Marten Detention Pay - Ripoff

I get the complaint, if your in the dock waiting to be unloaded you are technically detained, but if you clock runs out you aren't going anywhere anyways even if they had only taken 3 hours to unload you. I don't work for Marten, but the few times I have had a clock run out while in a dock, I have asked for detention up to the point my clock ran out, not for the entire time, but the customers have also let me stay on the lot to take a break so I consider it a wash to an extent.

 

Once paperwork has been verified assuring
accurate bill of lading times and signatures, detention will be paid for every hour detained based upon
drivers remaining hours available on their 11/14/70 clock at appointment time, paying the lessor of the
11/14/70 remaining, maxing out at 9 hrs. The employee will receive the detention pay when paid for that
trip."

Their reasoning is BS, the Marten employee is being detained, and whether that employee has hours or not is irrelevant. Martens logic in regards to their policy amounts to forced overtime without pay, the Marten employee is a captive of the situation. Martens reasoning that because if they were to pay the overtime to the employee who was compelled to work overtime this payment would be in violation of government regulations against working overtime......is nonsense, and also illegal. I would encourage the employees of Marten transport to file a lawsuit.

 

In a nutshell, what Marten is doing is forcing you to work overtime and then telling you that they cannot pay the overtime because it is illegal for you to work overtime.....

 

You're not "technically detained", you're detained. Period.

You're not being paid for working, you're being paid for being detained.... the HOS clock has nothing to do with whether or not you should receive detention

The dumbest thing I've read in awhile. If you're detained it should be paid. Period. Detention is not compensation for working, it's compensation for being detained, and trying to equate it to compensation for working brings the above scenario into play, compulsory overtime without pay because overtime is illegal....

If there is an agreement to pay detention, then detention SHALL be paid, all other arguments to the contrary are not with standing, (it means that any argument against what I've just said lacks merit)

 

The 14 hour rule only has to do with being able to drive, if you get to the receiver and it takes 48 hours to unload, and you can stay awake that long, you can be on the clock that long. You just can't drive until after you take a 10 hour break, and if your hour totals allow it.

I think what others have suggested, if Marten wants to stop paying you at 14, then at 14 the work should stop!

 

Anybody who works for Marten transport as a driver, and agrees to this detention pay policy that is contingent upon the individuals being "qualified" through HOS regulations, to in fact be eligible for being paid for being detained, and is "ok" with this, deserves everything else the Marten execs scheme to do to prevent them from receiving just compensation...

Does Marten still expect you guys to wash your own company trucks, unpaid, and out of gratitude, due to Randy Marten's buying you a truck to drive??? Is Martens policy still that a driver is responsible for washing Randy's equipment??

Ask yourselves this question, "do the company office employees, you know, the fleet managers and the load planners, and the safety department, and the trucking executives themselves, do they sweep the parking lot, wash the windows and exterior of the Marten building, and vacuum the rugs and clean the toilets in the Mondovi office building, unpaid and out of gratitude to Randy Marten for providing them with the opportunity to work for a living??

 

Why would an attorney take that case. It says in the rules clear as day. You are lucky you are getting detention at all. Waiting is part of the job. So deal with it

 

The simple answer is fraud.

Fraud is fraud, and the fact that they put it in print makes it easy to prove.

In criminal law, fraud is intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent, and verb is defraud. Fraud is a crime and a civil law violation, though the specific criminal law definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Defrauding people or entities of money or valuables is a common purpose of fraud.

If you're being paid detention you're not being paid for work, you're being paid for detention.

Marten is committing fraud by having it's employees thinking that detention pay eligibility is somehow linked to their ability to perform work.

There is nothing logical to base this claim upon, and the executives at Marten have conspired to defraud their employees out of money.

A trial would be necessary to confirm or deny this, and being a civil matter, the burden of proof is upon Marten to prove otherwise....

A litigation attorney has a field day with this.

 

Marten has a written policy regarding detention pay, and in it, nowhere does it say that detention pay is predicated, or based upon, luck

Lawsuits are a part of life, something to deal with as well.....

I'm not a Marten employee, if I were I'd be filing suit.

 

Actually, Martens angle is probably this... detention pay is compensation for BEING DENIED THE ABILITY TO WORK, you see they are compensating you for your TIME, (detention pay is not pay for working, so tying your detention eligibility to your HOS is how they deny you compensation), Martens legal department probably figures that they can claim that you are not due any compensation after your HOS for driving are up, as you are not at that point eligible to perform work.....

That would be the counter argument.

So, the question then becomes, "Can Marten require you to be present in an unpaid capacity?"

Well, they do expect the first two hours to be free.

It might just suck to be a Marten driver.

And I still think a strong argument can be made that detention pay has nothing to do with hours to drive, it is payment for tying up equipment....

So, if Marten is collecting money for detention, for tying up equipment, and selectively distributing as little of this as possible while still collecting from their customer for equipment that can't be utilized even though the driver of the equipment is out of hours.....

Then I think the case for fraud can still be made.

And the ruling would probably be that Marten cannot require a "free" two hour unpaid detention "qualifying period".... In other words, they can't have their cake and eat it too...

But I know their legal department, (the lawyers they have on retainer and ask questions of), have probably advised them that what they're doing is still legal....

Sleazy, but legal.