Stoughton Trucking Inc

Stoughton Trucking Inc. Withheld Money due to a lease/owner operator and broke contract Stoughton, Wisconsin

14th of Apr, 2011 by User993969

I saw a advertisement for employment for Stoughton Trucking, Inc. I applied and got the job running out of the new Cincinnati Terminal. My first paycheck did not arrive for three weeks, and the name that appeared on the pay-stub was not Stoughton Trucking, Inc, rather Triumphant Transportation. When I asked I was told that the president of Stoughton Trucking and The owner of Triumphant were friends. Triumphant trucking was leasing their trucks from Stoughton Trucking, Inc. By the beginning of January 2011 it was apparent that Triumphant was stealing runs and fuel from Stoughton trucking. Ed Swartout the President of Stoughton Trucking, Inc. Found out from employee complaints about Triumphant's activity and offered several of Triumphant's drivers jobs with the actual company. Ed Swartout called the owner of Triumphant and informed him his was giving a mandatory 30 days notice of termination of employment of these drivers and said these drivers(including myself) were now going to be Owner /Operators for Stoughton Trucking, Inc. I and many others were told by Kurt Moriva (recruiter) that their Lease Purchase program was one of the best around. Paying $.90 a mile, $.12 per mile fuel surcharge, $.02 per mile maintenance, and $.01 per mile Security deposit for the truck I was leasing. Knowing what I know now, the fuel surcharge was ridiculously low. Most company's pay on average a fuel surcharge of $.45 a mile. Stoughton Trucking, Inc. was keeping 60% of the fuel surcharges paid to Stoughton Trucking by the shipping companies and brokers. Which were supposed to be passed off the the lease owners. I was told by Kurt Moriva that i would run 2500-3000 miles per week. This never occurred. My paychecks were only for no more than 2200 miles per week, and that was only once. After receiving
2 paychecks in a row under $200.00 (which was minus fuel and truck payment of $250.00), I had, had enough, I gave my 30 day notice for terminating my lease, which was a walk away lease. I called to dispatch several times and begged for more miles and was told no problem. After recieving my last check of $17.00 (which was actually put on my com check because it was so small), I called Kurt Moriva again and told him I could no longer afford to work for this company and was returning the truck to the Cincinnati terminal. Kurt called me that Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. and asked if I would please stay on as a company driver running out of the Cincinnati Terminal. After discussing it with my wife I agreed to stay on. By this time the Cincinnati terminal was now being run solely by Stoughton Trucking, Inc. Stoughton had terminated all leases with Triumphant Trucking and they were in the process of clearing their items out of the building. After three weeks of running as a company employee, it was apparent that the miles were not to be found as a company driver either. I was still only getting 1400-1800 miles per week. What really did it for me was my last week of employment with them, they asked me to run local for one week. THis pays $150.00 a day. When I received that pay check, I was only paid for 4 days and was told there was no code for running local in the payroll system. They did rectify the missing payday within two days. At this point I had been waiting for my reimbursements from money that was sitting in my maintenance escrow and security deposit escrow. Kurt Moriva told me they have 15 days from the last day as an lease operator to settle the account. March 16,2011 was the day my lease purchase agreement ended. Today is April 15, 2011 and it has still not been taken care of. That is 30 days ago. They have now officially broken the contract that I had with them as a lease operator. After going back and forth with Vickie Weinke, she said today they were finishing the math on the refund and would call me back at a later time today. At 5:30 I decided to call her. The first time I called I was hung up on. The second time I called I asked the man who answered the phone (Ben) to speak with Vickie Weinke, he told me to hold. When he came back on the line he asked who was calling And I told him, which he replied transferring you now. This call was put straight into Vickie Weinke voice mail. Frustrated I called again. This time Linda Loy-Moriva answed and when I asked to speak with Vickie Weinke, Linda yelled "it's him again", and put me on hold. Vickie picked up the call told me what the refund would be, and that Ed Swartout said to deduct from the total a full service charge on the truck I leased. Vicky Weinke told me that she could not send the check yet because Ed Swartout was at the Tennessee terminal and no one could sign the check but him, and that would not be until sometime next week. Irritated by her tone and the unexpected deduction I called the Tennessee terminal to speak with Ed Swartout himself. When I reached him, he informed me that he was not at the Tennessee terminal as told to me by Vickie Weinke, that he was actually on vacation. I explained to him the conversation I had with Vickie Weinke and about how she told me that he was at the Tennessee terminal working. Sounding irritated at her, he said I will call her. No less than 10 minutes later I received an angry phone call from Vickie Weinke stating that the amount that she told me was what it was going to be and that the service charge would stay and that it would not be signed until Tuesday when Ed Swartout returned and that Ed Swartout said if I didn't like it that I could sue him! Then proceeded to tell me that my wife needed not to be bi**hing in the background, and then hung up on me. This company does what ever it feels like regardless of law or contracts!They have no regard for their employees and are extremely unprofessional. I will do whatever it takes to get the money that this company owes me!!!

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