Recently I've had several drivers with problems verifying past truck driving experience. Its not enough to say I have the experience, the law requires a prospective employer to verify it. Their can be all kinds of reasons experience can't be verified - company out of business, owner died or in jail, and even former employers who for one reason or another flat out refuse to cooperate.
The first thing to recognize is that verifying truck driving experience with DOT regulated employers is not the same as verifying general employment history with non regulated employers. For DOT regulated experience the prospective employer will be looking for drug and alcohol testing, safety and accident history, specific dates of employment as well as relevant experience operating equipment similar to theirs. Non driving time is not as thorough and depending on the prospective employer may be as simple as accounting for dates of employment or non employment.
Most companies have set policies on minimum amounts of recent driving experience that must be verified to qualify for a job. But when a driver's necessary recent experience comes from a former employer that cannot or will not cooperate in verifying - what can the driver do?
Well the answer depends in part on the employer you're applying to and what documentation they are willing to accept. For driving experience at a minimum you need to know the employer's DOT and/or MC numbers so you can document the company actually had authority to operate. (working for a company or owner operator running illegaly or employing you without knowledge of the authority holder isn't going to fly) If your former employer was leased to or operated under another's authority you should be able to use that carrier for verification of driving experience, so you need to know the relationship. If you're listed in DAC you may be able to use driver logs, load settlements, pay stubs, termination letters, w-2's or 1099's that cover the period of time in question.
Every once in awhile I hear from an owner operator with their own authority or operating under someone else's whose managed to skirt the rules. No legitimate carrier wants to hire illegal drivers so the burden falls on you to document you were operating legally including random drug and alcohol testing and to be prepared to prove it.
For non driving history you may be able to use pay records from the Social Security office, copies of your tax returns, unemployment, workers compensation or disability payment letters, former customers or business associates if you were self employed, or notarized statements from references who knew you during the period in question.
Employers aren't going to all this trouble because they have nothing else to do or want to be intrusive into your personal business. The law and the need to protect themselves from liability requires it. In tough economic times like today where there are more drivers than jobs, you need to be prepared for your job search.
THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE GETTING HIRED AS AN EXPERIENCED DRIVER WITH A LARGER TRUCKING COMPANY IF YOU CAN'T DOCUMENT YOUR EXPERIENCE.
The burden may be on the employer to document your experience, but if it is too difficult or complicated or the whole thing sounds shady then they have a easy solution to the problem - move on to the next applicant. The law just says they have to verify past experience to hire you, not that they have to go to unreasonable lengths to find a way to hire you. So, regardless of what you may think about the whole thing, if you need the job IT'S YOUR PROBLEM and you need to do some work to help the prospective employer out. Be ready and understand what's going on BEFORE applying for the job.
Here's a link to FMCSA Part 391 qualifications of drivers (remember these are MINIMUMS, companies can require ore than this and it is up to them to determine what is a good faith effort)
Here's some links to you may be able to use to track down former employers:
Safer Web (look up companies by name, DOT or MC number
List of companies by city and state (site says they get if from Safer Web, you use Safew web to do the same thing, but this site is much easier to look up companies by city and state)
Request a copy of your Social Security Statement (can request online or by mail but takes 2-4 weeks)
You can usually get a copy of your Social Security statement immediately at a local office
Look up employers at Yellow / White Pages or Google.
