Is this legal for a company to do?

Drivers are required to sign an agreement that states the following.

There are only 3 acceptable reasons to be late to a pick up or drop off. These include; mechanical failure/breakdown, weather, shippers making you wait to load.
If you are going to be late for any other reason you must call in, and if they do not feel it acceptable then your pay will be reduced by 2 cents per mile for 90 days. Failure to improve will result in termination of employment. After 90 days if you are no longer late, then you'll get the 2 cents per mile back, however, you are still on probation for another 6 months.


So, question is....can they legally cut your pay like that?

Second question, different company.

If a driver damages the truck/trailer, to the extent that an insurance claim is filed. The company charges the driver for the deductable. In addition, if the repair is less than the cost of the deductable, the driver is also charged for the repair.

Is this legal? And if it is, is it common practice.

Thanks!!

 

Number 1 is yes it is legal. So long as pay is equal to or above min wage, wages are between an employee and the employer.

Number 2 is maybe. It all depends on the laws of the state the trucking company is based on. For example, if the company is based in Illinois it would be illegal due to Illinois employment law that says that pay can not be with held or employees required to pay for damages or losses incurred while doing business unless agreed to by the employee, in writing, at the time the deduction is made. I know a few other states have similar statues.

 

Thank you so much!


Now to break that to my DH...he so hates being wrong. At least on the first one.

The second one, I'll do some looking into, the company is in Colorado.

 

As I read this reply to the answer given above, I have to say "WTF?"

But before I continue on, let me ask this. Are you a driver within this company? Or a part of management?

 

If i worked there and they did that i would laugh and say SEE YA!!!!

 

Not sure what your WTF is all about.


But to answer your question, I'm a truckers wife.

My DHs company has the policy about being late for a load and them cutting your pay. He said that's illegal, I told him I didn't think so. I came to the more experienced here, to settle the debate.

The second situation is with a good friends DH. He damaged the truck, and crushed the front fender. His company charged him the deductable. I didn't know if they could do that or not. So, I told her I'd ask while I was asking the first case. Now, since uturn was nice enough to answer and his information is that its not the same in every state. I'll keep looking, to find state specific info.


Mackman, on which one? or both?
In close to a year with this company DH has been late twice. Once was breakdown, the second was the shipper not having the load ready for 8 hours. He's not worried about the policy, he loves his job and loves to do it right. But 7 people have been fired under this policy and I have no idea how many others have taken pay cuts for it.

 

If this is the companies policy and you agree to it when you go to work for them, then it is legal. Why should the driver not be held accountable for their behavior? There are specific reasons as to why the driver's pay may be reduced. All the driver need to do is his job. If he is going to be late all he need do is let his dispatcher know. If he is doing his job then there is no reason he should be late, unless he has mechanical trouble or some other reason out of his control. From your post, he can even get the lost money back if he changes his behavior. In other words, all he need do is his job.

If he damages property assigned to him, why should he not be held accountable? I am not talking about something which was not his fault. If he damages his equipment he should be held responsible. All he is responsible for is the deductible. The company or insurance company pays the balance of the damage.

If a driver is careful and does the job he is assigned, then he won't have anything deducted from his pay or need to reimburse the company for a deductible. I don't see any reason that the driver has any recourse as long as everything was disclosed in the beginning of his employment. I think it is a good idea.

 

I think Fed Ex had a policy for companys that hauled their loads years back if your 15 mins late....free drayage and at 30 mins the company is fined. Of course I have slept many times over the years so I may have dreamed that.

 

utter insanity.

What about HOS rules? I would think they would trump any stupid rules that this company would have.

They're setting themselves up for a HUGE lawsuit if it's found out one of their drivers was breaking the law because of this agreement.



I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they were out of business within 10 years.

 

If the driver is doing his job then the HOS will not even come into play here. Part of his job is to know if he can deliver on time with the information he is given at dispatch. Now if there is a bad accident on the road and it is shut down for hours or there is a majors weather problem, then those are out of his control and according to the origional poster, the driver will not be held responsible.