Feds award trucker $30,000 in back pay and damages

A truck driver was awarded approximately $30,000 after a federal investigation found he was wrongfully terminated for refusing to haul an oversized load without the required safety escort.

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration ordered Hagerstown, Maryland-based Truestart Transport LLC to pay the driver – whom OSHA did not name – $9,698 in back wages and interest, $10,000 in punitive damages and $10,000 in compensatory damages.

“Our investigation found TrueStart Transport wrongly fired the employee for insisting they follow safety requirements, which is a protected right under federal law,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Michael Rivera.

“The company’s actions were inexcusable and illegal and undermined an employee’s rightful concern for their own safety and the safety of others on the road.”

According to OSHA’s investigation, while he was at a Tennessee rest stop in December 2023, the driver called to inform his dispatcher, Alex, that the next leg of his route required an escort because he had an oversized load – but his dispatcher told him to haul the load and “not to follow the permitted route that required an escort,” which the driver said violated U.S. Department of Transportation regulations.

“Complainant was told he was not going to get an escort vehicle and complainant relayed he was not moving without one,” the investigation report states. “Alex told him if he was not going to make the transit without an escort, he was to take his stuff out of the truck and Alex would send his father to make the transit. Complainant would then be sent home. Complainant interpreted these statements to mean that he was being terminated.”

After Alex’s father arrived the next day, the driver believed he was given the option to either continue to work and break the law or be terminated. After refusing the load, the driver was forced to travel from the rest stop to his home in Texas at his own expense.

“OSHA believes that complainant and his family suffered tremendously from respondents’ illegal conduct and compensatory damages for pain and suffering are appropriate. OSHA also believes that respondents’ conduct warrants punitive damages. In addition to first threatening complainant with firing him from employment unless he agreed to violate DOT regulations, respondents stranded complainant in a rest stop parking lot.”

Trucking company representatives did not respond to OSHA’s notification and due process letters, according to the agency. The company also did not respond to FreightWaves’ request for comment.

OSHA’s ruling is the second whistleblower award in two weeks involving trucking companies forcing drivers to operate illegally. Earlier this month, the agency awarded $184,000 to a trucker after OSHA found his company had violated federal rest break and hours-of-service laws.