Complaint Review: C.R. ENGLAND

First off my case is complicated. While I was on 'phase 2' training, I found out from my co-driver I was assigned to drive on Phase 2, that the morning we were to be assigned our truck, that in the Driver's Resource Center, the Phase 2 training coordinator was telling everyone in the Driver's Resource Center about 'me', as he had inferred that I could not be placed with another driver because I was "with an elevator that did not go all the way to the top" due to my research work before I joined the company.  Others in the Driver's Resource Center, a group of approximately one dozen ear and eyewitnesses, also heard this man defame me.  Two days out on the truck with the primary witness, he then said; "you know, I have to tell you what was going on before you were assigned the truck with me.."  So he did.  He told me in great detail about the defamation by the Phase 2 training coordinator, whom I will not name here.  Of course I was absolutely furious but as we were hauling freight for the company I just stowed that anger till the next day when I composed a QUALCOMM message to the training driver manager, a guy named Carter Smith, who is no longer with the company.   That message I asked to be forwarded to H.R., so they could investigate the defamation of character issue and the slander.  They ignored the Qualcomm message entirely but I took pictures of it with my phone camera and also wrote it verbatim in my notebook...for safe keeping.   Now, incidentally my temporary drivers license was due to expire in a few short days and I had sent another message informing Carter Smith that it was time to get me headed west to my home state so that I could convert the temporary before it expired. 

The next day we got a load assignment taking the truck further east...farther away.  I reminded him that two weeks earlier we had the truck in my home state not far from a DL division and it would be easier then to just have me get the license converted the next morning so that the necessity to wait till the last minute was no longer an issue. I had been getting 'non-dispatch' holds on me going back to Salt Lake City and the Driver's Resource Center, D.O.T. Compliance person, Alison Hill, would call me to her cubicle and remind me that my license would indeed expire soon.  I told her that I had had an opportunity to convert it but the company ignored that first chance but at that time we had about a little over a week and a half to get me back, and she said my driver manager on the Q9 fleet, Carter Smith would probably get me back for that.  Instead, what Carter Smith did was send the message stating that our next load would take me to Columbus, Ohio...further away.  I told him in a Quallcomm message that this was not a game any longer and that the license was just mere days from expiry an that I would be unable to drive my share of the miles in the truck once that happened.  He then informed the other driver, a nice guy named W. Sprague, that his instructions were to take me to South Holland and drop me off there.  We went to the South Holland C.R. England maintenance yard near the rock quarry there not far from Gary, Indiana, and we waited there for further instructions.  Next Sprague gets instructions to take me to Burns Harbor and drop me, as he had been dispatched with the load assignment to go to Eagan, Minnesota.  I told Sprague that if I remained on the truck we could do the load assignment together and that if he then dropped me at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport then I could fly home and get my license converted.   Instead he simply did as he was told and dropped me in Burns Harbor.  I then tried to ascertain at the Burns Harbor School which was now after hours, what was next, but nobody was there to discuss the matter so I caught their shuttle to their flea bag motel called HOMETOWN, which was 'full' and hence had to give me a voucher to stay next door at a dump called Motel 6, which had a dirt floor in the bathroom covered with slats of wood. 

So, I could not reach anyone till the next day so I then called D.O.T. compliance and spoke with Shauna Garat and another person in D.O.T. compliance and told them my story.  Both of them told me that my plan that I informed them of, of taking a flight out of Midway and going home to Seattle, was a good plan, and to just track my expenses and provide that information to them when I could.  So, I caught the C.R. England shuttle van to the regional bus transit terminal in Gary, IN. and caught that bus to Midway Airport   At Midway I contacted SW Airlines and they had a seat available on a flight that left in 2 hours, so I then booked the seat, paid with my credit card over the phone, and called C.R. England's Shauna Garat to inform her that I was booked and going to get the license converted.  By the way, this was 'thursday' afternoon, and Monday my 'temporary' UTAH CDL A license would be expired.  Note: No DMV locations in Washington operate on MONDAY, which was May 12th.  In any case I got home, and went to DMV the next morning and got my license converted.  Then I sent images of the new license within 4 days to C.R. England's recruiter, Travis Manchester, who recruited me, and my future 'team' driver to forward to the DM or Driver Manager for my new fleet I was being assigned to.  In any case, in a couple days I got a phone call telling me that my license had now expired, coming from D.O.T. compliance person Ms. Garat.  I informed her that I had converted my license and it did NOT EXPIRE.  In any case, in a few short days my new team driver, Robert Richards, picked me up and we proceded to drive for 2 weeks and haul freight. 

In the meantime I called my 'new' driver manager and told him that it was imperative that they work out the reimbursal for my rescuing my license.  I spoke to Payroll, then to D.O.T. Compliance, Ms. Garat, and around and around and around it went till finally Payroll said; "listen, Carter Smith needs to approve the reimbursal.."  She then hung up on me and that was that.  I tried contacting Carter Smith and left numerous phone messages on his AUDIX phone system which he never returned. I also asked my new DM if he could do anything but he informed me that he had done all that he could do.   Finally, as I had now been on the fleet truck for two weeks I had noted my COMDATA card had not been filled with any pay.  And, I contacted the DM and told him; "Look, the company stranded me without a plan in Burns Harbor after Carter Smith lied and said that he dropped me there requiring further training, something I had not heard from any other source, not my co-driver or anyone else.  Also he had told Sprague when Sprague dropped me off, that another truck would come to get me.  At HOMETOWN the lady at the desk there said; "IF there were a truck dispatched to get you, I'd know about it...and there is NO TRUCK.."  In any case, i had the DM on the phone and asked him to get me home.  He apologized for what the company had done to me and promised me he would get me there as soon as he could.  In the meantime we hauled a couple more loads of freight between Los Angeles and central california, and finally the DM routed us to drop me in Seattle, via a load or two in Pasco, WA.  

Once I dismounted the truck, I expected someone from C.R. England to call me but nobody did.  I finally got Payroll to get someone e-mailed in H.R. about the defamation issue and the stranding, and told her to make sure that they would contact me.  Nobody contacted me.  Then, I called and got routed to a DRIVER ADVOCATE person, who promised me that they would investigate the defamation and discrimination complaint I had made way back in my Phase 2 training.  When I spoke to that person again she said they were investigating the issue.

Now, after two weeks home, an e-mail comes in from the Driver's Resource Center person Sale Manueleua, informing me that it was time to get me a ticket to get back onto a truck.  I told him that the ONLY WAY that I would do this is if they paid me for my travel expenses, and fully investigated the defamation issue and responded in a way that made it clear that those involved in the D.R.C. that day, the incident that Sprague witnessed, was properly addressed by them.  And I made it clear that under no circumstances would I be boarding any bus until I was told what the plan was to re-integrate me with the fleet.  In about 45 minutes, an e-mail then comes in threatening me with dismissal, by an official I surmised was in H.R., by the name of Jonathan Peto. All my prior e-mails from the gent named Mr. Sale Manuleleua from the DRC, were c.c.'d to a guy named Woodson Witt, whom I presumed was their legal counsel.  Mr. Peto's e-mail stipulated that I owed tuition money and if I were terminated that I was responsible to pay that to them.  Now be advised as an honorably discharged veteran, the U.S. Government paid them, so they had already received the tuition from the government.  And, my requests for all documents signed by me at the school to be 'xeroxed' and given me, which was assured me by their H.R. girl before I left, never were given to me.  I had written a signing statement that in effect said I was not in agreement with the cost of the tuition reimbursal, and as I had agreed to drive for them for 6 months which was my intent, I also knew that their physician said he would not re-issue my medical which was only good for 6 months.  And that was not conditional...that was not negotiable.  I had informed Mr. Peto that it was 'not appropriate' to threaten me with termination under these circumstances, and that their best course of action was to put together a plan to pay me and investigate the defamation issue and advise me what action they took against those involved in the D.R.C. that day.

In any case, it has been two days since the threat of termination.  No contact in any way by them so far.

Now, my problem is manifold with C.R. England.  First, their contract was an illegal document because I have never ever signed ANY CONTRACT and been summarily refused copies of ALL PAPERS SIGNED BY ME.  Yet they refused to give me those.  And I was not the only driver that they did this to.

Second, i hauled freight for them as a student, for tens of thousands of miles, and was afforded a shower every fourth or fifth or sixth day out, we drove so hard, so this was a health hazard they imposed by the schedule we drove under.  Next, the pay was absolutely below minimum wage per hour of work. 

Third, they forced my Phase 2 driver and myself to drive freight without a Bill of Lading on the truck for intrastate transport of a load we had no way to inspect without breaking the seal on the trailer.

Fourth, as they stranded me once, and egregiously harmed my reputation ON PURPOSE, defaming me in the D.R.C. before I went out on Phase 2 with Sprague, they at least owed me an honest and sincere apology for Carter Smith's stranding me perhaps in direct retaliation for reporting the defamation issue ot him and the rest of C.R. England management on the Qualcomm terminal on the day after Sprague confided in me how badly and terribly I had been disparaged in the D.R.C. when I wasn't there to defend myself.

Fifth and last point, they owe me for the costs incurred to rescue my license.  I paid that out of my own pocket, and I was assured by both D.O.T. compliance personnel, as well as Sale Manuleleua, that I would be paid in full, for the travel home to rescue the expiring license.  Mr. Manuleleua advised me that I would have to get back on a truck and fill out an 'A/R' to be reimbursed, and I told him that 'no' this was not acceptable, that they could pay me either by check or deposit on my COMDATA payroll card.  That was what prompted the 'firing' threat by Mr. Peto...which was not under any circumstances even close to acceptable.

In summary, this is a long story, but as an honorably discharged military veteran who held high level security clearances and had nuclear weapons duties in the miltary, that it was not appropriate to besmirch my reputation and defame me gratuitously for my prior work I had done before joining the company.  I was always polite and congenial, but made it a point to truthfully and honestly fill out the DRIVER SURVEYS which are not anonymous but linked to your S.S. number.  I never ever held back valid criticism of the shortcomings of their training, and the hazardous conditions precipitated by instructors who demanded action on the highway, in their trucks, which would have involved at the least, serious bodily injury or 'death' of other motorists and perhaps others in the truck with us at the time, as often other students would be onboard.  The living conditions at their Salt Lake City school if you would call it that, were nothing less than despicable, and I never ever in the U.S., before being stranded in Burns Harbor, ever stayed the night in a U.S. motel with a dirt floor in the bathroom.  That was pretty damned pathetic.

All in all, if the U.S. Federal Government paid for my tuition as I believe they have, they should ask for full reimbursal, and ask the company to ask their physician why he issued me a six month medical with no intent to renew that, based on a medical condition that still allowed me to drive freight for tens of thousands of miles, for months at a time, under duress of schedule and with showers every 4 or 5 or maybe 6 days apart.  My 'team' driver, Robert Richards, was paid, as I was, a mere '11 cents' per mile while I was on the truck, and his regular pay was 29 cents a mile, which mean that he was losing money driving 'team' with me on the truck.

This is not truck driving, this is indentured enslaved servitude to a fly by night, disrespectful of honorably discharged veteran's, company that is more a 'puppy mill' than a trucking firm.  A firm that makes up the rules as it goes, and gives the drivers absolutely not one voice. Not one voice, when they are egregiously harmed and defamed and stranded by them.