Nationwide carrier, Celadon, has been hit with a class action lawsuit for withholding negotiated fuel discounts from owner-operators.
According to their contracts, owners operators would fuel up using Celadon’s gas cards, with the amount spent to be deducted from their pay. However the carrier is accused of withholding more than they actually paid in fuel costs, and pocketing the difference.
This was due to the fact that Celadon had negotiated fuel discounts with some of the largest truck stops, like Pilots Flying J, but charged the driver at the non-discounted rates.
The law firm representing the drivers, Cohen & Malad, LLP, issued the following statement:
“The class action lawsuit alleges that Celadon breached its Lease Agreement with the drivers by deducting from the drivers’ compensation more in fuel charges than Celadon paid to Pilot Flying J for those fuel charges because, unbeknownst to the drivers, Celadon had a deal with Pilot Flying J that Celadon would only pay a lower “discount price” for fuel purchased by the drivers. The lawsuit also alleges that despite only paying Pilot Flying J the lower discount price for the fuel, Celadon withheld from the drivers’ compensation the higher price ‘pump price’ of the fuel,”
The discounted fuel rate is reported to be up to 50 cents per gallon.