Profile For Kevin L.

I parked my truck and trailer at a local Walmart but asked permission each time just to be safe. Then took Uber or Lyft home.

Ok well if I walk into an ER and get admitted the general consensus here is they will recover my truck prior to me getting better if I was to leave the company while on medical. Report it as abandoned and possibly charge me for it as well as kill my career. Even though their policy is to recover at 14 days not worked.

If that’s the case then so be it. I’m not seeing an alternative at this point. Despite what is said here. I believe I need to just go to hospital and keep maverick informed and see how it all works out.

I tried to respond twice previously to this giving more details but think it was unsuccessful uploading.

That is good to know Andhe78. I actually like Maverick as a company in general. I got very upset the other day and started to notice a lot of negatives which led me to look elsewhere. I really don’t want to bash them in public. I would still recommend them to new drivers. I would say Maverick has no issues with training or retraining upon request. Personally, my main issues with Maverick all seem to be based on pay. While they have a good cpm you cannot count on the miles from week to week or the downtime waiting. I started the beginning of February in flatbed then went to tcd in August I guess it’s been 10 months so almost a year. I get it that the industry is harsh. I stay out for months at a time to maximize income. I have started watching my paychecks closely because I don’t seem to be clear on them and learning more and more about how they work. For example the 800 mile weekend guarantee is a split between Sunday to Monday and Friday through Saturday after Monday through Thursday. I never thought to ask that. I’m still not clear on the weekend mileage split entirely either as I don’t get why they can’t just pay Saturday miles on the Friday after it worked and Sunday miles the following week instead of paying it how they do with plus and minus on our checks. Anyhow, I guess I will need to figure out what to do and if they try to hit me with abandonment while I have a dr telling me I can’t drive till I recover I will simply dispute it and get a lawyer who works on a percentage to look through my records.

Ok I lost my first attempt to reply so I will try and give more info so it’s clear. Really just wanted to know how to deal with the notice thing and getting everything taken care of.

When I first started with them I signed up for medical and short term disability. I later was informed I have a medical issue that has been getting progressively worse over time. Then i got a low paycheck before Thanksgiving and I took a few days off for the thanksgiving holiday and got real sick for two days when I was supposed to return. Ok so I expected the check for that week to be horrible but then when I came back they were unable to get me a load for another two days and when they did the appointment times changed from Friday to Monday for pickup which ruined any chance of working over the weekend. So the next check was horrible. When I got notification of how low it was I called and was really upset to find out their explanation. While I was in my downtime I looked for another job. And knowing I need the surgery I want to get it done prior to going to a new place as it’s been getting much worse lately. While I was talking to them very upset I asked about short term disability and was told I would not be paid at all till I was out 30 or more days. And there policy is to reassign trucks inactive for 14 days. While asking the questions they basically told me that because I was upset and not happy with there policies they accepted my resignation effective immediately and my surgical consult was set for two days after that notice. So I’m thinking of going to the hospital while I’m still covered.

If they want to try and spin that as abandonment then I think I should get the lawyers involved as well as dispute it on DAC if need be as even DAC is governed by the fair credit reporting act if I’m not mistaken.

I actually thought of returning the truck while I am recovering but not sure of the legalities of that as well. Like mentioned prior if there is complicationrecovery may be over a month.

Honestly I want to do the right thing which in my head is return the truck to them on my own. However knowing they will simply pick up the truck while in recovering from surgery as it is their policy would save me a few hundred dollars in travel expenses getting home from what ever terminal they say as the closest terminal is about 600 miles away.

Honestly, I wish they would have told us prior to hire if we leave the company our medical insurance expires at midnight last day of work.

Honestly, I think it is in my best interest to just see the surgeon and get it done. As I don’t want to lose medical coverage. I guess turning it in prior to surgery is an option if there is time between the consult and the surgery itself. I am uncertain if there will be. It is to the point where my primary dr told me if I have an attack lasting more than 15 mins go to ER immediately and it will be done.i want to earn as much as I can before I go. If they are going to reassign the truck after 14 days either way why would they be put off. Honestly they pay for you to get in the truck but if you decide to leave them it shouldn’t cost you hundreds of dollars and a significant amount of time to resign. They don’t even pay the ride home from returning their truck if they are taking it out of your pay. Maybe they can give me a deadhead order to their terminal and like you saidI should find my way home. Then just give notice just prior to completing recovery

Ok so I want to know what you guys would do. I have decided to leave my current job after the holidays. I have a lot of reasons why which really don’t matter that much. I applied for another driving job and can go to orientation whenever I’m ready they said. I have an appointment with a surgeon on the 21 to discuss getting my appendix out and I’m thinking the recovery will be more than 14 days. The company takes their truck back if your out sick more than 14 days. I don’t know how long my medical coverage lasts after you leave the company. I believe though it would be in my best interest to simply clean out my truck prior to the surgery then giving notice after the surgery as they will recover my truck if I’m not ready to roll in 14 days. That way I can work up to a day or two prior to surgery and would not have to deal with the added trip home and associated expense of it as they only offer bus trip home from the terminal they choose to have the truck returned and that ticket cost is deducted from your final check.

I’m afraid if I do this they may try and twist it as truck abandonment but also know if I’m on medical they can’t fire me. If I give notice on medical leave then they have notice as well as their truck

I read this post and was immediately confused when I saw you say it was out of Alaska. I was thinking about Carlisle carrier Corp which is based out of Pennsylvania. The previous posting that spoke of not likely anyone on here having history with the company in Alaska May be accurate. Wish Icould help. I did some research on the PA company but not the Alaska one

I can tell you I see the cb as an integral part of trucking. Mine has saved me many times in the past year or so already. I don’t want to speak of particular companies but I can tell you I have talked with some drivers that that were not from a mega carrier company that said they were not allowed to operate a cb while operating the truck. Those companies indicate they see it as distracted driving. One in particular I was told about had inward facing cameras that were used to enforce this and other company rules. The concept of not being allowed to use cell phones without a headset is understandable to me. If the dot wants to be that tough they better outlaw 2way radios for business, ham ,municipal uses as well. In fact they should not allow any distracting messaging devices at all including eld devices with messaging or sound.

Today’s generation is all about their cellphones, game systems, tablets. The cb allows you to communicate with drivers near you without needing their phone number or social media I’d

Far as good cb or higher end ham radio modified for 11 meter (cb) goes the choice is yours the law says you can only transmit 4 watts on 11 meter band but you can find cb shops that will convert 10 meter ham radios to work on cb ant they can output hundreds of watts. More wattage gets you more distance when correctly paired with a decent antenna.

I got a friend that works for western express and from what they told me they don’t have APU or ePub or even a power inverter in their truck at all. Also despite what their website says all their newer trucks no longer have satellite tv in them either. His new truck did not come equipped with a refrigerator either.

Kat, I appreciate the response, however Western Express doesn't have APUs on their trucks.