Told Dispatch I was feeling sick and they marked it as a load refuse. Is this legal?

Then I suggest you keep your head down, do your job, stop informing the company of your feelings, and do yourself a favor. The easiest way forward is to never come up on the company radar again. You are not going to change the company, but you might get fired. Getting fired doesn't help you, the company won't change because they fired you. Whether you stay in trucking or not, getting fired is not going to make your future job easier to get. Help yourself get that next job by just not setting yourself on fire at this job.

 

Better question than is it legal or not, is can I prove at all that I was sick? Not saying you aren't or weren't, or that you're lying. If I wasn't getting canned for it, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

Here's how I decided if I was too sick to drive. If I was told I was getting 2 weeks of paid vacation and should drive home empty, and I felt the way I felt, would I park and let my illness pass or keep driving? If I would keep driving, I keep working. If I would interrupt my drive home for vacation, I stay parked. When you are really sick, you have no option but to park. Most times you or I might only be kind of sick and you or I amplify how sick we claim to be to make a point or avoid something.

 

I just don't like how dirty it is, all my nice clothes get dirty faster, I've seen Dry Van/Reefer drivers with their nice clothes and stuff lol. I lost a good shoe getting in and out of the truck. I sweat a lot, even the littlest things makes me sweat, so you could imagine how I look doing a lumber load in 90 degrees in Florida... One more thing, I'm scared going up and down the mountains with my load, yes I know I straps them real good, it still made nervous that #### will start flying out of my trailer especially them sensitive boxes load LOL!!! And let's not forget them winter deliveries, that's my first winter driving and you couldn't pay me enough money to untarp in the winter... Almost lost my fingers doing a load in Bridgeport, AL, they got numb as hell, took me 3hrs to do that, it was crazy, did it once, never again. So basically, I tried Flatbed and it's not for me, moving on to Tanker.

 

What do you mean that I might get fired? They might fired me because of my incidents? When I apply for another job, with the other company contact my current job thus making my current company know that I'm leaving of will the other company just search my record and that's all they'll do?

 

Yeah, it sounds legal. First of all, even when you refuse a load for a legitimate reason, it's still a refusal. You just won't get in trouble for it. It's like an excused absence vs an unexcused absence. How your company treats this particular refusal will largely depend on how they feel about you as an employee and their current business needs.

Second, the fact that you refused after arriving at the shipper doesn't look good. Sick or not, you were already there. Unless you were too sick to drive off the customer's property, you had to drive somewhere to find parking. They could legitimately ask why you didn't stay and get loaded, then let them find another driver to repower the load after you parked.

Third, try to avoid telling dispatch or safety that you're sick unless it's something that could last more than ten hours. It's better to just send a message saying something to the effect of: "I'm feeling tired and fatigued, and I can't drive safely right now." Dispatch knows better than to argue with that one, especially when there's a digital record.

 

Flatbed companies will give newbies load securement training. If you already knew everything needed for the job you wouldn't go to CDL school or ride with a trainer for 2 months.

Wait until it feels like your tanker trailer is trying to run over you. In tankers, it feels & sounds like you were just hit by a freight train, when it's not dangerous (slow speeds) and it feels harmless when it's dangerous (high speeds). You can often turn hard OR brake hard, but you usually can never do both. Tanker will also have you out in the cold and rain for a long time when unloading at some customers. There are USB handwarmers for under $30 on Amazon. There are even battery-powered winter coats or vests. Remember you can prepare for any weather conditions if you want to. Or you can expect the company to take care of you and be outraged at how bad of a job they do at it.

 

Yes, drivers get fired all of the time for having too many incidents or too serious of an incident. How can that be a surprise. Not many jobs are prevented from firing an employee that has poor performance. Are you trolling me?

Employers can track the incidents of their drivers as much as they want. Some companies tell other companies asking for employment verification about those incidents and some companies don't report much beside the dates of employment and if the employee is considered eligible for re-hire. EVERY situation is different.

Some companies will fire you once they get employment verification requests about a driver. Not all employers are alike. This is why you must investigate an employer before working for them or just accept all of their policies whether you like them or not.

 

What... they made you wait outside when loading/unloading? I thought you could stay in the truck or at a lounge if they have one.

 

Why would I troll you when I'm just asking some questions? Maybe it's because of my inexperience in the job market. I was really sheltered ( Introvert, homebody, never go anywhere... ) I didn't get my first job until I was about 21, and my current one is my second full time job, just turn 26, so if I seem to be asking dumb questions, it's probably because I'm a little ignorant of the job market. Btw, I was just asking if the other company I'm applying to would Contact my current company to verify my employment, thus my current company would know that I'm looking for another job. I didn't want them to know that I'm leaving but if they get contacted, with 3 points on my record, I guess I'm screwed then. They didn't fire me despite having two serious incidents with them, but my trainer told me they gonna try to keep me, they might put some stuff on my record to make it difficult for me to find another job. He told me, they did that to another driver and he couldn't find work, he had to come back and asked them to remove what they put off his record, and he got a job after. I'm not an hard-headed employee, I do my job, I just made some mistakes in my first year, that's it, so I doubt they would do me like that, but then again, they don't want to lose drivers, they need drivers and companies do what companies does so I wouldn't put it pass them to make it harder for me to leave so I can stay there.