Saturday, July 25, 2015

New Prime violated the Surface Transportation Assistance Act by “blacklisting” a former driver who refused to drive his truck while taking pain medication.

Judge sides with OSHA in case of New Prime 'blacklisting driver'
By Clarissa Hawes, Land Line contributing writer


Administrative Law Judge Lystra A. Harris recently agreed with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s ruling that New Prime violated the Surface Transportation Assistance Act by “blacklisting” a former driver who refused to drive his truck while taking pain medication.

Harris lowered the amount awarded by OSHA from $100,000 to approximately $20,000. In her ruling, she agreed with OSHA that New Prime had put damaging and misleading information on the New Jersey driver’s DAC, now known as HireRight, report after he notified the company that he had sustained an on-the-job injury and was seeking medical advice in October 2008. He had also reported to his supervisor that he had been prescribed pain medication that made operating a motor vehicle unsafe.

“Complainant has successfully shown a preponderance of evidence that his refusal to drive his commercial motor vehicle while taking prescription pain medication was a protected activity under the STAA and was a contributing factor in a negative notation of abandonment placed in his DAC report by respondent,” Harris wrote in her order.

New Prime appealed OSHA’s decision in January 2014 to the Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges for review.

Judge Harris also ordered that the former New Prime driver should receive $10,000 in compensatory damages and $9,600 in back pay, and that New Prime must pay the driver’s pre- and post-judgment interest on his back pay award.

The judge ruled against punitive damages and a front pay award for the driver, stating that the driver has had several jobs since 2009 and “did not provide sufficient information about the compensation he received for all of the jobs he testified in his hearing testimony.”

After undergoing disc surgery, the driver was released by his doctor to return to duty in July 2009. According to court documents, he opted not to return to work at New Prime and applied for jobs with other trucking companies. After applying for 11 trucking jobs, he only heard back from one company. In her ruling, Harris stated that’s when the driver learned that negative information had been put on his DAC report by his former company, including “quit under load/abandonment” and a “no” answer to the question of whether the driver was “eligible for rehire.”

“It is undisputed that negative information remained on complainant’s DAC report from November 2008 to September 2009,” Harris stated in her ruling.

Judge Harris also ordered that New Prime expunge any negative comments on the driver’s DAC report and that his report should show a satisfactory work and safety record.

In her ruling, she stated that New Prime must post “a copy of the decision and order in this case for 90 consecutive days in all places where employee notices are customarily posted and to provide a copy of any decision favorable to the complainant.”