SWIFT Transportation has been ordered by a US federal jury to pay CRST Expedited US$15 million for allegedly poaching 250 of its contracted drivers.
CRST claims Swift purposely recruited and hired drivers who had completed CRST's driver training programme to gain their commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). According to court documents filed in the US District Court in Iowa in March 2017 by CRST, those drivers were still obligated to work for the motor carrier for 10 months under employment contracts, reported New York's FreightWaves.
Starting in 2016, CRST claims it received 150 employment verification requests from Phoenix, Arizona-headquartered Swift, for drivers who were still under contract to work for CRST.
Court documents allege that each time CRST received an employment verification for one of its drivers still under contract, it sent correspondence to Swift, 'notifying it of the driver's contractual commitment to CRST.'
The jury found that Swift, a unit of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc, intentionally and improperly interfered with CRST drivers' contracts, awarding it $3 million, $5 million in punitive damages and $7.5 million for unjust enrichment.
Commenting online to the article, JD wrote: 'I don't find anything wrong with this. CRST's contract does state that if the 10-month term isn't fulfilled, the contract has been breached and a full tuition cost of $6,500 is to be paid. The training programme is stated to be worth $4,500.
'If another company wants to buy out the contract, CRST would be making nearly 30 per cent more profit per driver that makes a transition as long as the proper paperwork has been handled the way it should be.'
WORLD SHIPPING
CRST claims Swift purposely recruited and hired drivers who had completed CRST's driver training programme to gain their commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). According to court documents filed in the US District Court in Iowa in March 2017 by CRST, those drivers were still obligated to work for the motor carrier for 10 months under employment contracts, reported New York's FreightWaves.
Starting in 2016, CRST claims it received 150 employment verification requests from Phoenix, Arizona-headquartered Swift, for drivers who were still under contract to work for CRST.
Court documents allege that each time CRST received an employment verification for one of its drivers still under contract, it sent correspondence to Swift, 'notifying it of the driver's contractual commitment to CRST.'
The jury found that Swift, a unit of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc, intentionally and improperly interfered with CRST drivers' contracts, awarding it $3 million, $5 million in punitive damages and $7.5 million for unjust enrichment.
Commenting online to the article, JD wrote: 'I don't find anything wrong with this. CRST's contract does state that if the 10-month term isn't fulfilled, the contract has been breached and a full tuition cost of $6,500 is to be paid. The training programme is stated to be worth $4,500.
'If another company wants to buy out the contract, CRST would be making nearly 30 per cent more profit per driver that makes a transition as long as the proper paperwork has been handled the way it should be.'
WORLD SHIPPING