Company and owed wages ?

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

Back in November I was dead headed to Dallas TX from Tulsa OK under the guise of no freight in OK ,and getting next load in Dallas TX ...when I arrived in Dallas TX I was terminated ,and had to rent a car to return to Colorado cost me about $250.00 the termination was basicly for hanging up the phone on my dispatcher while he was yealling at me , but they used a few petty things on record justify it ( oh and i can come back in 12 months yeah I'll be beating the door down)...

Now the questions the load I had that put me in Tulsa OK was about 950 total miles between DH /LD'D I turned these bills in on the 14th of NOV the day B4 my termination in Dallas ...I have yet to be paid this trip ,and have contacted Payroll only to get excuses ...Also Because i was Deadheaded to dallas For freight i would think I would be owed the miles for that as well.


now Werner did me no favors in my career then or now ,So my question is are OTR companies bound by the same legalities regarding termination and having the employees pay to him in the same time frame as any other business , As it's been over a month And I've still yet to see the monies they owe me .

[Karnajj]

If you performed the work you have to be paid. The only gray area I see is the DH to Dallas. They owe you for 950 miles and they are hoping you'll just forget about it. I'd send them a certified letter stating that you'll give them x number of days to pay you before you go see a lawyer.

[Creek Jackson]

If you performed the work you have to be paid. The only gray area I see is the DH to Dallas. They owe you for 950 miles and they are hoping you'll just forget about it. I'd send them a certified letter stating that you'll give them x number of days to pay you before you go see a lawyer.

Forget a lawyer, check with your State Labor Board. They might be able to put a little fire under their payroll dept.

Creek

[Uturn2001]

Forget a lawyer, check with your State Labor Board. They might be able to put a little fire under their payroll dept.

Only problem with that is that you may very well be dealing with multi-state jurisdictions as well as laws.

Your best bet is to file a complaint with both the labor department in your home state as well as with the state the company is based out of.

[headborg]

Forget a lawyer, check with your State Labor Board. They might be able to put a little fire under their payroll dept.

Only problem with that is that you may very well be dealing with multi-state jurisdictions as well as laws.

Your best bet is to file a complaint with both the labor department in your home state as well as with the state the company is based out of.

Yeah, Uturn has this one-- you contact the State labor board where the Company resides, and your state's employment office.
You got conned into taking a 'verbal dispatch' to deadhead into the terminal?
or was there a trip number sent via qual-com? You shouldn't ever move that
truck more miles than to the nearest truckstop( for personal reasons) without a dispatch(load number). As for the other unpaid trip---you got your logs? maybe even a copy of the B.O.L. with your signature on it?
Contact the labor board, and get a case# then contact the company- inform them that you have a case# and that you are taking that down to your local judge and gonna slap a lien against that truck.
Also, I'm not sure about the laws in Colorado, but In Arkansas--you can not be denied unemployment if terminated. You did get a pink slip(proof of termination) from them at the time of firing right? How long of a paid vacation did you get to 'enjoy'?

[BanditsCousin]

If they deadheaded you to Dallas, they should pay you. Thats muy opinion, but I dunno if it will work. The rest of the miles you are definitely owed.

[steelhauler2007]

Was the truck clean when you turned it in?They can hold back a certain amount of your check for cleaning.

[Evinrude]

Was the truck clean when you turned it in?They can hold back a certain amount of your check for cleaning.

No they Can't. Only the government can garnish your wages, unless you agree with the company to do so. Check your documents that you signed when you were hired.

[obiedon]

Maybe you will get lucky and run across a Werner truck that has run out of fuel on the side of the road. Just offer to sell them some fuel at $100 a gallon with a 10 gallon minimum purchase. All kidding aside, you were given some good advice by earlier posters. Take the high road and use the system to your advantage. And as far as the leaving the truck clean, my advice to all drivers would be to keep a video camera with you at all times so if you are booted out of a truck and you left it clean you have undisputable evidence to show a judge when and if you need to sue your previous employer. I had a friend who managed the apartment building we lived in. When he moved out the owners and management company raked him over the coals. When I moved out, we rented a video camera and I filmed every square inch of the place and held a current newspaper in frame in each room to prove the date. When we dropped off the keys, we informed the management company they had 10 days to refund our security deposit. They balked about it until I told them I had videotaped the inside and could prove it was in better condidtion than when we moved in. Had a check in a week for the full deposit.

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

Was the truck clean when you turned it in?They can hold back a certain amount of your check for cleaning.

clean I keep the interior of my trucks clean in almost an OCD manner ...so they should have no issues there .

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

Also I remember paying 20 dollards out of my checks my first year until they reached $400.00 for bond ...I thought this money was to cover truck abandonment an such at time of separation ...Well I think I'm owed this money back as well ...Anyone familliar with the bond ?...I'll try contactin the labor boards on monday ,but probably won't get any where until the 26th due to the holiday .

[headborg]

Maybe you will get lucky and run across a Werner truck that has run out of fuel on the side of the road. Just offer to sell them some fuel at $100 a gallon with a 10 gallon minimum purchase. All kidding aside, you were given some good advice by earlier posters. Take the high road and use the system to your advantage. And as far as the leaving the truck clean, my advice to all drivers would be to keep a video camera with you at all times so if you are booted out of a truck and you left it clean you have undisputable evidence to show a judge when and if you need to sue your previous employer. I had a friend who managed the apartment building we lived in. When he moved out the owners and management company raked him over the coals. When I moved out, we rented a video camera and I filmed every square inch of the place and held a current newspaper in frame in each room to prove the date. When we dropped off the keys, we informed the management company they had 10 days to refund our security deposit. They balked about it until I told them I had videotaped the inside and could prove it was in better condidtion than when we moved in. Had a check in a week for the full deposit.

this is good advice as well....CYA is a 24-7 job as a truck driver--

most (honest) companies have their drivers fill out a Vehicle Inspection/condition form when they MOVE IN and OUT of a truck---always keep/ask for a copy before you sign.---completely inspect the truck and note any damage you find--have them sign off on this as well.

companies at one time required drivers to pay a $400.00 escrow (security)deposit but years ago--the feds decided this had to stop or else pay the driver INTEREST on that deposit. Most companies dropped it--as keeping track of the interest was more of a pain than it was worth----besides they usually always find excuses to hold back that last check anyway.

"you forgot to turn in you Photo ID badge on a lanyard.
you didn't return your driver handbook
2 pair of safety glasses
how about that brake valve lock we issued
you didn't return the E-Zpass to safety department(now it's missing)

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

What blows is that most of the friction between myself ,And Werner was things like Being sent free form messages to DH to a different area for freight ,and not being paid those miles when I was assigned a trip essentialy stealing anywhere from 100-300 miles of pay from me ...Or sending me a to recover an empty , But never paying those miles either ,and then many times sending me to a shipper to get loaded ,and having to sit 4-6 hours only to be "swapped" with an O/O 20 miles down the road ,and getting paid nothing for my part/time on the load .


It's these instances that caused me to not have a good working relationship with my dispatcher and they would not let me switch claiming they had no other open boards for 48/Canada .He was rather shady and screwed me more than a few times , And on the 14th of November I had little patience left for his B.S. /lies screwing me out of money ,And while he was yelling at me on the phone I hung up on him ,And this bruised his ego ,and initiated my termination...problem I'm having now is no good reputable company will give me a chance due to the termination ,Which I have been honest with every employer on my applications about the termination , And the only company in the last month that accepted my apllication turned out to be a company that seemed to have questionable ethics , And could have been more trouble than being unemployed .

[headborg]

What blows is that most of the friction between myself ,And Werner was things like Being sent free form messages to DH to a different area for freight ,and not being paid those miles when I was assigned a trip essentialy stealing anywhere from 100-300 miles of pay from me ...Or sending me a to recover an empty , But never paying those miles either ,and then many times sending me to a shipper to get loaded ,and having to sit 4-6 hours only to be "swapped" with an O/O 20 miles down the road ,and getting paid nothing for my part/time on the load .


It's these instances that caused me to not have a good working relationship with my dispatcher and they would not let me switch claiming they had no other open boards for 48/Canada .He was rather shady and screwed me more than a few times , And on the 14th of November I had little patience left for his B.S. /lies screwing me out of money ,And while he was yelling at me on the phone I hung up on him ,And this bruised his ego ,and initiated my termination...problem I'm having now is no good reputable company will give me a chance due to the termination ,Which I have been honest with every employer on my applications about the termination , And the only company in the last month that accepted my apllication turned out to be a company that seemed to have questionable ethics , And could have been more trouble than being unemployed .

a lot of times like you mentioned above, you got to "act" dumb and send what seems like stupid qual-com messages, but what you're really doing is
putting the dispatcher "on record"

example:

D=dispatcher
Y=you

D={we got a hot load picking up in Bakersfield at noon--start that way and I'll get you the load info when the csr gets back from lunch.}
Y= how many paid miles is that DH?

D= will ANSWER THE QUESTION or not

now you decide to start moving or NOT; if the relationship is working and he hasn't screwed you before--then I'd go ahead and deadhead that way.

Now, you're in Bakersfield, Ca---you get the load info ---and the space where the deadhead miles usually are is---BLANK

you can send this kind of message:

Will that 200 mile dead head be paid on this Load number? or was it
tacked onto the END of the last one-Trip#XXXXXXXXXX

So, lets see trip#xxxxxxxxx, was 1500 miles so now it will be paid at:
1700 miles?

What blows is that most of the friction between myself ,And Werner was things like Being sent free form messages to DH to a different area for freight ,and not being paid those miles when I was assigned a trip essentialy stealing anywhere from 100-300 miles of pay from me ...Or sending me a to recover an empty , But never paying those miles either ,and then many times sending me to a shipper to get loaded ,and having to sit 4-6 hours only to be "swapped" with an O/O 20 miles down the road ,and getting paid nothing for my part/time on the load .

Every OTR driver I run into says that crap is all "part of the job". Well, it's part of my job too but I get paid for it with overtime after 8/40 hours thanks to the union. But the very same drivers say unions are bad and they don't need organization.

It's these instances that caused me to not have a good working relationship with my dispatcher and they would not let me switch claiming they had no other open boards for 48/Canada .He was rather shady and screwed me more than a few times , And on the 14th of November I had little patience left for his B.S. /lies screwing me out of money ,And while he was yelling at me on the phone I hung up on him ,And this bruised his ego ,and initiated my termination...problem I'm having now is no good reputable company will give me a chance due to the termination ,Which I have been honest with every employer on my applications about the termination , And the only company in the last month that accepted my apllication turned out to be a company that seemed to have questionable ethics , And could have been more trouble than being unemployed .

This is why I say over and over again not to work for these *****bag outfits like Werner. As soon as you don't agree to play their games, they throw a hissy-fit and blackball you. Who's word do you think your next employer is going to take? Yours or Werner's?

[Uturn2001]

Be sure to have all your supporting documents together before you file a complaint with any state agency.

As far as the being able to with hold your pay to cover losses bit, this is a sticky situation.

How legal it is, even if you signed a paper during orientation, is going to depend on the laws of the state the company is based out of.

In some states it is legal to have an employee agree in advance to pay for losses, in other states however it can only be done at the time and with written authorization from the employee.

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

Be sure to have all your supporting documents together before you file a complaint with any state agency.

As far as the being able to with hold your pay to cover losses bit, this is a sticky situation.

How legal it is, even if you signed a paper during orientation, is going to depend on the laws of the state the company is based out of.

In some states it is legal to have an employee agree in advance to pay for losses, in other states however it can only be done at the time and with written authorization from the employee.

unfortunately I turned in all my bills on the 14th ,And was in such a hurry to get on my way I never made copies of the bills for this trip ,and when I call payroll they just give me excuses regarding the bills .

[Uturn2001]

unfortunately I turned in all my bills on the 14th ,And was in such a hurry to get on my way I never made copies of the bills for this trip ,and when I call payroll they just give me excuses regarding the bills .

Do you still have your log books with trip and/or BOL numbers on them? If you do this can be used to show proof of work.

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

unfortunately I turned in all my bills on the 14th ,And was in such a hurry to get on my way I never made copies of the bills for this trip ,and when I call payroll they just give me excuses regarding the bills .

Do you still have your log books with trip and/or BOL numbers on them? If you do this can be used to show proof of work.

I drove for Werner ,which means paperless logs VIA the Qualcomm .

[Creek Jackson]

unfortunately I turned in all my bills on the 14th ,And was in such a hurry to get on my way I never made copies of the bills for this trip ,and when I call payroll they just give me excuses regarding the bills .

Do you still have your log books with trip and/or BOL numbers on them? If you do this can be used to show proof of work.

I drove for Werner ,which means paperless logs VIA the Qualcomm .

Big jeep Dude,

What is your take on paperless logs?

Creek