Two truck drivers have filed suit against U.S. XPress, claiming that their former employer used employees in a scheme to dupe the DOT out of tax money.
The suit was filed on March 8 by Anthony DiGiglio and Dorson Hess against not only U.S. XPress but also some members of the company’s management.
According to the suit, managers at U.S Xpress encouraged drivers to underreport their hours spent driving by “turn[ing] off and/or modify[ing] data associated with their Personal Driver Login I.D.s and/or to alter driver tech/sat com driver hour information in order to simulate that plaintiffs were driving less hours than they were actually driving and thereby fraudulently verifying driving hours and underreporting transmitted hours to the DOT and other government agencies.”
The lawsuit goes on to allege that U.S. XPress modified documents such as time sheets and scale tickets for monetary gain
The drivers say that they “were also encouraged and forced to sign fraudulent bills of lading that testified to particular weights of trucks and cargoes when trucks were never weighed so plaintiffs and other employees of defendant U.S. Xpress and defendant Pratt never had any knowledge of the actual weight of their trucks.”
The suit alleges that U.S. XPress ignored signs of faulty or unsafe equipment to save on repair costs and on the costs of DOT fees.
The drivers claim that U.S. XPress’s practices helped them avoid “paying substantial taxes to the U.S. Treasury, the DOT, and other government agencies and have gained a fraudulent competitive advantage over law-abiding competitors.”
According to the suit, the company’s drivers were threatened with fewer miles and even termination if they complained about the alleged regulation violations.
DiGiglio and Hess both say that they received fewer miles because of their complaints and they were both forced to resign because of this.
The drivers say that they are in possession of “extensive written communication” to back up their claims.
Digiglio and Hess are seeking punitive damages, fees and court costs, and an an amount equal the amount of damages against all defendants to include double and triple damages.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
This week U.S. XPress named a new President and a new CEO.