Terminated - Unsafe Performance - Difficulty Finding New Employer

A hard breaking incident set the camera off in my truck, showing me not stopping all the way at a stop sign. No accident occurred, no citation issued. I own it, not a good look. It happened on a Friday right before I had to catch a flight, I thought about resigning the next day.

It turns out that I should have. Tuesday returning to work my team leader brought me in room and closed the door. I knew what he was going to say, He referred me to his boss when I stated that I wanted to resign. The boss said no to the resignation, it would be termination but I was eligible for rehire.

What makes it worse is I only have 7 months of experience.

So far I've gotten a NO from Werner, USA truck and US Express. All of them said I had to do 6 months without incident with another company before I am eligible.

A 3rd party recruiter advised me to check Craigs List for smaller companies that have more flexibility, and as a last resort go with PTL, or Western Express being my last, last choice.

So far all the smaller companies want at least a year experience.

Other than the termination, I have zero accidents, zero citations, zero violations, zero felonies, zero misdemeanors and Veteran status with honorable discharge.

Let me know what you guys think.

Basically at this point apply every where and hope to get a yes, your best bet is probably a 2nd chance company.

Make sure to explain what you learned and how to prevent it from happening again, had there been something stopped at that stop sign you would have cleared them out.

Unfortunately you're not really in a position to be picky on where you go. You have multiple things against you currently. Termination, under a year experience and a safety violation that resulted in the termination. When you say you didnt stop all the way are we talking about doing a rolling stop where you're going about 2 mph or are we talking a higher rate of speed because you didnt see the stop sign? Due to a hard brake triggering the incident I'm going to guess it's the latter. The longer you're out of the seat the more trouble you'll have landing another driving job without going through some form of training. If Western Express or PTL are willing to give you an opportunity take it. Put in atleast 6 months without any issues and you'll be in a much better position to be picky when it comes to landing somewhere that is a better fit. Just so you know, we have a few members here that started at Western Express and have thrived. One of our Moderators, Old School, got his start there that gave him the tools to be a top tier driver and even earned $50,000 as a rookie even though all the reviews say you'll only earn a couple hundred a week.

Good luck, please let us know how this turns out.

Like Rob T. said, there seems to be a bit more to the story. It will be important for you to get your details perfectly straight as you speak with other companies. If this was your first incident, CFI might give you a chance. Wherever you go, if they offer you additional time with a trainer, jump at it. Best of luck.

When you said you wanted to quit was it because you thought you was getting fired? Or did you think because you’ve had,

zero accidents, zero citations, zero violations, zero felonies, zero misdemeanors and Veteran status with honorable discharge you was to good to be having a talking to about such things.

Did you think because you’ve Had zero accidents, zero citations, zero violations, zero felonies, zero misdemeanors and Veteran status with honorable discharge you could just walk off one job and hop into another truck right down the street.

Be honest with yourself and the new drivers who have read this post. I’m not trying to bash you but I just hate to think a new driver would read this and think you get fired for one hard brake with such a perfect record like yours.

When you said you wanted to quit was it because you thought you was getting fired? Or did you think because you’ve had,

zero accidents, zero citations, zero violations, zero felonies, zero misdemeanors and Veteran status with honorable discharge you was to good to be having a talking to about such things.

Did you think because you’ve Had zero accidents, zero citations, zero violations, zero felonies, zero misdemeanors and Veteran status with honorable discharge you could just walk off one job and hop into another truck right down the street.

Be honest with yourself and the new drivers who have read this post. I’m not trying to bash you but I just hate to think a new driver would read this and think you get fired for one hard brake with such a perfect record like yours.

It wasn't the hard brake, it was the stop sign that led to termination. The hard brake set off the camera and a review of the footage showed not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign.

Like Rob said, it's likely that he didn't see the stop sign until the last second, slammed the brakes and continued rolling slowly.

All of the safety department people I know will look at this worse than an accident . Nobody is ever fired for one time heartbreaking event in any company I’ve ever heard of and I can tell you the head of safety at national definitely wouldn’t have. In fact what Jill would say is that a pattern had to be established for them to legally fire you, which if you’re owning up, you might wanna do completely because firing without an accident requires a good deal more proof than one heartbreaking incident.

That's not necessarily true. Depending on the state, the employment can be "at will". A driver at my hub was recently fired because he set off the camera, which notified FedEx to review it and it showed him driving on the shoulder. No accident, no history of not being safe but there was an event that they felt was unsafe. The same goes for railroad crossings. If Fedex reviews an incident and it shows that you stopped on a railroad crossing, that's instant termination. No citation or accident needed. It's even in the employee manual.

are we talking a higher rate of speed because you didnt see the stop sign? Due to a hard brake triggering the incident I'm going to guess it's the latter.

Good luck, please let us know how this turns out.

This is correct. It was dark and I didn't see it until the last minute.

So just straight up saying that to recruiters is my best route for employment or should I disclose less or more information?

When you said you wanted to quit was it because you thought you was getting fired?

Absolutely.