Commercial Driver Anti-Retaliation Protections
The Scharfman Law Firm, PLLC represents clients in retaliation claims all over Texas and the United States, and is an aggressive advocate for our clients and their rights. We are committed to helping employees fight for their rights when they have suffered from unlawful retaliation as a commercial driver for engaging in legally protected activities.
The Surface Transportation Act is a federal law which provides that an employer may not discharge an employee, or discipline or discriminate against an employee regarding pay, terms, or privileges of employment, because of a variety of reasons, including –
- the employee, or another person at the employee’s request, has filed a complaint or begun a proceeding related to a violation of a commercial motor vehicle safety or security regulation, standard, or order, or has testified or will testify in such a proceeding; or the employer perceives that the employee has filed or is about to file a complaint or has begun or is about to begin a proceeding related to a violation of a commercial motor vehicle safety or security regulation, standard, or order;
- the employee refuses to operate a vehicle because –
- the operation violates a regulation, standard, or order of the United States related to commercial motor vehicle safety, health, or security; or
- the employee has a reasonable apprehension of serious injury to the employee or the public because of the vehicle’s hazardous safety or security condition. An employee’s apprehension of serious injury is reasonable only if a reasonable individual in the circumstances then confronting the employee would conclude that the hazardous safety or security condition establishes a real danger of accident, injury, or serious impairment to health. To qualify for protection, the employee must have sought from the employer, and been unable to obtain, correction of the hazardous safety or security condition;
- the employee accurately reports hours on duty pursuant to a chapter in that Act;
- the employee cooperates, or the employer perceives that the employee is about to cooperate, with a safety or security investigation by the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the National Transportation Safety Board; or
- the employee furnishes, or the employer perceives that the employee is or is about to furnish, information to the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the National Transportation Safety Board, or any Federal, State, or local regulatory or law enforcement agency as to the facts relating to any accident or incident resulting in injury or death to an individual or damage to property occurring in connection with commercial motor vehicle transportation.
Certain filing deadlines and statutes of limitations apply to these claims.