten some of our conversations on audio recording. It might be all for naught.

All of the other company drivers we met on the road seemed way more sensible (not to mention more intelligent and less crazy) than my trainer was. So in light of that I'm not willing to say who it is just yet. Not going to throw them under the bus.

 

Did you look up the state laws in whichever state these recordings occurred in and make sure it was a single party one. Private conversations aren't always legal to record, varies by state. Better make sure you are "by the book" on this one.

 

LOL, The thing that honestly amuses me about this is the fact your going to such lengths to get this person in trouble, Your in training just get a different trainer and move the heck on.

This thread sooooo needs to be bumped in a year.


Edit.
Looks like your in that process now, GL to ya hope you find one that both of you can get along.

 

Good luck with the HQ today and let us know what happens.

 

Let's assume that while you are in training you are being paid minimum wage for On Duty time and perhaps minimum wage +$1 for Drive time. This is how it worked at Swift while I went through their training program and later became a trainer.

One thing you need to remember is that you are selling your time, your 70 hour clock. As a trainee you are getting paid for your On Duty time, but once you go solo you aren't paid for On Duty time. Therefore it is in your interest as a solo driver to maximize your Drive time from your 70, rather than logging a lot of On Duty time. As a trainee the benefit of logging On Duty versus drive is minimal.

Your trainer is trying to maximize the amount of hours you have available for Drive time. However, you HAVE to log On Duty for fueling and HAVE to log a minimum of 15 minutes for a drop and hook IIRC. Otherwise you'll be getting a call from Safety regarding not logging On Duty when you should be.

In the real world on e-logs I'd typically log On Duty at the guard shack for checking in, then Off Duty driving to where I'd do the drop and hook, then log On Duty for the actual drop and hook. The goal is to minimize the amount of OD time. It adds up over a week's time. If you do a D&H every day and log 45 minutes every time instead of 15 minutes, then you are losing 2.5 hours of available drive time. The point is to have a log that will pass Safety and/or DOT inspection. You have to show OD for pretrip, post trip, fueling, deliveries, or pick ups. With e-logs from my experience you have to show a minimum of 5 minutes in order for it to "take", then after that it will log minute by minute.

 

Did you ask for consent? You might have a valid point, but you could get fired for this. I wouldn't blame them. I am pretty sure you have audio recordings from your trainer, HQ contact, safety and everybody you talk to. This doesn't make you look any better.

You can have them on audio saying whatever, but if they didn't give you consent, you will be the one getting fired or sued.

 

And not making any money and you may get reassigned with another even worse trainer.. I hope it works out for you though/

 

Called my coordinator this morning. Actually she called me first but I didn't answer. I called the logs and safety department and discussed with them my issues with some of the things my trainer was having me do. "Yeah, she can't do that. That'll bring up an error and will flag us to audit your logs. You need to get off that truck" - Direct quote from the Logs Dept.

Then I called my coordinator. Her initial plan was to bus me back home to wait on another trainer. I told her I'd rather go to a terminal. I also asked her some very pointed questions about things she said in the past and how they related to things my trainer was having me do at the time. I then informed her I had called both the logs and safety departments. Also told her I had 6 pages worth of notes. She said she would call me back with bus arrangements.

One hour later she called me back and said I'm getting bussed to the main terminal and have been assigned a new trainer. I just got off the phone with him and he seems like a cool dude. I've got a good feeling about him.

I'm really glad I get to speak to someone in person about this whole experience and formally submit the company required report. Maybe this won't get swept under the rug after all.

 

False. They are salaried employees. The look up for the company not employees. They just make sure you don't get them in trouble. They are not your friends.

 

Audio recordings, notes, calls to H.R. Man I'm glad I'm not a trainer anymore. I had a few like this, all by the book. I would just smile but it sucked cause you knew you were wasting your time. They would be out of the industry within months. I don't believe I'd ever train again. Mostly because I hate sharing my truck but I wouldn't want to deal with crap like this.

See for a trainee it's a lot of frustration. And people handle frustration differently, some turn their anger on the guy helping them. See its your fault they can't get it, your fault they can't shift, plan or read a map. I had one guy who couldn't read a map to save his life. I mean it was shockingly bad. He got mad, took notes and complained. They company took it all very seriously. They copied me in on his emails and my dispatcher, trainer coordinator and safety guy all laughed at his terrible grammar and spelling. But to him they were all very, very grave. Of course they were taking this seriously.

The fact is for all of us who take advantage of logging off duty, the company could stop us anytime they wanted. Sure we can fool DOT, but the company knows exactly what kind of load we had, exactly what we were supposed to do. Why don't they catch us?????

Because they don't want to. More on duty hours means less utilization, less money. Now they can't come out and say it but they very much want us to log as....."efficiently" as possible. It's like everything else in life, just be reasonable.