Supreme Court won’t hear drivers’ pre-employment case

For the second time in slightly more than a week, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a trucking-related case.

On Monday, the high court decided not to hear a class-action lawsuit brought by six truck drivers — and backed by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association — against the U.S. Department of Transportation over the pre-employment reports it distributes to carriers. On June 12 the court said it would not hear OOIDA’s suit against mandated electronic logging devices.

The drivers said DOT and its Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration shared too much information about drivers’ violation history to prospective employers in the Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) reports. They claimed the reports:

• disparaged their reputations
• made it harder for them to find work
• contained information “intentionally and willfully” beyond the scope of the PSP.

The drivers argued in their 2014 lawsuit that the PSP reports are only to contain accident reports and “reports of serious driver-related safety violations.” They claimed FMCSA included other information like excessive weight violations, speeding in the 6-10 mph range, violation of certain hours of service rules, incorrect logs and parking violations. The OOIDA and drivers said this was a violation of the 1974 Privacy Act.

DOT denied the PSP reports included too much information.