Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/759228
14 commercial carrier journal | december 2016 JOURNAL NEWS Federal court rules PSP reports don't violate driver privacy A federal appellate court has concluded the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Pre- employment Screening Program does not violate drivers' privacy by provid- ing non-serious safety violations to potential employers. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's dis- missal of the case on Oct. 21. "Indeed, the disclosure of other non-serious driver-related safety violations, such as speeding tickets or other fines, would presumably help achieve Congress' objective in empowering the FMCSA to promote highway safety," Judge Norman Stahl wrote. In 2005, Congress mandated that the agency grant trucking compa- nies access to certain minimum information from its Motor Carrier Management Information System so that employers had a reliable method of verifying drivers' safety records quickly before hiring them. A carrier can opt to use PSP to screen a potential hire by submitting a consent form signed by the driver and paying a $10 fee. This release form informs potential employees they agree to allow the company access to the past five years of their crash data, the last three years of inspections and "serious safety viola- tions for an individual driver." Federal regulations define "seri- ous" violations as ones the U.S. Department of Transportation determines prevent a driver from operating a commercial vehicle until corrected. The law does not indicate if the agency must provide non-serious driver safety violations to potential employers. In 2014, six truckers filed a class action suit, but the federal dis- trict court rejected arguments that FMCSA's inclusion of non-serious violations in PSP reports violates applicants' privacy and that the agency lacks authority to release it. The appeals court agreed with the lower court's conclusion that Congress had not barred releas- ing other driver information in PSP reports with the potential employee's consent. Mandating that the agency "shall provide" these reports "can just as easily be read as a floor, an articulation of the agency's minimum disclosure obligations, rather than a ceiling," Stahl wrote. The court also dismissed asser- tions that potential hires "have no choice but to sign off on the release of their records in order to seek future employment" and that signing this form "would certainly doom any prospect for employment." Companies are not required to access the PSP to screen potential employees, the court noted. However, even if carriers do, appellants had not shown their "chances for employ- ment are doomed entirely as a result of employers having access to their driving records which include non- serious violations," it stated. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is not a plaintiff in the suit but in 2014 expressed its support for it and said the six drivers were OOIDA members. – Jill Dunn A federal appellate court ruled that FMCSA's Pre-employment Screening Program does not violate drivers' privacy. XPO sells former Con-way truckload business to TransForce X PO Logistics (CCJ Top 250, No. 3) in late October sold its truck- load business – the bulk of which came via its acquisition of Con-way – to TransForce Inc. (No. 7) for about $558 million in cash, subject to cus- tomary adjustments. The acquisition by TransForce could make it the nation's largest truckload carrier. XPO acquired all of Con-way's operations for $3 billion last year and will use the proceeds from the TransForce deal to pay down debt. The divested truckload operation encompasses about 3,000 tractors, 7,500 trailers and 29 locations that were part of the October 2015 Con- way purchase. XPO said it will con- tinue to offer full truckload services to customers in the United States, Mexico and Canada through its bro- kerage network. "This transaction strengthens our balance sheet and improves our long-term growth profile," said Bradley Jacobs, XPO chairman and chief executive officer. "In addition to deleveraging, the sale reduces our annual capex requirements, increases our return on capital and lessens the cyclicality of our operations." – James Jaillet XPO acquired all of Con-way's operations for $3 billion last year and will use the proceeds from the TransForce deal to pay down debt.