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

Company tried to force driver to haul oversized load with no escort, investigation finds

DOT requires escorts on certain routes for oversize loads. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

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.

Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.

6 Comments

  1. John L. Smith

    I don’t have a dog in this fight, I do however support the drivers, BUT since the overturning of the chevron doctrine by the Supreme Court, OSHA has no legal word in the amount of compensations for this driver, that is 100% the duty of the court, that being said, the company definitely needs to be fined through the courts, and compensation needs to be awarded by a jury, which would most likely be a hell of a lot more than he’s been awarded by OSHA

  2. John R Voshel

    Stephen. You don’t need a union. You just need a brain. perhaps you should look into getting one. Here’s a contact for you. The Wizard of Ozz. He’ll hook you up with one.

  3. Stephen Webster

    This is why truck drivers need a union to make sure they are paid and treated correctly
    I see way too many people that come from other countries being cheated on their pay in Canada by larger trucking companies and labor services

  4. Nasir Abdi

    Amazon started team loads when the driver ready to pick up one driver cannot pick up unless they both wake and take pictures for facial, while the other driver should sleep the legally but he have to wake up , which making illegal they saying otherwise one driver cannot pick up. So please if this is illegal find out and Amazon should stop forcing drivers this issue.

  5. David B Blaske

    Sweet. Sounds like forced dispatch. Long haul. There is no way around it. Discrimination is an outdated word, probably owned by somebody. He must have been angry and embarrassed having to drive home using his own dime.

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John Gallagher

Based in Washington, D.C., John specializes in regulation and legislation affecting all sectors of freight transportation. He has covered rail, trucking and maritime issues since 1993 for a variety of publications based in the U.S. and the U.K. John began business reporting in 1993 at Broadcasting & Cable Magazine. He graduated from Florida State University majoring in English and business.