Covenant Transport Withheld pay at whim Chattanooga Tennessee

I want to categorically state that not one other trucking company that I am aware of, OTHER than Covenant Transport, charges drivers for idling their trucks. I became aware of this outrage a couple of months ago. I live near Chattanooga, Tennessee, where this company is based, and for at least 20 years, I have known that this company to be a bad egg. I would hire on with them to clean their toilets.

Trucking companies traditionally provide IdleAire to their drivers to save the company money on idling trucks, if that is their chosen method of providing heat and air to drivers when they obtain rest. A driver should not be paying ANYTHING to have a comfortable environment in which to rest.

Their added policy of charging drivers a FLAT FINE for incidents and accidents, stated here as $500.00 in the case of a torn off mudflap, is a further outrage and again a charge to an employee that is totally out of line with the industry as a whole, and it is insanity for anyone to put up with it for one second. As I understand it, they charge a flat fine of $1,000 to the driver for any chargeable accident. Again, this is not customary or traditional with ANY trucking company that I have ever monitored.

A mudflap costs them less than $20.00 on a bad day. There is no justification whatsoever to fine a driver $500 for it.

Those companies that may make drivers accept some financial responsibility for damages, which are few and far between I assure you, do so in clearly documented cases of neglect or due to intentional abuse by the driver. And even then, it would be up to a maximum of the damage costs. Personally, the minute I was made aware in any form whatsoever that I may be made to pay any costs for any instance of damage, I would stand up and leave immediately. I know immediately that I am in the wrong place.

Any employer I sign on with has ample opportunity to check my background prior to hiring me, and is furnished by me the information where they can call any or all of my former employers for ten years back, and if I had any history of abusing or damaging equipment, they would certainly have opportunity to discover it. I am not about to give anyone an option to take one CENT of my wages for any future determination of wrongdoing. It's outrageous. It's a rip-off in the making, plain and simple.

It is categorically illegal for any employer to make unauthorized deductions of any funds from an employee's paycheck. I would never sign in agreement to do so, prior to, or following an accident or incident, allowing them to do this. They have insurance for replacement and repair to equipment, above a set value that they intend to pay for out-of-pocket. A driver has no business paying for these expenses that will occur from time to time, in the course of doing their jobs.

Furthermore, Covenant is in business for themselves, and as such, they assume at all times a risk of profit loss. An employee does not take on that same kind of risk. They work for wages. These two methods of passing on profit loss to employees should be illegal, but is likely not illegal, unless they are simply taking the money without coercing the employee to sign in agreement to pay it. I have no doubt whatsoever that any employee that refuses to agree to sign such an agreement, is threatened with termination on the spot.

Anyone reading this, who has had deductions made by Covenant Transport for any incident or accident, and who has not signed anything agreeing to allow them to do this, should immediately step into their nearest State employment department to file a complaint against them for this Federally prohibited and illegal act.

I sure hope that people are reading this, because aside from the fact that Covenant already has issues that make them a horrible place to work, these two issues are nothing short of a VERY good reason enough for ANYONE considering Covenant Transport for employment, to steer completely away from them.

With each passing day, and further affirmation that Covenant is continuing this practices, they are fast approaching the top of the list as the absolutely worst company out there to work for.

Think about it. If you are expected to pay THEM for sleeping in a truck where the temperature is comfortable, AND you are expected to pay FINES to them for instances of accidental damage, who in their right mind would say...

Yep...sign me up for that!!!

David Parker, the CEO and owner of Covenant Transport, likes to thump his bible, and espouse his Christian values at every opportunity. If this is how Christians who own businesses treat their employees, then leave me out of it, and give me some mouthwash. Christianity is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

In my humble opinion and judgment, Hell will be busted wide open when the man passes on to the next life, because he sure isn't impressing many people in this one.

The nerve of some people...

Well... my husband came home for Christmas, and called his dispatcher to turn the truck into the yard. His dispatcher told him that ALL the trucking companies charged for idling... He stated Schneider charged (my father-in-law works for Schneider... they don't) and Werner (my husband worked for them less than 10 months ago... they don't charge). When my husband called him on it, the dispatcher told my husband he just had to do more research :)