Truck Driver Loses Job as Child Dies
Truck driver, Andre Walls had been trucking over the road for two and a half years. He had never had an accident and had never received a ticket. Two and a half years of perfect driving and being an excellent employee. Then, he was terminated by his company for violating a company policy : having an “unauthorized passenger” in the truck with him. The company reported it to his DAC Report and just like that . . . Mr. Walls found himself out of the job he loved and now, cannot find another employer to hire him.
Yes, he made a mistake by allowing an unathorized passenger to ride in the truck with him . . . but here’s the rest of the story:
Andre had been running hard all week with very little rest in order to make extra money for himself and his family. He was taking every run he could so they could get “back on track” with their finances. He was dispatched on a load to Northern Arkansas and even though he had little rest, he headed off under dispatch. During the run, he received a phone call from his brother-in-law who was on his way home, but his car broke down. The brother-in-law’s child, Andre’s nephew or neice, was dying. He asked Mr. Walls if he could give him a ride home. Andre did.
Andre completed the load to Arkansas, but was then called in to the company and was advised that he was terminated due to violating company policy. He was asked to write a statement explaining his side of the story, which he did. He was still terminated and with an “unauthorized passenger” on his DAC report, he has not been able to find another trucking company that will hire him.
Before the next morning, the baby died.
What would you have done?
This driver is now at the point of “losing everything.” I mention often that there are good and decent trucking companies. I know there are, because I’ve worked for several of them. Is there one trucking company out there that will prove me right? Will you give Andre Walls a job? Will you look past the fact that he had an “unauthorized passenger” in the truck? Will you understand that a baby was dying?
Help prove me right. If you’ll hire this driver, email me at : allen@truthabouttrucking.com and I’ll forward your email to Andre. I won’t post about it . . . I won’t talk about it . . . it will just be between you and this driver.
What would you have done? What if it had been your child?
Will you hire Andre? email me . . . and thanks.
Allen Smith
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: andre walls, company policy, dac, hire, report, truck driver, trucking, trucking companies, trucking company, unauthorized passenger, violating
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DAC must be stopped. I don’t know how we’re going to do it with the ATA being as powerful as it is, but it has to be done.
Thanks Don,
It’s the real life stories like this that will create awareness and make people WANT to fight for THEIR rights.
Allen,
Hope you don’t mind this:
http://www.tachoblog.com/news/tachoblog-outraged-needless-driver-sacking/
Regards,
Tachoblog.
Don’t mind at all . . . thanks for getting the word out – Allen
DAC must be stopped or regulated better! Companies can report what they want and no one questions it or even checks to see if it is true. They can basicly kill a drivers career and there is very little he or she can do about it. I been there trying to fix errors on my DAc, but no one cares. They side with the company 100% of the time. They said I need to prove it’s wrong. Thats such bs, the company needs to prove its right!
I was impressed with the recruiter from Windy Hill when she visited our school. It sounded like a small company would be nice to work for. I asked her if drivers were paid for empty miles. Of course she said yes.
In school we learned about Hours of Service and why the 10/14/10 rule was important to keep us alert and safe.
I worked for Windy Hill for about 3 months and finally had it with the 700 mile per day dispatches. It wasn’t every day, but at least once a week. Of course I would love to drive 700 miles per day, I could make a lot of money. But driving an International with a 280 hp engine, I can only go so far in the hills and mountains of TN, WV, etc..
I found out that dispatchers were paid bonuses when drivers delivered on-time. It didn’t matter if drivers had the hours availabe. We usually had no choice but to drive 14 to 18 hours a day to make the appointment.
Windy Hills safety officer’s job is to ensure we faked our logs and we were “warned” when we wrote accurate logs.
Last long-haul I did was from Hialeah, Fl to Christiana, Tn. They gave me the route and said it was 480 miles.
I left South Florida at 7am. I was outside Macon around 3 and dispatcher called me and told me I had to deliver that night at 10. I had already driven 8 hours and I had at least 6 more to go.
After 13 hours I was getting tired, after 9pm, I was starting to swerve. I stopped for an hour nap then went on. I arrived at 10.
On my odometer I drove 740 miles.
Windy Hill has done this several times before and I got tired of it.
On May 22, I was scheduled to go home, so when I pulled into the yard, I cleaned my truck out and told the manager that I won’t drive for them any more.
I have tried to get another job, but Windy Hill has reported that I was fired.
THEY CAN’T FIRE ME AFTER I QUIT!
But I have no recourse with DAC.
This is a perfect example of both DAC abuse and the point we were making on our sleep apnea show when we stated that more drivers are tired because of the industry lifestyle and abuse than they are with sleep apnea problems. The industry uses sleep apnea as a cover screen for the real issues such as: drivers being pushed by dispatch, shippers and receivers not keeping appointment times, etc… Sleep apnea is one more way to get rid of drivers and DAC is a tool for trucking companies to control drivers by threats and retaliation. have you signed the petition yet for Dac Abuse?