P.M. Executive Brefing - Aug. 27
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Comdata, Navilor Offer Handwriting Scanner
Comdata Corp. of Brentwood, Tenn., and Navilor of Roy, Utah, are working together to market a driver log-scanning technology designed to save carriers time and money by reducing data entry.The scanning technology takes handwritten logs and converts them into a form that can be interpreted by a computer. Once in there, the logs can be transmitted electronically and used by carriers to encourage better safety among drivers.
Bob Sneed, senior vice president for regulatory affairs at Comdata, said in the past, carriers would contract out with companies to key in driver logs manually and send monthly reports.
The scanned information can be used to develop daily reports carriers can use to quickly address driver noncompliance with hours-of-service rules. The information also can ferret out fuel report falsification by matching driver logs with Comchek card transactions, Sneed said.
The company will be testing the system with a large flatbed carrier that Sneed declined to identify. Logs will be scanned at the company’s headquarters and transmitted to Navilor, which will process the reports. Eventually, the information will be transmitted to Comdata.
The service will cost between 16 and 20 cents for each document or between $3.75 and $5 for every driver a month depending on fleet size and scope of the reports, Sneed said. -- Daniel L. Whitten
Lawsuit Accuses Swift of Gender Bias
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against Swift Transportation Co. of Phoenix on behalf of seven women who claim they were paid lower wages than men for doing the same job.The lawsuit, filed July 28 in a federal court in Kansas City, Kan., alleges that the women — who oversee drivers at Swift’s terminal in Edwardsville, Kan., — have been unlawfully paid lower wages since October 1998.
The lawsuit also claims the company retaliated against two employees for testifying at an Equal Pay Act proceeding by reassigning them.
n attorney for Swift said the company denies the claims.
“Swift maintains a strong commitment toward equal employment opportunities, has strong defenses in response to the EEOC’s allegations and is confident it will prevail in this action,” said company attorney Paula E. Hosler.
The lawsuit grew from a complaint filed by Melissa Meek, a driver manager.
Barbara Seely, an EEOC attorney, said Swift’s salaries are highly variable, and the company has no set rate for men or women, but “most women are at the very bottom.”
The lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop Swift from engaging in gender discrimination in wages and from retaliating against employees who testified against the company. The suit also seeks back pay with interest, pay increases and compensation for losses and punitive damages.
ATA Elects Intermodal Officers
SAN FRANCISCO — American Trucking Associations’ Intermodal Conference announced elected officers for the 1999-2000 term at its annual meeting last week.David Manning, president of Tennessee Express, Nashville, Tenn., has been elected chairman.
Other officers are: first vice chairman — Dan Gatchet, president of West Coast Trucking, Seattle; and vice chairmen — Jeff Lang, president and general manager of Eagle Systems, West Chester, Pa.; Anthony Pacella, president of Cushing Trucking, Cicero, Ill.; and David Morgan, president of Morgan Southern, Conley, Ga.
lark E. Brown, president of Bridge Terminal Transport, Richmond, Va., was elected treasurer.
Samuel Farruggio, president of Farruggio’s Express, Bristol, Pa., is immediate past chairman.
Suspect Confesses in Trucker Killings
DALLAS (AP) — The man accused of shooting two truckers to death in the Dallas area a year ago confessed to the slayings in letters to a detective and prosecutor, officials said at the start of his trial.As the trial began Aug. 23, Dallas County prosecutor Jason January read letters written two months ago by Douglas Alan Feldman.
Feldman is charged with the August 1998 shooting deaths of Robert Stephen Everett, 36, of Missouri, and Nicolas A. Velasquez, 62, of Irving, Texas. The truck drivers were killed in separate incidents that occurred within 40 minutes of each other (9-21, p. 4).
Defense lawyer Jim Oatman said Feldman’s state of mind and his mental health at the time of the shootings will be issues during the trial.
“I am sending you this voluntary statement in order to disclose my role and guilt in the crimes with which I am currently charged,” January quoted Feldman, 41, as saying in the letters.
“I am solely responsible for the shooting deaths of Mr. Robert Stephen Everett and Mr. Nicolas Velasquez,” he wrote. “I have no valid excuse for my actions except that I was in a state of extreme emotional distress at the time.”
Feldman wrote that he was involved in a traffic altercation with Everett, a part-time truck driver and minister from Missouri who was hauling a shipment of toys the night of the shooting.
Feldman wrote that after the accident, “I exploded in rage and committed the murders outlined above.”
There was also testimony during the opening day of the trial from motorists who witnessed the shooting death of Everett on U.S. 75 near the Allen-Plano line north of Dallas.
