A West Chester, Ohio trucking company has been fined by the U.S. Department of Labor for improper pay.
A whistleblower who worked for the company said that T&T fraudulently obtained the government contract through a friend who works with government contracts– a direct conflict-of-interest.
T&T Enterprises has a several year, lucrative contract with the U.S. Postal Service. The contract stated driver’s pay and vacation time; however, the Department of Labor states that T&T did not honor the contract’s terms. Drivers were underpaid and only received one week of the two week vacation time that was designated.
In addition, T&T required its drivers to turn in forms for time spent in traffic or weather delays, because they were not paid for that time– which is illegal.
“Employees claimed that whenever they gave these forms to the employer, the employer just threw them away, and Mr. Trautman verbally confirmed that he does not pay for that time,” the Labor Dept. investigator wrote.
Department of Labor records indicate that T&T has been under investigation several times.
“In an investigation that wrapped-up in December, Trautman was ordered to pay some of his drivers $30,000. However, that is only 0.2% of the $14 million T&T made off of its Postal Service contracts in Fiscal Year 2011,” Fox 19 New reported.