Aspergers (high functioning autism) and trucking
Hello newbie here. I'm James.
I got my Class A CDL in September of 2012 and started with Schneider in January 2013. I lasted about 6 months before I was terminated due to "service issues". I did make some mistakes, but I feel they are disability related and that they really didn't give me a chance. I am a new driver, and was improving all the time. I was safe and accident free the whole time.
The "service problems" we were having was my being late on some loads. Apparently its OK to be late on some stuff, but just putting it in the qualcomm is not enough. You have to call your leader and let them know. Bear in mind Schneider doesn't allow phone use, even hands free, while driving. So this requires you to find a place to stop and park, then call them, wait forever to speak to your leader or someone else, and then get back on the road. Doesn't make much sense when you're already running late. The straw that broke the camels back is when I overslept one day and was late on a load to Coke in Springfield, Illinois. It wasn't any big deal, coke wasn't ready for me anyways. But to Schneider it was a big deal. They fired me.
I believe aspergers is a large part of the problem, combined with their own issues (needing to be called every 5 minutes, not allowing phone calls while driving, taking forever to answer the phone, etc) and my being a new driver. If they had just given me the time I needed id have been fine. But they didn't....
I could be a great trucker and a very good asset to them, But so far I have been unable to get my job back. I kinda think the manager has something against me. Perhaps my disability? He doesn't know I have aspergers, i never had many jobs, especially ones that were so strict, so I never really knew it was a problem and that it needed to be brought to the attention of the company and its employees.
I absolutely loved my job with Schneider. It was perfect for me. I was part time and regional, so I could work as much as I wanted to, or as little as I wanted to, as long as it was at least 8 days a month.
I applied with Crete, and they approved me. Then something came up and I couldn't start right away. My application expired and had to be resubmitted. This time it was NOT approved due to my termination with Schneider.
I don't really know what to do next. Do I have a case against Schneider to hold over their head? What should I do?
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