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SAIA | Saia Conflict of Interest Policy

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cplbrian

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Wow did I stir up a heap of trouble when I decided to drive a 48 passenger bus for a youth group over the weekend.

I told the dispatcher I was going to run out of hours because I was unable to get my 34 hour reset due to the volunteer event. He said he would have rather I not even come in at all then to have worked a short shift.

Later the TM comes up to me and hands me a copy of the company's conflict of interest policy and says my volunteer work is a volilation of company policy!?

Whe you read it seems like ANYTHING could be a conflict of interest!! Wait till I tell them my wife is pregnant...or my car needs to go into the shop. Conflict?
 
#!. Did you get her pregnant on company time??
#2. You should not have gotten her pregnant as it interferes with company production. That's time you could have spent delivering freight for us.
#3. Let your pregnant wife get the car fixed while she is in LABOR...:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:
 
Kudos for trying to do the right thing, but I never would have told them what I do on my personal time. Since you did tell them, it became something that interfered with your duties at work.
 
cplbrian said:
Wow did I stir up a heap of trouble when I decided to drive a 48 passenger bus for a youth group over the weekend.

I told the dispatcher I was going to run out of hours because I was unable to get my 34 hour reset due to the volunteer event. He said he would have rather I not even come in at all then to have worked a short shift.

Later the TM comes up to me and hands me a copy of the company's conflict of interest policy and says my volunteer work is a violation of company policy!?

Whe you read it seems like ANYTHING could be a conflict of interest!! Wait till I tell them my wife is pregnant...or my car needs to go into the shop. Conflict?
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Was that policy spelled out in the employee handbook? If not, you might tell them you were not aware of it until after the incident occurred.

Secondly, I would escalate this to corporate and explain what you did and ask politely if doing charitable work that might conflict with your hours of service in violation of company policy. Get the response in writing and keep it. If it leans in your favor, keep the original and show a copy to your TM.

Finally, how close were you to making the reset? If it was close, say an hour or so, it might have been just as well to call and be late. If your attendance record is in good shape you won't get but 1/2 a point charged to your attendance.

If need be and you know far enough ahead of time you might arrange with your supervisors to be late that particular day.
 
These guys change the rules at a blink of an eye.Don't worry about it.None of their business what you do in your personal time(yeah,I got into it with dispatch about that one too)
 
Did you get her pregnant on company time??
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Nope, wouldn't want to damage the freight. :d6625240:

Was that policy spelled out in the employee handbook?
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Yup...Revision Aug 2003 page 7 section 3. Conflicts of interest: "A conflict of interest exists when a persons private interests interferes in any material way with the interests of the company. A conflict situation can arise when an employee takes actions or has interests that may make it difficult to perform his/her work objectively and effectively" :Bondage:

I would escalate this to corporate
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Who would you suggest I tried "getting clarification" from HR and they basically said we own you 70 hours a week

how close were you to making the reset?
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I drove a couple hours on Saturday (4) and a couple hours on Sunday (4) finishing at or around 7pm. I wouldn't have reset till tuesday AM.

what you do in your personal time
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apparently they seem to think that it is!?

I wonder if eating bad chinese/mexican food the night before your scheduled to work and you have a bad case of the "squirts" the next day...wouldn't that be a violation of this policy as well?
 
Since you didn't receive any pay for this, it shouldn't count toward your hours of service. Is he going to make you start logging your riding mower time too? Even without time for a restart if you're on a 7 day recap you would have gained the hours you worked last Monday for the up coming Monday.
 
DOT rules say you need to log other time but I think it only means time you are compensated for. Check it out in the regs.:1036316054:
 
Don't

I can tell you as a former Saia Employee, DO NOT Try to fight this one. You are right YOU stirred up the can of worms by volunteering info that was not necessary or in your best interest. Learn from your mistakes and learn to play the game. " Don't ask, don't tell"
If you try to pursue this with upper management or HR you will loose.
Management always backs up management, even if they are 360* wrong. Unless it is a situation that will expose the company to public scrutiny and result in their public exposure, or litigation.
This is why they panic whenever the "U" word gets mentioned.
Just Curious
Don't you need an endorsement to transport passengers?
 
Gosh instead of the TM making a big deal about the work...he should have been supportive and said gosh that is great...We need more people that will do stuff for others...If word got out about Saias attitude it'll just hurt them more and people will say...what kind of company is this?
 
kyb4 said:
Gosh instead of the TM making a big deal about the work...he should have been supportive and said gosh that is great...We need more people that will do stuff for others...If word got out about Saias attitude it'll just hurt them more and people will say...what kind of company is this?
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Thats kinda what I thought initially, but alas our company is only in it for the green back.

Yes you do need an endorsement to transport passengers there are two levels, I currently hold the highest level.

CAlled the local scale master/DOT guru and they said ALL time volunteer or not is to be accounted for when operating a CMV.

I don't think the riding mower is licensed over 26,000GVW so I think I am ok there!! :biglaugh:
 
Its just business

cplbrian said:
Thats kinda what I thought initially, but alas our company is only in it for the green back.
:
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Now if you had said you were going to put Saia Placards on that Bus and the media was going to cover it as a charitable event, and Saia's good name would be spread near and far... you could get Rick O. and Tony A. kissing babies...LOL..Maybe you should have run it past customer relations first.
I discovered even before working at Saia that it is best to keep my personal life personal, even from fellow employees unless they were "tested under fire" and trustworthy.
Have you been with them long?
"Its just business" You need to always keep that in mind, because that is what keeps you employed.
 
I looked on the DOT website to get a feel for the regs in regards to HOS and found this:

§395.8 Driver's record of duty status.


(a) Except for a private motor carrier of passengers (nonbusiness), every motor carrier shall require every driver used by the motor carrier to record his/her duty status for each 24 hour period using the methods prescribed in either paragraphs (a)(1) or (2) of this section

Since you were driving a church bus (nonbusiness) you were not required to log any HOS. Therefore no records were kept and you, by inference, should be able to reset in the appropriate amount of time.

It would seem reasonable that so long as you were to obtain adequate rest prior to returning to work you should not have a conflict of interest, since by rule you were not recording your hours.

If you are a city driver, the only time one is required to record a logsheet is if you meet or exceed 12 hours clock in to clock out, or doing linehaul (extra work). There would not otherwise be any records of time kept other than a timecard.

As others have said, it isn't always wise to clue management in on off hours activities especially if the activities don't involve company property.
 
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