Sean McQuaid
Whiny baby
Hostile Work Environment:
An example of a way a hostile work environment may be defined is (1) when a boss or manager begins to engage in a manner designed to make you quit in retaliation for your actions. Suppose you report safety violations at work, get injured at work, attempt to join a union, complain to upper level management about a problem at work, or act as a whistleblower in any respect. (2) Then, the company's response is to do all manner of things to make you quit, like writing you up for work rules you didn't break, reducing your hours, scheduling you for hours that are in total conflict with what you can do, setting impossible goals, replacing a base pay with commission or reducing your salary. (3) The company's reaction can be viewed as creating a hostile work environment, one that makes it impossible to work and is an attempt to make you quit so that the employer does not have to pay unemployment benefits.
Breaking it down by the numbers with the experiences I had by Werner, the Hostile work environment is as follows:
((1): a boss or manager - in my case, my dispatcher - begins to engage in a manner designed to make you quit in retaliation for your actions): In my case, I was forced to run against the clock with just about every load I was assigned to in spite that just about all loads have a window which exceeds the delivery time I was given. I asked at many of my stops if the load had a window, and they told me YES. The result was I had no time for showering on a long distance load (often showering must be done while enroute as it is often that the 10 hour shutdown occurs in a location where a shower is unavailable - such as a rest area, parking lot - etc.). I was denied personal drive time to get to a shower of shop for food often because I was under a preassigned load. Or I did not put in for personal drive time because after a day on the road, I needed my full rest. 10 hours gave me just enough time to eat, do paperwork and check scheduling, and get my 8 hours sleep to say nothing of factoring in showering and wait time for the shower. In using the term my dispatcher used - "fighting", I began to fight him as he saw no reason when I attempted to get him to ease up on my tight running times. And if I was shut down at a location more than the normal 10 hour, the situation was the same, that being no shower or place to shop for food - etc. where I was, and waiting until I was on the move again to get to a shower, food etc.. Running against the clock as I had to do is contrary to safety; and because I had no time for showering and food breaks, goes contrary to health and hygene. My dispatcher contends it was because of how I logged. I did not log in any way contrary to D.O.T. regulations, but I did log contrary to Werner's attempt to make a driver work (be on duty) more than 70 hours a week. I did not quit. Instead I began to take breaks and showers when I really needed them, resulting in late loads. I might add that I was run far more than veterin drivers with years in the company because it was cheaper to run me (pay scale). I spoke to many veterins driving the same regions I was, who would sit often for days waiting for a load assignment at the same time I was recieving preassigned loads often before I delivered the load I was under. And with the recession, I am sure the company was saving any way they could.
((2): Then, the company's response is to do all manner of things to make you quit, like writing you up for work rules you didn't break, reducing your hours, scheduling you for hours that are in total conflict with what you can do, setting impossible goals....): In my case, Because I did not quit in response to my dispatcher's continued reluctance to loosten my travel time a little, I was set up for the late loads. I will note the fact that in addition to my low pay scale being the reason to run me more than the veterin driver, it also works out that the more miles a dispatcher runs a driver, the more the dispatcher makes. In conjunction to taking care of myself, delivering on time (especially long distance) was the impossible task. I even recieved a load on an occasion which could not be delivered on time even without a break of any kind. There were also occasions during my tight running times I was set up for load swaps with other drivers - something Werner seems to have a habit of doing. But because my times were so tight, and in my attempt to deliver on time without time to stop multiple times, I did not stop every time the Qualcomm beeped. This is because most of the time the messages were the same "generic" bulletins sent daily. Stopping - say 8 times (average amount of times the Qualcomm would beep a generic message in a day) - can lose an hour or more on the road because I'd have to pull into a rest area to stop the truck and use the Qualcomm. And most often, I did not have that hour to lose. My Dispatcher (JD Hodgestradt) seemed to think I could stop multiple times to look at every single Qualcomm message and still make the loads on time. After missing load swaps and arguing with dispatch about the reasons why, I began to stop each time the qualcomm beeped (often every half hour) which resulted in slower average speeds and late loads. This forced dispatch to back up my delivery times. This is a case where dispatch/driver relations were not working out, and I was not given another dispatcher after my request to Fleet Management. The impossible task thing is something I also experienced with Swift when getting a truck assignment; resulting in my driver code being terminated which they put on my DAC report as a V.Q. (Voluntary Quit) - an earlier result of the recession and having hired too many drivers for the government subsidy these trucking companies recieved for taking on student drivers. The end result with Werner was I was terminated for late loads, and disciplinary issues (fighting with dispatch).
((3): The company's reaction can be viewed as creating a hostile work environment, one that makes it impossible to work and is an attempt to make you quit so that the employer does not have to pay unemployment benefits): It is my contention that the company (Werner Enterprises) made it impossible for me to work in not seeing reason where the tight load times were concerned and not giving me a better window to properly take care of myself. Other examples of an impossible work environment with Werner were repairs not addressed in a timely manner (my truck was down a total of 15 days in a 40 day period for one problem which resulted in a low production rating my dispatcher tried to blame me for), and a Qualcomm System saying I was idling my truck when I was not. The issues of idling was cause for termination as well as late loads and low production, and I have seen many terminations of drivers within Werner for idling. I had this pressure and worry over something I was not doing on top of my load times, and saw myself as being set up in this instance as well as the late loads. This added to fights with dispatch, and more added stress on me. Because I did not quit (in a bad economy/recession, there was no way I was going to simply quit), the company used the late loads and my fighting with dispatch as reason for terminating me. this results in my not being able to collect unemployment benefits as per what I read in the guidelines to be eligible.
The tight running times (time vs. mileage) is all a matter of record through the electronic logging system. Additionally, my dispatcher (J.D. Hodgestradt) was uncooperative in helping me when I'd not know what certain things would mean. He'd not address my inquiry when I put it to him. As far as I see, Werner created an unnecessary hostile work environment on top of the usuals in trucking I was well aware of and willing to accept. The usuals being low pay, long hours, only 1 day off per week worked, away from home at least 3 weeks at a time, rude people in the terminals, not to mention the everyday hazards non-professional drivers create on the road on a daily basis. Werner added to these anomalies by not allowing me time when enrout on a long distance haul to properly care for myself, and do my job in a safe manner.
An example of a way a hostile work environment may be defined is (1) when a boss or manager begins to engage in a manner designed to make you quit in retaliation for your actions. Suppose you report safety violations at work, get injured at work, attempt to join a union, complain to upper level management about a problem at work, or act as a whistleblower in any respect. (2) Then, the company's response is to do all manner of things to make you quit, like writing you up for work rules you didn't break, reducing your hours, scheduling you for hours that are in total conflict with what you can do, setting impossible goals, replacing a base pay with commission or reducing your salary. (3) The company's reaction can be viewed as creating a hostile work environment, one that makes it impossible to work and is an attempt to make you quit so that the employer does not have to pay unemployment benefits.
Breaking it down by the numbers with the experiences I had by Werner, the Hostile work environment is as follows:
((1): a boss or manager - in my case, my dispatcher - begins to engage in a manner designed to make you quit in retaliation for your actions): In my case, I was forced to run against the clock with just about every load I was assigned to in spite that just about all loads have a window which exceeds the delivery time I was given. I asked at many of my stops if the load had a window, and they told me YES. The result was I had no time for showering on a long distance load (often showering must be done while enroute as it is often that the 10 hour shutdown occurs in a location where a shower is unavailable - such as a rest area, parking lot - etc.). I was denied personal drive time to get to a shower of shop for food often because I was under a preassigned load. Or I did not put in for personal drive time because after a day on the road, I needed my full rest. 10 hours gave me just enough time to eat, do paperwork and check scheduling, and get my 8 hours sleep to say nothing of factoring in showering and wait time for the shower. In using the term my dispatcher used - "fighting", I began to fight him as he saw no reason when I attempted to get him to ease up on my tight running times. And if I was shut down at a location more than the normal 10 hour, the situation was the same, that being no shower or place to shop for food - etc. where I was, and waiting until I was on the move again to get to a shower, food etc.. Running against the clock as I had to do is contrary to safety; and because I had no time for showering and food breaks, goes contrary to health and hygene. My dispatcher contends it was because of how I logged. I did not log in any way contrary to D.O.T. regulations, but I did log contrary to Werner's attempt to make a driver work (be on duty) more than 70 hours a week. I did not quit. Instead I began to take breaks and showers when I really needed them, resulting in late loads. I might add that I was run far more than veterin drivers with years in the company because it was cheaper to run me (pay scale). I spoke to many veterins driving the same regions I was, who would sit often for days waiting for a load assignment at the same time I was recieving preassigned loads often before I delivered the load I was under. And with the recession, I am sure the company was saving any way they could.
((2): Then, the company's response is to do all manner of things to make you quit, like writing you up for work rules you didn't break, reducing your hours, scheduling you for hours that are in total conflict with what you can do, setting impossible goals....): In my case, Because I did not quit in response to my dispatcher's continued reluctance to loosten my travel time a little, I was set up for the late loads. I will note the fact that in addition to my low pay scale being the reason to run me more than the veterin driver, it also works out that the more miles a dispatcher runs a driver, the more the dispatcher makes. In conjunction to taking care of myself, delivering on time (especially long distance) was the impossible task. I even recieved a load on an occasion which could not be delivered on time even without a break of any kind. There were also occasions during my tight running times I was set up for load swaps with other drivers - something Werner seems to have a habit of doing. But because my times were so tight, and in my attempt to deliver on time without time to stop multiple times, I did not stop every time the Qualcomm beeped. This is because most of the time the messages were the same "generic" bulletins sent daily. Stopping - say 8 times (average amount of times the Qualcomm would beep a generic message in a day) - can lose an hour or more on the road because I'd have to pull into a rest area to stop the truck and use the Qualcomm. And most often, I did not have that hour to lose. My Dispatcher (JD Hodgestradt) seemed to think I could stop multiple times to look at every single Qualcomm message and still make the loads on time. After missing load swaps and arguing with dispatch about the reasons why, I began to stop each time the qualcomm beeped (often every half hour) which resulted in slower average speeds and late loads. This forced dispatch to back up my delivery times. This is a case where dispatch/driver relations were not working out, and I was not given another dispatcher after my request to Fleet Management. The impossible task thing is something I also experienced with Swift when getting a truck assignment; resulting in my driver code being terminated which they put on my DAC report as a V.Q. (Voluntary Quit) - an earlier result of the recession and having hired too many drivers for the government subsidy these trucking companies recieved for taking on student drivers. The end result with Werner was I was terminated for late loads, and disciplinary issues (fighting with dispatch).
((3): The company's reaction can be viewed as creating a hostile work environment, one that makes it impossible to work and is an attempt to make you quit so that the employer does not have to pay unemployment benefits): It is my contention that the company (Werner Enterprises) made it impossible for me to work in not seeing reason where the tight load times were concerned and not giving me a better window to properly take care of myself. Other examples of an impossible work environment with Werner were repairs not addressed in a timely manner (my truck was down a total of 15 days in a 40 day period for one problem which resulted in a low production rating my dispatcher tried to blame me for), and a Qualcomm System saying I was idling my truck when I was not. The issues of idling was cause for termination as well as late loads and low production, and I have seen many terminations of drivers within Werner for idling. I had this pressure and worry over something I was not doing on top of my load times, and saw myself as being set up in this instance as well as the late loads. This added to fights with dispatch, and more added stress on me. Because I did not quit (in a bad economy/recession, there was no way I was going to simply quit), the company used the late loads and my fighting with dispatch as reason for terminating me. this results in my not being able to collect unemployment benefits as per what I read in the guidelines to be eligible.
The tight running times (time vs. mileage) is all a matter of record through the electronic logging system. Additionally, my dispatcher (J.D. Hodgestradt) was uncooperative in helping me when I'd not know what certain things would mean. He'd not address my inquiry when I put it to him. As far as I see, Werner created an unnecessary hostile work environment on top of the usuals in trucking I was well aware of and willing to accept. The usuals being low pay, long hours, only 1 day off per week worked, away from home at least 3 weeks at a time, rude people in the terminals, not to mention the everyday hazards non-professional drivers create on the road on a daily basis. Werner added to these anomalies by not allowing me time when enrout on a long distance haul to properly care for myself, and do my job in a safe manner.
