What is False DAC reporting?

What is False DAC reporting?

From Wikipedia:

False DAC Reporting

A truck driver's “DAC Report” refers to the employment history information submitted by former employers to HireRight & USIS Commercial Services Inc. (formerly called DAC Services or “Drive-A-Check”). Among other things, a truck driver’s DAC Report contains the driver’s identification (Name, DOB, SSN), the name and address of the contributing trucking company, the driver’s dates of employment with that company, the driver’s reason for leaving that company, whether the driver is eligible for rehire, and comments about the driver’s work record (e.g. good, satisfactory, too many late deliveries, etc.). It will also indicate whether the company stored drug and alcohol testing information with USIS. A separate section of the DAC report contains incident/accident information.

The DAC report is as critical to the livelihood of a professional truck driver as the credit report is to a consumer. When a trucking company reports negative information about a truck driver, it can ruin the driver’s career by preventing him or her from finding a truck driving job for several years or more. It is widely known that trucking companies often abuse this power by willfully and maliciously reporting false information on truckers’ DAC reports, either in retaliation for seeking better paying trucking jobs elsewhere, or for any number of other fraudulent, anti-competitive reasons. As long as truck drivers can be threatened with a false DAC report for standing up to management or leaving their company for a better job elsewhere, working conditions at truck driver jobs will not improve. End Wikipedia.

 As explained in an earlier post, a DAC report is the trucking industries version of a consumer’s credit report.  The only difference is a DAC report contains negative issues from previous employer’s, from a MVR to a person’s criminal history.  A previous employer can wreak havoc on a driver’s DAC report the same as an identity thief can ruin a credit report.

Every day truck drivers are threatened by companies with the promise of filing negative reports for a number of reasons, the most common mentioned above.  And with very little recourse, some drivers find themselves unable to secure another position within the trucking community again, all for something their employer deemed unacceptable, whether or not violation occurred.

I know a driver who used to work for a major carrier and leased a truck through them.  He had some issues at home so he hired a couple of drivers to run the truck for him. Everything was OK at first but, as sometimes happens he started having problems with the drivers not wanting to run hard, the revenue to the truck plummeted and, since his problems at home still warranted his attention, he decided to turn the truck in.

Arrangements were made for the truck to be taken to the company’s home terminal and he would turn the truck in. He received a phone call a couple days later informing him there were no loads going to the company’s home terminal so the truck was taken to his home terminal and he was told it was his responsibility to get the truck back to the company’s headquarters.  He let them know that was impossible and they promptly considered the tractor abandoned and subsequently the false abandonment found its way onto his DAC report.

Lucky for him he decided he would not be returning to driving anytime soon so he was not too concerned with this incident.  But it does prove that these companies know that false reporting can, in some cases, ruin a driver’s career leaving the driver little recourse.

However, there are a couple things a driver can do to try to get the false incident removed from his DAC report.

Some drivers have filed lawsuits against the company that fired them.  This seems the obvious course of action, right?  Not always. We need to keep in mind that the burden of proof is on the driver, not the company.  Just as if a District Attorney brings a charge against someone, it is always up the D.A. to prove the person’s guilt and it is always up to the defendant to prove they are innocent.  Too most, this seems entirely biased even if it is the foundation on which our legal system is built.

A driver can go to www.HireRight.com and request a copy of the DAC report. USIS teamed with DOC Services and is referred to as HireRight DAC Trucking Solutions.  If you have anything on your DAC report, they know it. You are allowed one report a year and each one thereafter will cost $9.50 each. To file a dispute on your DAC report, click here and just the follow the directions.

Truckers need to join together and stand up against those dishonest Trucking Companies that knowingly file false reports to DAC in an attempt to ruin a driver’s career.  This practice must stop now.