Werner Enterprises, Jason Appuhn, Fleet Manager Terminated for illness to my wife, WE CARE, WERNER CARES, YEAH RIGHT Omaha Nebraska

I was supposedly terminated because of an incident I had on Mon, Jan 12, 2009. I pulled into a Pilot trk stp at ex 94 on I-70 in Columbus, OH, 35 mi from the Werner terminal in Springfield, OH (ex 59 on I-70). There I hit one of the concrete barriers by the fuel pump and damaged my rt rear trl rim and the fuel pump nozzle. I reported the incident to dispatch and the safety dept. I was expecting to be routed to the term for an accident review but, that never happened. Instead I had a load that was being delivered to Hope Mills, NC 519 mi away of which I delivered on 1/13. From ther I picked up a load in Manson, NC to Winchester, Va (378 mi), then Mt. Crawford ,Va to Girard, OH (375 mi), then Girard, OH to Brook Park, OH (67 mi), then Toledo, OH to Westlake, OH (196 mi), then to my home in Boardman OH for my home time arriving ther on Fri, Jan 16.

I was scheduled to be home on Sat the 17 but since I was nearby my fleet mgr, Jason Appuhn, said I could have the extra day since freight was slow and if I promised to be avail on Tue, Jan 20 at 8:00AM. I told him that was not a problem, but it became a problem and this is where I ending up being terminated.

My wife, of 29 yrs, became severly ill on Mon night Jan 19, she had severe pain under her left breast and was having much difficulty breathing. I had to take her to the emergency room where she was diagnosed with a blood clot in her left lung and was admitted to the hospital around 2:30AM on Tue the 20 after spending about 8 hrs in the emergency room having many test done and being given IV's. The Dr told us that she was VERY LUCKY to be ALIVE. After this finding I called night dispatch to tell them I could not be on the road for 8:00AM on Tue the 20 so they could assign my load to someone else and was told to call back after 7:00AM to talk to Jason after he came in.

Well, I called Jason after he came in that morn and explained the situation to him and his response was "you'll be out tomorrow morn" and I said "No" then he said "in a couple of days" and again I said "No, it all depends on my wife's health as to when I'll be able to return". He wasn't to happy about this.

Later in the day Jason called me back and told me that he would have to put me on a leav of absence because I was taking time off. I said that is fine because I am not going on the road while my wife is in the hospital. He then told me that since I was being put on a LOA that I would have to turn in my truck. Then he asked me how far I lived from the Springfield, OH term. I told him it was about a 4 hr drive and he asked me if I could drive my trk there and they would give me a bus ticket to get back home. I told him NO I will not do that while my wife is in the hospital. He then said "well, don't you have any relatives that could help you out with this". I told him NO. This is my wife I am concerned with.

He then asked me if I could drive my trk to Girard, OH (20 mi) and meet someone so they could take it to the term, again I said NO, and told him if he wanted my trk he could come to my house and get it, he then said well I will have to call you back.

Well, Jason did call back and asked if there was anywhere I could meet someone to give them my truck. I told him that he could send someone to the parking lot at the Value City store (1 mi from my house and 4 mi from the hospital) and once they arrived ther they could call me on my cell phone and I would meet them and give them a ride to my house to get my trk. He told me they would be there at 5:00AM on Wed the 21st but of course they did not arrive until about 6:50 at which time they got my trk.

I continued to stay in contact with Jason every couple days to let him know what was going on and the possibility of my return.

On Fri the 23 around 6:00PM my wife was discharged from the hospital on the condition she remained homebound only to leave to go to the Dr and that I learned how to give her shots of Lovinox. I had to give her these shots twice a day at 10AM and 10PM. Also, the hospital set up for a nurse to come to our house to monitor my wife's Vitals and to take blood samples for testing, which is still happening today, Feb 3.

My wife was given the OK by her Dr to be alone, that she was out of danger, at her appt on Thu Jan 29 and said it was OK for me to goo back out on the road. I called Jason on Fri the 30 to tell him I would be coming back to work on Tue morn Feb 3. Jason told me I had to call Toby at the Springfield term to see if they would have a trk for me.

I called Toby and of course I had to leave a message. Toby called back around 4:00PM on Fri the 30th and told me I had to call Omaha first. I called Omaha and this is when I was told I was being terminated for the incident I had on Jan 12.

Well, if I was going to be terminated for this incident on Jan 12, don't you think I would have been terminated a lot sooner? I was only 35 mi from the Springfield term when it happened. If I was going to be terminated for this incident do you think they would have left me drive another 4 days and 1,608 mi plus 90 mi to my home and bring my trk home and schedule me to be back out on the road on Tue Jan 20th. NO, they would have sent me to the Springfiels, OH terminal and terminated me at that time.

I was only terminated because my wife became ill and I did not report for work at 8:00AM on Tue Jan 20. Now because of being terminated my health insurance is now canceled and the medical bills are still continuing. My wife has to have blood tests done everyday untill they get her blood levels at the correct level she needs to be at, then it will be done every few days, then once a week and etc untill her levels remain steady.

WE CARE, WERNER CARES what a LIE for a slogan.

Wlp in ohio
Boardman, Ohio
U.S.A.

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