You can't fire me, I QUIT!!

[Michael Morris]

Friday I quit my job at Werner. In the month of June they missed one paycheck, paid $200 on two of them and $700 on another. Let's do the math here...

$900 / 280 (number of hours worked that month)

That comes out to $3.22 / hour for the month.

By contrast in may I was making $700 / week, or $10 an hour. I'm not sure what happened in payroll, but I wish to God it wasn't legal. Unfortunately it is - truck drivers are exempt from protection under the minimum wage act.

Oh well, I'm taking the week off to work on some things on the site and to look for a job that actually is worth my time.

 

[BSF]

Damn, that's rough. There is no recourse that you can pursue? That just seems wrong when you say they missed a paycheck and paid next to nothing on others.

 

[Michael Morris]

Legally they don't have to pay anything. The trucking industry is the only one that enjoys a no-minimum wage protection.

 

[Berandor]

But don't you have a contract stating how much money you earn?

 

[Michael Morris]

But don't you have a contract stating how much money you earn?

Trucking companies pay by mile - specifically according to the Household Goods guide by Rand McNally. Those distances are usually 10% to 20% less than actual miles, and many companies shave off miles from THOSE figures.

Werner simply failed to pay me for miles driven. Anyway, every quarter they are required by law to turn over to me a printout of my computerized logs. Those logs show the miles the truck ran. When I get that paperwork and compare it against my paychecks, there WILL be a lawsuit.

However, more likely than not the attorney will end up keeping 90% of the money for himself if he wins.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Is that a Georgia-specific thing? Because all the truck drivers I've met in California live pretty well.

 

[Michael Morris]

Is that a Georgia-specific thing? Because all the truck drivers I've met in California live pretty well.

Many drivers do. Indeed, I did until Werner simply stopped paying - so I stopped working. I'll get a job elsewhere for much higher pay than Werner was paying. I only went to work there because I wanted to teach others how to drive. Now I'm sick of teaching - I'll just drive by myself and leave the dread of being killed in my sleep by some pathetic moron to someone else thank you.

Werner (and Swift for that matter) kill about 200-300 Americans every year through their inept training policies that put rookie drivers behind the wheel under the supervision of rookies (less than a full year). But the industry is so strapped for drivers the government continues to let them continue these policies despite the death toll.

I'll shut up now, before this gets political.

 

[Treebore]

I would definitely talk to a lawyer. When you sue, and win, they pay for your lawyer fees as part of damages, I think. Or maybe it is under the loss portion. I forget, but either way you also sue for court/legal fees.

 

[msd]

I am only a law student and not a lawyer and this is not to be construed as legal advice...(sorry, have to do it )

It is very possible (and probably likely) that your company is breaking the law. I believe every state has something like a "wage act" which effectively is a statute that requires companies to pay their employees what they said they were going to pay their employees when they said they were going to pay their employees.

Here, in MA, the statute is ridiculously strict (I know - I've seen it in action. My .com employer didn't pay us for a couple of months when they failed to get their latest round of financing and got HOSED by the state. Why we stayed for an entire two months is a different post for a different thread ).

The other thing...before contacting an attorney, I would call the office of the Attorney General of the state of Georgia. They (I feel sure) have a department of labor within the public protection bureau that works to protect the public and employees from exactly this kind of thing. They should also have a free hotline where someone can give you the lowdown (for free) as to what your rights and responsibilities are as an employee. A lot of times they are a good first (free) step before contacting a lawyer. If this kind of thing happens routinely with that company, the AG will take interest and begin an investigation and it is quite possible you might get your money back without engaging an attorney.

Hope this helps,
matt

 

[Michael Morris]

I am only a law student and not a lawyer and this is not to be construed as legal advice...(sorry, have to do it )

It is very possible (and probably likely) that your company is breaking the law. I believe every state has something like a "wage act" which effectively is a statute that requires companies to pay their employees what they said they were going to pay their employees when they said they were going to pay their employees.

Well, one of the problems I have is that they have all their employees sign a document stating that all lawsuits regarding pay must occur in the state of Nebraska. The attorney general of Nebraska is related to the owners of Werner. Hell, the secretrary of transportation in Nebraska a Werner. This is a multi-billion dollar company with a lot of influence. The first thing any attorney would have to do to have a hope in hell to succeed is to get a start to refuse to recognize the legitamacy of that "venue" document.

I live in Kentucky, and Kentucky has refused to recognize such documents before and go ahead and sue companies outside the state before, so here's hoping.