Schneider Safety Termination

Hey all — I got let go from Schneider within 30 days due to safety violations: three hard brakes, one stability control event, and a backing incident that happened to occur right in front of the head of safety.

I overshot the yard entrance, threw on hazards, and backed up on a public road. According to him, there was a car behind me laying on the horn. No one was hit, no damage was done — but I panicked, hit the brakes hard, and that sealed it. It was my sixth day, I was tired, low on hours, and had almost no experience behind the wheel solo.

The other violations? Two hard brakes from following too closely in tight traffic, and a stability control event on a ramp that multiple other drivers said frequently triggers false alerts.

Now I can't get hired anywhere except Western Express, and even they want me to team drive for a month at $650/week because of that safety violation. I'm wondering if there's any way to appeal or fight this — nobody was hurt, I wasn’t offered remedial training, and I can’t shake the feeling that due to a recruiter screw-up, they were just looking for a reason to cut me loose.

Sounds like you should just take what you can get with WE, nothing wrong with them. 1 of our "vets" here, Old School got his start with them, and did well. Just take responsibility for what got you fired, wasn't good having 1 occur in front of a head safety guy jeeeze lol....Sucks but life goes on, who knows, W.E. could turn out to be your saving grace. Besides 1 month out with a trainer won't kill you, and the month will fly by before you know it.

These days the driver pool is flooded with tons of experienced drivers, competing for jobs. It's a company "market" right now, and they can be extra choosey who they hire since, there is so many without driving jobs....It's not like 2019-2020 where new drivers got big hiring bonus's etc (mine was $10,000 over 2 years) I got a big chunk of it, before retiring as I'd already planned...

Wishing you good luck in the future, just clear your head and buckle up.

Bro...take some personal responsibility or your fail at WE too.

1. It's not "according to him" it's you backed up on a street. Never do that. You could have killed the guy behind you. Good way to recieve a lead diet supplement in many areas of the country.

2. Drop the excuses. We've all been stressed, out of hours, not much experience. Many of us made appropriate choices and didn't have any accidents or incidents.

3. Many other drivers aren't driving your rig. You are. Many other drivers lie like a rug, exaggerate and drive like idiots. You took the turn too fast. I have a hunch that your school specifically told you to take offramp 10 under the posted recommendations, which are for cars.

4. Own your crap, learn how to improve from your mistakes. If you crap in your underwear, don't blame your underwear.

As said you need to own your actions and learn from them. We’ve all been in situations, it’s all a matter how you handle them and leasons learned.

We all learn everyday.

My guess is your hard brakes weren’t the actual issue, it was the following too close that they looked at sharply.

Trucking companies are shutting down every month flooding the industry with drivers, many that have spotless records. Getting on at WE may very well be your only chance to get back into the industry.

Noone has a right to work for any company. So fighting Schneider is futal. It’s the companies right to terminate someone if they don’t feel they are performing to their standards. I know several years ago schneider lost alot of business due to bad drivers. Doesn’t suprise me at all they have got very pickey.

I have no idea what the recruiter screw up comment is about.

I highly recommend you swallow your pride, go to WE, and prove to them they made a great choice giving you a shot.

I overshot the yard entrance....... hit the brakes hard,

Two hard brakes from following too closely in tight traffic, and a stability control event on a ramp

All that means speeding. Slow it down.

they want me to team drive for a month at $650/week because of that safety violation.

I wasn’t offered remedial training,

Sounds like WE is giving you the "remedial" training schneider didnt offer. No company will hire you and the one who is willing you criticize.

and I can’t shake the feeling that due to a recruiter screw-up, they were just looking for a reason to cut me loose.

So there is something in your past that you think should have prevented the recruiter from hiring you at Schneider and they were looking for a reason to fire you? They do not need a reason. Most states are "at will" meaning they can fire you for any reason or no reason.

Suck it up.. work there a year. Slow down. Learn from it. Take responsibility and admit wrong doing.

Fellow Schneider driver here who helps out with safety and compliance - unfortunately for you, the termination was justified. You had 4 critical events and an unsafe backing maneuver (in front of the head of safety no less) all while in your first 30 days. - that would be a pretty standard grounds for termination at any company to be honest. You’re on probation for your first 90 days. Schneider tells us that even after training, in those first 90 days, you’re still in your interview process in a way. They’re analyzing your performance to see if you’re a good fit long term before you are let off probation. That’s why that 90 day period exists. 5 safety events within your first month. Schneider deemed you not a good fit. And unfortunately, in this current economy and with freight so down, companies are being way more picky with who they hire and keep since the demand just isn’t there anymore for drivers. Schneider is trying to take only the best right now. A smart practice in my honest opinion.

One of my questions is, surely you were coached on all of these events by your leader. I know for a fact hard braking and roll stability events go directly to your leader for them to review with you. So if it kept happening, you have to look at yourself and figure out why. If they didn’t offer any additional training, did you ask for it? Take accountability and say you wanted extra training to ensure this stopped happening? Especially after the 2nd critical event.

All I can say is, you can try appealing your termination to the appeal board and see what happens. This has to be done within 30 days of your termination though.

Learn from your mistakes while at Western Express. If they want you to be with a team driver, it’s probably for a reason since they can see why you were terminated from Schneider. Just learn from the previous mistakes, don’t be picky, and just do what you have to do. It’s not the end of the world, just a little harder now.

One of my questions is, surely you were coached on all of these events by your leader. I know for a fact hard braking and roll stability events go directly to your leader for them to review with you. So if it kept happening, you have to look at yourself and figure out why. If they didn’t offer any additional training, did you ask for it? Take accountability and say you wanted extra training to ensure this stopped happening? Especially after the 2nd critical event.

Unfortunately, I was not coached on any of these events, unless you'd count the day they sent me back to yard to talk about all of it but that was the same day I got fired. Speaking of training: when discussing following distance with my trainer said the gap I was keeping was excessive and would often comment that I wasn't driving fast enough. She would be snippy, rude and seemed to find the various mistakes she lead me to make quite funny. And yes, it feels as ludicrous to type as I'm sure it is to read.

So, I get the whole take personal responsibility. I'm all for it. Unfortunately, the other trainer was a very aggressive late middle-aged dude, so, it's like, in a perfect world should I have asked for more training? Yes, of course. At my yard, it just wasn't there. I was not coached on any of this before I was terminated. No one can absorb the skills and knowledge it takes to be a good driver from the very ether in a matter of days or weeks of driving.

I should add that I was shocked at the difference in professionalism and competence at my yard vs. the orientation yard in Mesquite to say the least.

All I can say is, you can try appealing your termination to the appeal board and see what happens. This has to be done within 30 days of your termination though.

Do you happen to know how to do this? I have not been able to find the contact information. Appreciate your reply!

You seem to want to hold Schneider accountable for not providing additional training to you for the hard braking, stability control, and backing events… How is it you can’t recognize on your own when you need to slow down, not follow other vehicles too closely, and be aware of what’s around and behind you when you’re backing up? You really want to appear to be the victim here. If any of these events led to an accident while you’re driving your personal vehicle, would you expect a representative from the DMV to show up at your door intending to coach you on how to be a better driver? This is all pretty basic stuff… driving too fast for conditions, tailgating, not paying attention to what’s around & behind you… You can cry foul all you want, but Schneider made the right decision. Your wanting to pursue some sort of appeals process only further supports Schneider‘s decision… you’re still not holding yourself accountable for these very basic mistakes. You can continue wasting your time pursuing this, which will get you nowhere, or you can accept Western Express’s offer and hopefully work hard to repair your status as a solid driver.

You seem to want to hold Schneider accountable for not providing additional training to you for the hard braking, stability control, and backing events… How is it you can’t recognize on your own when you need to slow down, not follow other vehicles too closely, and be aware of what’s around and behind you when you’re backing up? You really want to appear to be the victim here. If any of these events led to an accident while you’re driving your personal vehicle, would you expect a representative from the DMV to show up at your door intending to coach you on how to be a better driver? This is all pretty basic stuff… driving too fast for conditions, tailgating, not paying attention to what’s around & behind you… You can cry foul all you want, but Schneider made the right decision. Your wanting to pursue some sort of appeals process only further supports Schneider‘s decision… you’re still not holding yourself accountable for these very basic mistakes. You can continue wasting your time pursuing this, which will get you nowhere, or you can accept Western Express’s offer and hopefully work hard to repair your status as a solid driver.

I get the point you're trying to make, but you're assuming a lot that just isn’t accurate. I was in constant communication with both my operations manager and my trainer — texting updates, asking questions, keeping them looped in. At no point did anyone step in with coaching or even a warning that I was approaching a firing threshold.

And the idea that all four critical events were due to tailgating or speeding is off base. Conditions on the road vary, and you weren’t there. These weren’t cases of reckless driving — they were moments that, in a training environment, could’ve been teachable. Instead, they were just silently tallied until it hit the magic number.

I wasn't fired for dropping a trailer or crashing into anything. I was let go after backing up on a public road — and for those four critical events — with no formal coaching, no real feedback, just a quiet exit.

I also appreciate your DMV comparison — it actually proves my point. If a driver has an incident in their personal vehicle, the DMV doesn’t show up to coach them. But if you're operating under a training carrier’s authority, and they claim to support development, then yeah — I expect more than silence followed by termination.

As for your advice about going to Western Express to rebuild my reputation, that's laughable. I’ve worked for them. The training there was a joke. My trainer was smoking weed while we were driving down the road — so yeah, Western Express is definitely NOT the place to learn safe driving or rebuild anything. It's the last place anyone should go to fix their driving habits.

Look, the brutal cold hard truth comes down to one sentence we used to say a lot in construction as Gen X: "Figure it out".

Training in this industry is this, sink or swim. It's natural selection. We call it Training, but it's more a natural aptitude test. Either you have the critical logic to make decisions like NOT to back up on a public road or you don't. If you cant figure it out without being told, you're not going to be a suitable driver. It's just the reality of this industry.