Fired by Builders Transport

by Reo Oliver
(Buford, GA)

I was abandoned by my employer, Builders Transportation, April 27, 2011 in North Birmingham,AL at a Fly J's the day of the tornadoes. My trainer got belligerent and vulgar and told me to get out of the truck after I would not respond to him the way he wanted me to respond to his line of questioning, off exit 1 Hwy 459. I let him know that I'm not getting out of the truck in the middle of no where. He then threatens me with a bat and tells me to get out again. I don't budge and tell him I'm still not getting out of this truck. He states he is about to call the police but calls the coordinator. He tells the coordinator,"tell this (mf) to get the (f) out of my truck before I hit him up side his head with this (mf) bat. I'm in the background stating, "you hear him Scott he says he is going to hit me with his bat." I get on the phone with this man thinking he is trying to diffuse the situation. He states that the company has a terminal in Birmingham and that he would like me to go to the terminal and he would make sure that I got a taxi and bus ticket, because he is not at work right now and he is dealing with a personal situation, and I agree with him. Instead the trainer pulls up to a Flying J, and me and this guys have words again because this is not a terminal but he is telling me to get out. I get out because this is my first driving job and I don't need to get in any trouble. Knowing that the company can get me a taxi I get out at the store. No more than 5 minutes go by and the tornado rips through the city. I could not make any outgoing calls after the storm. Just so happened that a co-worker and fellow student with me in school calls wanting to know how things are going with me on the road. I tell him what I'm going through and he calls dispatch on his 3 way. When I get on the phone with dispatch I start telling him who I am and the situation that has occurred. He tells me that I am no longer an employee with BTC and that the coordinator is the one who sent word that I was fired. We have words and he hangs up on me. My co-worker is still on the phone and asks what is going on. I state to him I don't know but Scott sent word to dispatch that I was no longer an employee. The conversation was lost with

him because of the storm. I was not able to talk on my phone until around 10pm. I talk to another dispatcher and explain what is going on. He calls the coordinator, Scott at home. I start talking to Scott and he immediately tells me that I am no longer an employee with BTC. I state to him that I am in AL a tornado just ripped through the city; he doesn't seem to care. I say, "Scott you told me you were going to get me a taxi and a ticket home until you could get this situation handled and you were handling a personal issue." He lets me know that he just wanted me out the truck with his trainer. "Reo BTC is an at-will company we don't need a reason to fire you, but since you need one you were insubordinate. You bald up your fist to hit my trainer." I let him know that is not what happened and that the trainer called him on his personal phone and told him he was going to hit me with a bat. He states he does not want to hear it. "Reo it is 10:20 at night, you are no longer an employee of BTC; find a ride home as best you can." He hangs up the phone. Being that I'm from AL I was able to get someone to pick me up around 1am after they got off work. The next day I spoke with the safety compliance coordinator and safety director, because my safety and well-being was put in jeopardy knowingly by the trainer and coordinator. They seemed to be listening to me. I had to repeat my statement twice. They state they would be getting in contact with me shortly, but I have not heard from either of them since that day. On top of that the company took my last check. My last check was sent through the mail. The statement read "negative" $15. When I call, I speak with Mr. Clark and he states that the company was within its rights to take my money. We go back and forth ,but to no avail because he did not want to hear anything I was saying. No one should have to go through things of this nature with an employer; let alone me. Like I stated this was my first driving job. Now this company is holding me back from getting with another employer. I had been drawing unemployment and went to school through the WIA program. So, this situation took the air out of my sails. Then to know that they have put something negative on my DAC report is overwhelming. I would not want anyone to go through what I'm going through right now!!!