A trucking company from B.C.'s Lower Mainland that accused three former drivers of "time theft" cannot claw wages back from any of them, the province's small claims tribunal has decided.
The company said that the times between engine start and engine stop constituted a driver’s work hours, but that the men had logged on their timesheets that they started working before turning on their trucks and kept working after they turned them off. Thus, they have committed time theft.
“I disagree,” Carmody wrote in each of the cases. “A driver’s shift does not start when the driver starts the engine, and it does not finish when the driver turns off the engine. The driver must report to the yard, receive and review their delivery assignments, plan their route and conduct a pre-trip inspection.”
The men also all recently left the company after their complaints to the province of not being paid overtime went nowhere. They say this lawsuit is retaliation for demanding fair pay. The court couldn’t decide on whether or not that was true, but said it wouldn’t change the ruling either way.
Sounds like an OHSA violation. Vehicles should be inspected daily before operation. Either they’re not paying for the required inspection or they’re telling the staff not to do that inspection. Either way the company is liable.
I’d also consider that things like locking/securing the vehicle counts as work too. If the shift ends when the engine stops it’s getting left open until the next shift.
Yeah pre-trip inspections are required in B.C. and Ontario before you move anywhere in a commercial vehicle, so it definitely is a part of the job that needs to be paid for. Work procedures that neglect that should be the companies fault, even if not doing them would be the driver’s fault.
The company said that the times between engine start and engine stop constituted a driver’s work hours, but that the men had logged on their timesheets that they started working before turning on their trucks and kept working after they turned them off. Thus, they have committed time theft.
The men also all recently left the company after their complaints to the province of not being paid overtime went nowhere. They say this lawsuit is retaliation for demanding fair pay. The court couldn’t decide on whether or not that was true, but said it wouldn’t change the ruling either way.
The employer thinks their employees are trucks, lol.
Sounds like an OHSA violation. Vehicles should be inspected daily before operation. Either they’re not paying for the required inspection or they’re telling the staff not to do that inspection. Either way the company is liable.
I’d also consider that things like locking/securing the vehicle counts as work too. If the shift ends when the engine stops it’s getting left open until the next shift.
Yeah pre-trip inspections are required in B.C. and Ontario before you move anywhere in a commercial vehicle, so it definitely is a part of the job that needs to be paid for. Work procedures that neglect that should be the companies fault, even if not doing them would be the driver’s fault.