• If a driver is forced or coerced by a motor carrier, shipper, receiver, broker, dispatcher, or others into violating the HOS rules, driving ill or fatigued, or violating any other safety regulation, a formal complaint can be filed with the FMCSA.
• Drivers may also file a complaint if they are “harassed” by a motor carrier using data from the driver’s ELD.
• A driver alleging coercion must suffer financial damage, such as job loss, denial of trips, reduced pay, or unfavorable work hours, and must make the alleged coercer aware that continued driving would violate the safety rules.

Federal regulations prohibit motor carriers, shippers, receivers, brokers, and others from pressuring or “coercing” drivers into violating hours-of-service (HOS) regulations (or any other safety regulation). In basic terms, coercion occurs when a driver is threatened with loss of pay, employment, or job opportunities for refusing to violate the safety rules. Drivers who make clear that they will violate the rules if they drive but are nevertheless pressured into driving may file a complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) within 90 days using the procedures referenced in 390.6.

Drivers may also file a complaint within 90 days if they are “harassed” by a motor carrier using data from the driver’s electronic logging device (ELD). Harassment occurs when a carrier uses ELD data in a way that the carrier knew, or should have known, would result in the driver violating an HOS rule or the prohibition on driving while ill or fatigued. For example, a dispatcher might review incoming ELD data and see that a driver has 30 minutes left in which to drive, but the driver has stopped driving due to fatigue. If the dispatcher forces the driver to get back behind the wheel to use his 30 available minutes, the driver could report that as harassment. See 390.36. The procedures for filing a complaint of harassment are found in 386.12(b).

Coercion

If a driver is forced or coerced into violating the HOS rules or driving while ill or fatigued, a formal complaint can be filed. Shippers, receivers, brokers, motor carriers, dispatchers, and others involved in the transportation chain are prohibited from “coercing” drivers. Two conditions must be met before a driver can claim coercion:

• The driver must be threatened with financial damage, such as job loss, denial of trips, reduced pay, or unfavorable work hours. Merely being asked to make a trip that would violate the rules is not, by itself, coercion. For example, if time runs out at a receiver’s dock and the driver is asked to leave the property, that’s not coercion.
• The driver must make the alleged coercer aware that driving would violate the safety rules. The driver does not have to cite a specific section of the rules, but does have to generally identify the rule(s) that would be broken by driving. For example, the driver might say, “I can’t make that delivery without going over my 11-hour driving limit.”

Note that the driver doesn’t have to violate the rules to be coerced — being threatened is enough, if both conditions are met.

Filing a coercion complaint

If a driver wants the FMCSA to investigate an instance of coercion, a written complaint must be filed within 90 days. The driver will not be able to remain anonymous during the investigation.

A driver can file a complaint online at http://nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov or by calling (800) DOT-SAFT. The driver will have to provide a name, address, signature, and telephone number, the name and address of the alleged coercer, the rule(s) that the driver was pressured to violate, and a short statement of the facts. (386.12(c)(1)).

If a valid complaint is filed, the FMCSA will investigate it and notify the driver of the results. (386.12(c)(2)).

Protection of complainants — The FMCSA must take every practical means within its authority to ensure that the driver is not subject to coercion, harassment, intimidation, disciplinary action, discrimination, or financial loss as a result of the complaint. This will include notification that 49 U.S.C. 31105 includes broad employee protections and that retaliation for filing a coercion complaint may subject the alleged coercer to enforcement action by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (386.12(c)(3)).