Have you ever received a pre-adverse action letter or a post-adverse action letter?
It’s definitely not a good thing.
It means you aren’t getting hired for that job you wanted.
If you’ve been turned down by trucking carrier after carrier, you’re probably a little bit confused about what you’re doing wrong. How can you avoid getting these letters and being disqualified from every job? It all comes down to your behavior as a driver. How safe are you? Have you ever abandoned a truck?
Without understanding why you’re getting these letters and taking action to fight false claims that might be on your record, you’ll be left shaking your head forever and failing to land the trucking jobs you really want.
As a driver consultant, I, unfortunately, have to send these letters out from time to time. I can save us both a lot of time by explaining to you how you can avoid getting these letters altogether.
Keep reading and I’ll explain to you exactly what these letters are, what information they contain and how you can interpret the letters to avoid getting one in the future.
What is the Adverse Action Process?
The adverse action process is regulated and required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The federal law is modified by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT). The law requires any employer using consumer reports from a consumer reporting agency for employment purposes to follow specific legal obligations.
These legal obligations include notifying the consumer — in this case, you, the driver — when the consumer reports force the employer to take adverse action. In the trucking industry, adverse action means that a driver is being denied employment.
There are three steps involved in the adverse action process:
- Pre-adverse action letter
- Waiting period (to give the driver time to respond)
- Adverse action letter (or post-adverse action letter)
Trucking carriers are required to comply with each of these steps.
Pre-Adverse Action Letter
When something comes back on one of the consumer reports that goes against hiring guidelines, a pre-adverse action notice is sent to deny drivers employment.
Reputable carriers typically run four consumer reports. That includes a Motor Vehicle Record (MVR), a Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP), work verification and a background check.
I talk to a lot of drivers that get worried about the “credit” in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Don’t get it confused. Trucking carriers are not looking into your credit. The FCRA is just the name of the law — it doesn’t mean we’re looking at anything to do with your credit.
However, other industries may look into your credit if you’re, for instance, applying for a loan.
The pre-adverse action letter simply states that you will be denied employment based upon something that was found in one of your consumer reports. The letter does not state what was found that goes against the carrier’s guidelines or which report it was found in. It simply states that something was found and gives you the tools to log in to review your reports.
This isn’t considered an “official” denial of employment. It acts as a warning to you, the driver, that something is wrong and doesn’t align with the carrier’s driving guidelines.
The letter includes contact information (name, address and phone number) for the agency that ran the consumer report so you can contact them to dispute information found in their report.
You will also receive notice of your ability to request a free copy of your consumer reports for 60 days.
Waiting Period
Trucking carriers are required, by law, to allow drivers a reasonable time to review or dispute the information found in the consumer reports before the post-adverse action notice is sent.
This waiting period varies from carrier to carrier. Some carriers might wait five days and some might wait 14 days.
Use this time wisely. Review your consumer reports closely so you can see if there are any errors. This waiting period is designed to give you enough time to clear up or dispute any errors.
Adverse Action Letter
The adverse action letter is sent after the designated waiting period. It simply confirms what the pre-adverse action letter said. Because you did not note any errors or dispute the information in your reports, the adverse action being taken is final and you will not be hired.
In some cases, you may be in the midst of disputing a claim when the waiting period ends and the adverse action letter is sent. If you dispute the claim and get it removed from your consumer reports, your driver recruiter will tell you to disregard the adverse action letter.
How to Avoid Getting Adverse Action Letters
Understanding the hiring guidelines for the trucking carrier you’re applying to is the easiest way to avoid getting an adverse action letter.
For example, when you’re talking to your recruiter about their hiring guidelines, you may know immediately that you’ve had too many jobs in the past or too many moving violations to get hired.
Another example is your criminal background.
By law, recruiters are not allowed to ask about your criminal background. Even if you say, “Hey, I have some criminal charges that may disqualify me” they cannot ask. They can only read you their guidelines. They can not tell you that your criminal background disqualifies you. You must come to that conclusion yourself.
They will repeat the guidelines and you will need to confirm if your background does or does not disqualify you. If you still fill out an application knowing you will be disqualified, you’re not just wasting your time, you’re also wasting your recruiter’s time.
In some cases, your criminal background check may not even come back until you’re in orientation. If you were dishonest in the recruiting process, you could be disqualified and sent home from orientation after you’ve already quit your previous carrier and turned your truck in.
Honesty is absolutely crucial in the recruiting process.
What Do Carriers Look For in Your Consumer Reports?
Every carrier has different hiring regulations, so while you may get an adverse action letter from one company, you may not receive it from the next.
Carriers want to work with safe drivers, so safety is the number one thing they’ll be looking at in your consumer reports. After all, your Compliance, Safety and Accountability (CSA) Score goes against them too.
Carriers will look at moving violations, careless and reckless driving, driving over the speed limit, multiple accidents, unauthorized equipment use, cell phone usage while driving, a pattern of job-hopping, truck abandonments and more.
You can always choose to dispute the information on your consumer reports. For instance, your work verification report may reveal that you abandoned your truck, but you could have proof that that isn’t the case.
You may also have a moving violation that you’re disputing and taking to court. If the violation gets removed, you could talk to your recruiter about having your consumer reports run again so you can be officially hired.
A note about warnings and violations: Many drivers don’t realize that a violation and a warning hold the same amount of CSA points. The difference is that a violation comes with a fine and a warning does not. However, a violation can be fought in court, while a warning cannot. The warning will stay on your record and you cannot fight it.
This is all the more reason to practice safe driving.
Keep On Trucking!
If you’re consistently being denied by trucking carriers, take a look at your pre-adverse action letter and use the provided tools to review what’s on your consumer reports. You might not realize how one pesky violation can disqualify you from multiple carriers.
The more you know, the more time you can save yourself. One carrier may not hire you, but another will. And in the meantime, you can focus on improving your record so you can get hired at top carriers.
Companies will find out about your moving violations and work history. You may have bumped a safety pole in the yard of your current carrier, and they’ll find out. There’s no point in lying to your recruiter. Be honest about your history and your expectations. Ask your recruiter about their hiring guidelines.
You’ll also prevent the heartache of applying with one carrier, quitting your current job and making it until orientation before your background check comes back and disqualifies you.
Do you find yourself being denied by top carriers time and time again? You could be making a number of other mistakes that result in adverse action letters. Check out our guide, Top 5 Mistakes Drivers Make When Switching Jobs (and How to Avoid Them), to find out what you may be doing wrong!
