Prohibiting Coercion of Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers
Written and submitted by Timothy Brady.
For the first time in its history, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has generated a regulation that goes after the causes of violations of the motor carrier safety rules, rather than just merely placing blame on the motor carrier or its truck drivers.
The “Prohibiting Coercion of Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers” Rule will become law on January 29, 2016. What does this mean for your moving company, agency or van line?
Let’s look at what the rule covers.
According to the FMCSA: The Coercion Rule explicitly prohibits motor carriers, shippers, receivers and transportation intermediaries from coercing drivers to operate in violation of certain FMCSA regulations, including the drivers’ Hours Of Service (HOS) limits, commercial driver’s license (CDL) regulations, associated drug and alcohol testing rules, Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) and Federal Motor Carrier Commercial Regulations (FMCCR). The Coercion Rule allows drivers to report incidents of coercion to the FMCSA and authorizes the FMCSA to issue penalties against any motor carrier, shipper, receiver, or transportation intermediary that has coerced drivers.
This can be challenging for the household goods moving industry, in that many of our shippers are also consumers; think ‘COD customer.’ So will this require a whole series of legal documents to be presented to these consumer shippers to inform them of the things they need to avoid saying to the van operator and truck drivers handling their personal belongings? How about with relocation companies or large corporate accounts? What if you don’t inform them of the potential of sizable fines for coercing either a van operator or a moving company to violate any of the FMCSA’s safety regulations? What about an agency’s relationship with its van line or other agencies within that van line family?
This new rule which addresses the problems created by shippers, 3rd party relocation companies and yes, even agents and van lines, when they use intimidation or threaten job security to coerce a driver to violate laws intended to keep both driver and the public safe – is a game-changer for the moving industry.
I was speaking with a long-time mover, van line agent and friend, who said, “No driver should be forced to violate any law to pick up, transport or deliver a shipment. It’s about time the drivers in the industry have a resource that helps to balance the playing field between them and the van lines and large bookers.” He added, “It will be interesting to observe how this plays out in the real world of moving.”
To update you, the procedure for filing a claim of coercion is as follows:
Coercion complaints must be filed within 90 days of the alleged coercion action.
When filing, consider including the following information to support your coercion complaint:
- Any written exchange, such as text messages or an email exchange between parties requesting you to violate the FMCSR, HMR, or the FMCCR, and your response to the request.
- Names of individuals that witnessed the coercion attempt.
- To file a complaint with the FMCSA, drivers may contact the Division Office, located in the state where the complainant is employed, or the National Consumer Complaint Database.
What are the criteria for filing a Coercion Complaint?
‘Coercion’ defined:
Coercion occurs when a motor carrier, shipper, receiver, or transportation intermediary threatens to withhold work from, take employment action against, or punish a driver for refusing to operate in violation of certain provisions of the FMCSR, HMR and the FMCCR. Coercion may be found to have taken place even if a violation has not occurred. An example of coercion is when a motor carrier terminates a driver for refusing to accept a load that would require the driver to violate HOS requirements.
- The following must have occurred in order for coercion to have existed:
- A motor carrier, shipper, receiver, or transportation intermediary requests a driver perform a task that would result in the driver violating certain provisions of the FMCSR, HMR, or the FMCCR;
- The driver informs the motor carrier shipper, receiver, or transportation intermediary of the violation that would occur if the task is performed, such as driving over HOS limits or creating unsafe driving conditions; and
- The motor carrier, shipper, receiver, or transportation intermediary makes a threat or takes action against the driver’s employment or work opportunities to get the driver to perform the requested task.
See more at: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/coercion#sthash.s0A2Ec7J.dpuf
