Refusing to Operate Unsafe Equipment - Your Legal Rights and How to Use Them

Refusing to Operate Unsafe Equipment: Your Legal Rights and How to Use Them

The Surface Transportation Assistance Act (”STAA”) protects drivers’ rights to enforce truck safety by making it illegal for a company to discipline, discharge or discriminate against an employee for making a vehicle safety complaint or refusing to operate an unsafe vehicle.

With any law, we need to know the extents and limits of our rights and the Do’s and Don’ts of enforcement and this article will focus on the issue of refusing to operate unsafe equipment. Many activities can trigger protection under the STAA, including, complaining to management about truck safety, filing a grievance about vehicle safety, advising other drivers about DOT regulations, discipline or retaliation over running times, refusing to drive or delays because of bad weather, or refusing to drive in violation of posted speed limits.

- Refusing to Drive Unsafe Equipment -

Many cases have upheld drivers’ right to refuse to drive unsafe equipment. However, two very important conditions must be met: (1) The refusal has to be based on a “reasonable apprehension” that operation of the vehicle would present a genuine safety hazard to the driver and/or members of the public. (2) The driver has to have asked the employer to correct the problem.

“Reasonable apprehension,” as interpreted by the DOL and the courts, means that a reasonable person in the same situation would reach the same conclusion-namely, that the unsafe condition establishes a real danger of accident, injury or serious impairment to health. If it later turns out that the vehicle was not actually unsafe, you are still protected if your belief is deemed to have been reasonable based on the objective facts and evidence available to you at the time you formed your belief.

You must also give the company a chance to correct the problem. For example, if there is a bad tire say, “I will drive that truck when you replace the tire.”

- Violations of Federal Motor Carrier Regulations -

STAA protection is triggered if operating the vehicle would violate DOT regulations (a cracked brake pad, for example). Again, you must make the company aware of the hazard and give them a chance to fix the problem before refusing to drive.

This is an important protection but it should not be used lightly. If you refuse to drive based only on a technical violation of a federal regulation (such as a faulty marker light) you are only protected if operating the truck would violate federal motor carrier standards.

A good faith mistake about federal regulations does not win you protection from discipline unless you also had a “reasonable fear” of a genuine hazard. That may or may not apply to technical violations.

You can and should report violations for repairs-and insist that repairs be made. But refusing to drive is a serious matter and should not be taken lightly.

If you have doubts about the severity of a safety problem, you may want to take the truck out for a short drive to gather more evidence and demonstrate a good faith effort to operate the vehicle.

 - Things to Do -

Report the safety problem. You must bring up the problem and ask the company to fix it. Be specific: You are more likely to get protection under the STAA if you are clear, specific and up front about the nature of the truck safety concern. State that the problem is a violation of DOT regulations (if relevant) and why you feel it represents a genuine safety hazard.

Have a witness. Have a witness present when you tell the company that the problem is a genuine safety hazard and that you will operate the truck when it is corrected.

Document the problem. Take a picture of the problem with a camera or cell phone if you can. Show the problem to a witness.

Keep a paper trail. Write notes on exactly what happened while the incident is fresh in your memory.

To learn more about your rights as a commercial truck driver visit the Truckers Justice Center website www.truckersjusticecenter.com  

The Truckers Justice Center at the Law Office of Taylor & Associates and whistleblower attorney Paul Taylor has been helping truck drivers with their employment-related problems for more than 20 years. Mr. Taylor aggressively seeks justice for workers who have suffered at the hands of unethical companies. He has brought successful claims against some of the largest trucking companies in the United States.

Driving in Winter Weather

Q. Dispatch has the idea that there is no such thing as road conditions too bad to drive. Am I on thin ice if I refuse to drive in dangerous conditions?

A. We’ve already had some major snow in much of the country and many drivers are already asking that question. I don’t need to tell you that sometimes your boss’s definition of safe driving conditions may be different than yours. We all know that the driver is the best judge of how safe the roads are.

Luckily, there’s a law that protects drivers in unsafe weather: the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA). The STAA makes it illegal for your boss to discipline or fire you for refusing to drive a commercial vehicle in dangerous weather—including snow, sleet, and freezing rain. It provides for reinstatement with back pay and legal fees for a driver who is wrongly suspended or fired.

However, this law—like most laws—has limitations, and is subject to interpretations and legal precedents.

From these precedent cases, here are some guidelines about when a driver can refuse to drive due to adverse weather conditions:

• A driver may refuse to start work if the weather is sufficiently hazardous at or near the time he is scheduled to begin as to make it unsafe to operate a commercial vehicle on the highways.
• A driver cannot speculate unreasonably into the future regarding what the road conditions will be beyond a few hours.
• A refusal to drive due to adverse road conditions must be reasonable. The refusal should be based on the driver’s personal observations, weather reports from the radio and television, calls to the Department of Transportation or Highway Patrol, if possible, and information received from other drivers if such information is available.
• Additionally, the driver should be able to articulate for a court the precise facts that led him to believe that it would have been unsafe for him to operate a commercial vehicle on the highways.

Keep in mind this is a complicated subject. To learn more visit the Truckers Justice Center website www.truckersjusticecenter.com

The Truckers Justice Center at the Law Office of Taylor & Associates and whistleblower attorney Paul Taylor has been helping truck drivers with their employment-related problems for more than 20 years. Mr. Taylor aggressively seeks justice for workers who have suffered at the hands of unethical companies. He has brought successful claims against some of the largest trucking companies in the United States.