SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Half of Crown Moving and Storage's trucks were unsafe to drive, and the company fired its operations director for complaining of it, the man claims in Federal Court. Kevin Feese claims Crown also was unhappy with him for objecting to its litany of labor law violations.
Feese claims he is still looking for work a year after Crown fired him for blowing the whistle on its safety and labor violations.
Feese claims that from January 2008 to April 2009, he found that approximately 50 percent of Crown's vehicles were unfit to drive: "Specifically, many of these vehicles did not have seatbelts, had ineffective brake springs or had ineffective braking systems."
Feese claims Crown encouraged its drivers to falsify logs so that unqualified drivers could haul loads. And he claims that Crown did not have a drug-testing policy that complied with U.S. Department of Transportation requirements, and that it stiffed workers for overtime.
Feese claims he complained about these violations to Crown President Bob Bowen and CEO Rick Hosea "on average, two to three times per week." He claims that both executives ignored him, refused to speak with him, or would "volley expletives towards him and throw him out of their respective offices."
"On many occasions, Hosea would simply respond, 'Get the f-k out of my office!'" the complaint states.
Feese says he was fired in April 2009 "in direct response to his continued whistle-blowing."
He demands punitive damages for wrongful termination in violation of public policy. He is represented by Kurt Wilson with Sweeney Mason of Los Gatos.
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