Legislation that passed the Texas Senate last month and that the trucking industry believed would bring about “much-needed reforms” in trucking-related lawsuits has died in the House.
But another piece of legislation backed by the industry, SB30, and its companion bill, HB 4806, are still considered alive as the Texas state legislative session races toward its Monday conclusion.
The companion House bill to SB39, approved in April, was HB 4688. It was referred to the Committee for Judiciary &...
Truckload carrier Werner Enterprises, coming off a first quarter in which it posted an operating loss, has suspended its 401(k) matching program for employees.
A Werner (NASDAQ: WERN) spokeswoman confirmed the validity of a screenshot circulating online that announced the suspension of the matching program. She added that the suspension is considered “temporary.”
“As part of our previously communicated $40 million cost savings initiative for 2025, Werner is taking intentional steps to streamline...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/werner-suspends-401k-match-for-employees-to-cut-costs
AUSTIN, Texas — In a high-profile announcement, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy signed an order Tuesday to reintroduce strict enforcement of English language proficiency standards for commercial truck drivers. Backed by President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, the policy marks a shift in how the Department of Transportation will handle driver qualification violations moving forward, placing language noncompliance back on the list of criteria for placing drivers out of service.
“W...
With tort reform in Georgia in the books, the celebration cry among Georgia defense attorneys now might be “we’re number three!”
That ranking of the Peach State was jokingly referred to by attorney Blair Cash of the Moseley Marciniak Law Firm, a South Carolina-based practice that focuses much of its work on defending trucking companies.
Cash, who is based in Georgia, made the comment in a webinar Friday to review a package of tort reforms approved by the Georgia legislature earlier this year and...
Amazon has found itself involved in three recent legal developments regarding its trucking operations.
In one, it suffered a setback in Indiana in a lawsuit involving a driver who was killed near a fulfillment center. In another, prosecutors in Connecticut said the company was scammed out of $3 million. And in the third, a tractor-trailer pulling an Amazon load near Chattanooga, Tennessee, was involved in an accident that led to multiple deaths and charges against the driver.
In the Indiana...
In a controversial return to past policy, the Trump administration and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy have reestablished lack of English language proficiency (ELP) as an out-of-service (OOS) violation for commercial drivers.
“My Administration will enforce the law to protect the safety of American truckers, drivers, passengers, and others, including by upholding the safety enforcement regulations that ensure that anyone behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle is properly qualified and...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/is-english-proficiency-enforcement-the-right-focus-for-safer-roads
With its business tied to the fate of the U.S. automobile market, it is no surprise that Proficent Auto Logistics, the only publicly-traded auto hauler, had a schizophrenic first four months of the year.
The bottom-line numbers were not positive. Proficient had a significant weakening of its operating ratio in the first quarter. The company recorded an OR of 98.7%, compared to 93.2% a year ago. Sequentially, it improved by 10 basis points to 98.8%.
Proficient (NASDAQ: PAL) reported an operating...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/2-markets-in-1-quarter-auto-hauling-demand-volatile-for-proficient
(For a review of some of the data in RXO’s earnings, please go here.)
With another quarter of operating and net losses in the book, RXO management on its first-quarter earnings call pursued several paths to accentuate the positive.
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The past week saw two developments in the battle over defining independent contractor (IC) status: One would likely tighten the definition of what jobs hold IC status in a state that is a key transportation hub; the other would work to loosen the standards.
In New Jersey, the state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development last week said it had filed a notice of proposal for new rules with the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law that would codify a definition of the ABC test throughout...
Coming off a quarter with not just a net loss but an operating deficit as well, Werner Enterprises CEO Derek Leathers tackled a performance that he said “clearly did not meet our expectations.”
“We faced several challenges during the quarter, some industry-wise, some specific to Werner, but we are acting decisively to address them,” he said. In post-market trade, Werner (NASDAQ: WERN) stock was down as much as 5%, and it’s down about 25% in the past three months.
A summary of the company’s key...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ceo-leathers-says-werner-acting-decisively-after-red-ink-quarter