Debating DAC
Regarding your editorial (Deb Whistler) in January 2004.
There are always cases in any kind of system for errors on someone's part. I don't think it would be correct to legislate restrictive changes based on a few errors and — I hate to use the phrase — throw the baby out with the bath water.
As a Safety/HR person, I find too many cases where we are trying to get some kind of valid information on a driver's work history and work habits and find ourselves stymied. Some charge fees to release info, others give out little info of any use — including accident/safety histories — some do not want to respond to drug history inquiries.
I find the DAC system highly useful to alleviate these problems:
1) I think it a rare case where a company tries to blackball a driver. I don't feel those entering the info into the system have the inclination nor the time for such foolishness. Thinking otherwise insults most having this responsibility. Drivers thinking otherwise may be crying wolf.
2) Those in my position have experienced many cases where drivers have walked off the job, left loads in the yard they had committed to take out, left owing money, were late for deliveries (and not pushed on hours!) and the like. We hire many drivers with "bumps" in their past, but a history of job jumping or abandoning trucks is a clear employment problem, not a condemnation of the process.
3) DAC is very helpful in finding gaps in employment history that drivers have conveniently forgotten, multiple jobs or bad records
4) DAC is very clear, among other things, that the criminal history check should not be used solely as a basis for employment evaluation. They provide a service that uses Social Security number, date of birth and address to help eliminate any misidentification on criminal records.
5) The meat of the OOIDA proposals are currently in use by reputable employers and DAC.
Forms are provided for drivers to sign, advising them of the process.
DAC reports are heavily weighted to ID'ing the correct driver, to accident info, drug info and to pertinent driver history — abandoning loads and vehicles, factual info on equipment operated, loads hauled, driving experience, etc.
DAC's form is clear in explaining what will be obtained and authorization to do so by the applicant. Most of what is provided by DAC directly relates to a driver's safety qualifications and a current report includes a detailed clarification of any accidents. FMCSA should force more carriers afraid of legal action to report this info to potential employers. We often have no way to find out whether a driver ran a red light and killed three kids and a nun in a school bus because the prior employer is afraid to divulge any info.
A driver rebuttal on a DAC employment should be sufficient, rather than a whitewashing.
Time schedules to delete info are debatable — why three years, why not one, or two, or 10? Actually, 10 years is the FMCSA statutory limit for a driver to list prior driving experience on an application. Obviously, the intent of such is to determine both safety and experience back this far.
Bart Ray
S and M Transportation Inc
Saraland, Ala.
More On DAC
Deborah, I own a third-party recruiting agency and I can relate to these issues with DAC. I know that you can't take everybody's word as the truth and I am accustomed to some of my drivers not telling me the truth. But there have been many cases where negative information has been reported and it doesn't add up.
I started in the recruiting business working for a major trucking company. If there was negative information on the DAC, it was never investigated and marked as "reviewed, not selected" and no other reason was given. If a driver asked why he or she was denied, no reason was ever given.
In reference to the criminal background checks, I have run across the name match situation on many occasions. The driver was then told in order to get hired, he or she would have to get a fingerprint search done on their own accord to prove they didn't have a record. Talk about being guilty before proven innocent.
In one case I had a driver who wanted to come back to work for the company I was hired to at the time. He had left and worked for a smaller company. When he left the smaller company the owner put just about everything negative that you can put on a DAC report. It doesn't stop there. The driver was later hired back on at the smaller company, only to quit again, going on to work for another major carrier.
I then meet him and he wants to come back to work for the company I am recruiting for. They denied him rehire because of the negative DAC from the smaller company.
As it turns out, the owner of the smaller company put the exact information on DAC that he did the first time.
I made an argument with the director of recruiting and he said that, "it does seem fishy, but the company won't take the time to investigate what really happened." I thought you might appreciate some information from someone other than the drivers and decision makers with the trucking companies.
Rob Jarrell
TransportFreightJobs.com
