Legal Question in Employment Law in New York

I believe my rights have been discriminated against because of my age and my interests in forming a union at work.

I was a truck driver for a food service delivery company and have been fired for an unintentional electronic log error. It is not against DOT regulations to manually correct log errors in route if a driver makes an error. XXXX Food Services have a fleet of tractor Trailers that use a mobile automatic electronic truck log system (XATA). There are no provisions for the driver to correct mistakes. After I noticed this electronic error on route on October 6th 2009 and notified my manager Jack XXXXXX of a (stop location) error. My manager Jack XXXXXdid not discuss this with me upon my return on the afternoon of October 6th 2009. I was allowed to work two additional days. Upon my return on Friday October 9th 2009 I was suspended by Jack XXXXX until further notice. XXXXX management stated that I had falsified my logs and then on October 16th Jack XXXXX fired me. I did not falsify anything to mislead my company on that date. I am familiar with the system. This location error could have been manually edited by management upon my return to the terminal to comply with DOT Regulations. Over the past ten years this was a normal corporate policy preformed when necessary by management.

I have never violated DOT Regulations with my logs I feel I was discriminated because of my age and rumors that I had an interest in forming a union. I do not have any other violations or disciplinary points against me that would jeopardize my employment. I also have high integrity and I would never commit or have ever committed a fraudulent act against XXXXXService�s business practices.

I am writing to the XXXXX because my former XXXXX Service Company is extremely fearful about losing partial control of their workforce and sharing power with a union. The general manager David XXXXX has a poor attitude and enjoys being a tyrant. I have seen many people fired for petty reasons that I feel unfair. I know others who have been discriminated against by this company. These people could show trends that are discriminatory and other unfair labor practices. I do know of another driver from XXXXXX who was recently fired who has a similar story. We are all willing to stand together against these unfair and illegal business practices.

I had been avoiding my general manager David XXXXX for the past two years because I do not enjoy his company. XXXXXX Human Resource manager Karen xXXXXXworked with me for two days in August 2009. I believe she followed me through my daily duties for two days to interview me extensively. She wanted to determine what I knew any union presence in our facility. I answered her questions honestly. I did tell her that I had discussed the union with other drivers and we have not decided our next steps if any. I told her not to worry about a union. Two days later she told me she met with David XXXXXX reviewed our conversations in length.

I believe that XXXXX Food Service XXXXXX NY management found an excuse to dismiss me and is now defaming my character. Someone is leaking several false reasons why I was terminated to discount my character and integrity. No one believes I was fired for making an unplanned stop location error. This is their current policy to defame people who have been terminated to quell others from organizing together. Everyone who still has their job is fearful because they believe that they also can be terminated like me. They are fearful about privately discussing their participation or support in any union. XXXXXX Service has had three mandatory driver/management/warehouse meetings this year that included their local and corporate anti union positions.

I also believe that there has been a breach of good faith between me and my employer. I expected to be treated fairly just like everyone else. I believed that honesty was the best policy for me and the company. I have proven myself to be a dedicated loyal employee and have worked for the company for nearly 11 years. I have had many quality annual reviews and several certificates for safe driving and good yearly evaluations for customer service.

I believe that XXXXXXService retaliated against me for privately talking to other drivers. I had been discussing a union at our facility. I did talk with others about how there was no representation or anyone who could mediate any issues between management, our drivers and warehouse personnel. I agreed with several other drivers that the company could do whatever they wanted to their employees without any check and balances to arbitrate a final decision. This is not against the law but it is against XXXXXX Service values. I believe that they felt that I was a threat to their monopoly of control and they waited patiently for a petty excuse to fire me.

As a senior driver with a higher rate of respect, pay, benefits and vacation time they felt it was in their best corporate interest to terminate me and hire a new employee that they could mold into whatever type of puppet they required.

I believe XXXXXXService discriminated against me because of my age. I am 52 years old. Two other drivers in their late twenties or early thirties who recently caused similar log errors that were deemed fraudulent were only given written warnings. I know who those drivers are. I feel that if things were balanced and non discriminatory those two drivers should have been dismissed as well.

Why should XXXXXX Service be allowed to dismiss me and not the two other drivers for the same electronic error intentional or unintentional? HoweverXXXXX used my unintentional error to dismiss me. I am sure that transportation has manually edited the two other disciplined driver�s logs into DOT compliance. I am sure that XXXXXX also has records on file that show disciplinary actions after their internal investigation.

Thank you,

XXXXX

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