Note from REAL Women in Trucking: The Department of Labor Independent Contractor Rule will not affect true independent contractors. It is important for truck drivers to understand this new rule. A fearmongering campaign launched by trucking lobby associations will claim that this rule harms single mothers. This fact sheet from the National Partnership for Women & Families and the National Women's Law Center aims to clarify how women are affected by misclassification. It is our position here at RWIT that truck drivers who work for lease-purchase "sharecropper" student fleets are not ind ..read more

The FMCSA is planning another study that is more specific to understand and quantify the prevalence and severity of sexual assault and sexual harassment (SASH) experienced across the commercial motor vehicle (CMV) industry, particularly among drivers. This topic is the very reason our organization was created in 2010, and it is a long time in coming. Our comment to the register was posted today as a PDF and we urge everyone to go to the federal register and post their own comment even if it is only a few lines to speak from your heart about the importance of this issue. Here is the link. ,,Fed ..read more

Press Release: WASHINGTON--AARP Foundation attorneys have joined a class action charge that is pending before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Meta Platforms, Inc. (the owner of Facebook). The class action charge was filed in December 2022 by REAL Women in Trucking (RWIT), a nonprofit that advocates for women truck drivers. RWIT alleges that Meta applies an ad-delivery algorithm that relies on the age and gender of each user to determine which job advertisements those users will receive. In doing so, Meta has routinely steered job ads away from older people and ..read more

Becoming a truck driver has medical requirements that most other jobs do not have. When we consent to the terms of being a commercial driver's license holder, we also have to comply with Federal regulations to have a current Medical Examiners Certificate (MEC) Form MCSA-5876. The MCSA-5876, or “medical card” shows that the driver has been examined by an authorized medical examiner listed in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration National Registry of Certified Examiners and that the physician has deemed the driver to be physically qualified to drive a commercial motor vehicle. But what ..read more

Women Truck Drivers File Class Action Charging Major Trucking Company with Gender Discrimination in Hiring and Training Practices Washington, DC— October 5, 2023 — Representing three named women truck drivers and REAL Women in Trucking, the National Women's Law Center, in partnership with co-counsel Peter Romer-Friedman Law PLLC, filed a class action hiring discrimination charge against Stevens Transport, one of the nation’s largest refrigerated trucking companies. The charge, filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleges that Stevens routinely refuses to hire women truck dri ..read more

The first FMCSA Truck Leasing Task Force committee meeting was held July 11, 2023. Together, the REAL Women in Trucking and Truckers Emergency Assistance Responders submitted a 14-page public comment you can read on the FMCSA website or download below. Highlights of the letter name some of the problematic lease purchase companies and includes recommendations on more transparency of contract terms, FMCSA enforcement on skimming through fees, charges and on freight loads under the following three regulations that already exist. 49 C.F.R. § 376.12 regarding leasing arrangements that includes prov ..read more

Two exciting developments that every truck driver should be aware of have just been announced. On May 25th, the White House released the first-ever ,U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence and ,The PUMP Act, that now protects truck drivers who were previously exempt. REAL Women in Trucking has put forth tremendous effort to raise awareness of issues that affect truck drivers at the highest levels of government in order to address workplace issues that specifically affect women. It is important you know your rights in the workplace. U.S National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence This ..read more

Topic: Company sponsored truck driver training TRAP's. On April 19, 2023, the REAL Women in Trucking sent a letter in support of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Proposed Rule in support of rulemaking that would, among other things, provide that it is an unfair method of competition for an employer to enter into or attempt to enter into a non-compete clause with a worker; to maintain with a worker a non-compete clause; or, under certain circumstances, to represent to a worker that the worker is subject to a non-compete clause. Non-Compete Clause Rule, 88 Fed. Reg. 3482 (Jan. 19, 2023) (to ..read more

by RWIT Member Lynda Maschek RDN/LD, CDCES Get On the Road to Clean Eating! No doubt. It’s a hard habit to break. Drinking soda, tea, or juice makes us happy and nostalgic, and it might be tough to visualize trucking without soda. It takes strategy, effort, and alternative behaviors to change a negative pattern. Some women drivers drink sodas mindlessly, unaware of how many they consume or the damage they cause. First, let’s address the toll that frequent sweet drinks have on your health. - Weight Gain. Okay- it’s not just one thing that causes weight gain. It’s many habits and lifestyle chang ..read more

Ellen Voie Testifies Against a Woman in a Sexual Assault Case Originally Posted on May 25, 2021 Jane Doe v CRST $5 Million Verdict. Why would the Founder and President of Women in Trucking, Ellen Voie act as an expert witness against women truck drivers in both the EEOC v Prime discrimination case and in a sexual assault case involving CRST Van Expedited when she was well aware these companies had been plagued with allegations against them? Why get involved? For over 14 years we have tried to raise awareness of the grossly unethical conduct by the WIT Association Founder who regularly instigat ..read more