I am posting this approximately 2 years after the fact, as I just got the letter from the US DOT last week. They investigated and found "substance to my complaint" and have taken "appropriate administrative action" that should "bring about future compliance".
This letter came from the Division Administrator of the Oregon Division Office.
I quit a job I liked in Phoenix AZ and relocated so I could financially start a new career with this company. I was totally upfront with the recruiter on what I expected as far as equipment condition, safety and legal compliance, etc..
I also was honest about my level of experience regarding time behind the wheel and types of equipment operated.
I showed up for orientation, passed the DOT physical and the company endurance test, and road test. I then was placed with a trainer to learn how to load uncrated glass and do company required paperwork, etc. This was a solo operation, and I was there to be a trainee, not a team driver.
From day one in training I was a team driver on top of 6-8 hours at atime loading and unloading which was logged as OFF DUTY or SLEEPER time. After day three of this I refused to run illegally and unsafely. We were well outside of legal HOS and were both fatiqued. This trainer took me back to the yard without notice or conversation and just told me to get out! No backbone here at all.
Then the driver manager calls me in and issues me a LOOSELEAF logbook and informs me that an evaluator will be riding with me for the next week or two as I need training on how to properly complete a log book. [He was telling me I had to falsify my log if I wanted to make any money].
Well, I finally got rid of the evaluator after about 10 days and got out on my own. They still expected to log all loading and unloading time as SLEEPER time or OFF DUTY time. It takes a minimum of 6 hours of very hard labor to load and pack and tarp uncrated glass, usually 8-10 hours spent on site on duty!
Then after putting in 6-10 hours of labor, you are expected to drive another 10 on the book. And the 10 is usually not enough unless you are running 80MPH the whole way!
Dan Clark fired me onsite at PPG glass plant in Fresno CA because they jerked me around and I refused to operate unsafely or illegally. I had a 9am load appointment and as soon as I arrived, they contactd me on the mobile max and said it was changed to 11, then at 10:45 they said rescheduled to 1pm then at 1 they told me 3:30 then it was shift change at 4pm at the plant, which is a union shop. At 6pm they start loading and I finish at 1am. I went to bed. At 8am the plant supervisor is banging on my door telling me to call Dan Clark. He screamed at me and cursed me out for not driving 10 hours and for still being on the site after I just put in a 19 hour day!
This is how Combined Transport operates. They have extremely high driver turnover. They have approx 300 trucks nationwide, and EVERY WEEK at the home office they hire and do orientation for 10-15 drivers, and are always short of drivers even with the new ones!
Now I have to use that US DOT letter to clear up my DAC/USIS report.
0 comments