KLLM Being Sued By The EEOC

This one is interesting here. I think I tend to side with KLLM slightly more here. The only issue I feel they may run into is the fact that female students don't get compensation if they prefer to wait for a female trainer and a male trainer is available. EEOC has a tall task I think. I'm all for equal opportunity, but as much as we've progressed here, men and women are not created the same in the trucking world. I think KLLM made a decent attempt to cover themselves. They may have to increase pay for female trainers and to bring on more female trainers going forward.

 

Here we have a trainer willing to train you , ok , is it a female ? No, i dont want it then , ok , but we aint gonna pay ya to wait , we have this slot open and you've declined.

 

As long as they use the right pronouns -- then I'm cool with it....

 

The problem is when they had a female trainer available and the male trainee opted to wait for a male trainer, they paid the male trainee.

Part two of the problem is that women who opted for mixed gender training were required to certify they had informed their spouse. Male trainees were not.

KLLM had an easy out - make the policy uniform. Anyone who opts for mixed gender training must inform their spouse. If a trainee spot opens up and you decline for whatever reason, no pay.

 

EEOC has a 90% win rate once it's filed a lawsuit.

Swift lost this fight in the early 2000s, Prime in 2016, Koch in 2020. Plenty of training companies put either the trainer or the trainee in a hotel room for mixed gender training.

 

I don't think it's totally that simple. It's a male dominated industry. A male is almost never gonna end up with a female trainer. I am for equality, but sometimes the environment won't allow for certsin types of equality. I do agree, that KLLM does need to compensate the females if they have to wait for a female trainer. I think that's the only thing that probably should become uniform but my thinking is coming from how the industry is built. Putting a female student with a male trainer is a bit of a slippery slope, especially in the era of rather rampant sexual misconduct.

 

Wonder how many sexual harassment lawsuits KLLM has faced by female students teamed with a male trainer?

 

It is that simple, and female trainers have male trainees happens more often than you'd think.

Yeah, sometimes the environment won't allow for full equality, but you can create parity. Hotel rooms being an option isn't equality - learning to navigate truck stops is an integral part of OTR training. But having it as an option opens up more avenues for female trainees to attempt OTR training. Schneider's mixed gender training policy has survived multiple EEOC reviews, no reason KLLM can't find a policy that will as well.