A trucking employee was allegedly fired for refusing to text while driving.
The employee, 53-year-old Thomas Aylott of Lakeside, California, filed a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court on Tuesday.
According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Aylott claims that he was reprimanded on two occasions for neglecting to read or respond to text messages while driving. Aylott, a project and safety manager who drove to job sites on a frequent basis, says his manager urged him to text while driving “like everyone else.”
But he claims to have refused to do so. The lawsuit states that he informed upper management about the issue and was terminated the following week because his behavior demonstrated that he was “too old to change (his) ways.”
Meanwhile, the company, Commodity Trucking, offered its own opinion on the matter.
“After a preliminary investigation it appears the allegations in the complaint have no merit,” Chief Operating and Financial Officer John F. Sullivan III said in a statement in the report. “The company has a strict cell-phone use policy which includes the restriction of texting and driving.”
Sullivan also said that the company regularly monitors and enforces this policy.
Aylott is seeking attorney’s fees, court costs as well as punitive, unspecified and other damages.