A U.S. transportation company will suffer severe financial consequences for forcing its employee to break regulations and put other road users at risk.
A U.S. carrier based in Hartford, Connecticut, will have to pay its former employee more than $150,000 in compensation, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the U.S. Department of Labor recently announced. The company forced the driver to commit serious infringements and to pose a danger to the traffic.
OSHA inspectors found that the driver repeatedly expressed his concerns about the technical condition of trucks, including, for example, permanently damaged headlights. However, instead of repairing the vehicle, the company pressed the driver to drive the truck and additionally violated the regulations governing working and rest times. Later, the employer changed the driver’s schedule so that he would receive a lower salary than he should have.
Due to increasing pressure from the management, the trucker resigned from his job in 2017. This happened after U.S. Department of Transportation officials revoked his driver’s license, which was necessary for his work.
After the investigation, OSHA decided that the employer should pay a total of $154,693 for forcing the driver to break the law.
Of this, approximately $83,311 is outstanding salary plus interest, $50,000 is compensation for punitive damages, and $37,378 is the amount to cover driver’s attorney’s fees.
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