First let me point out that I may be terminated today, for a mistake I made monday. I will try to make the point without a wall of text.

Monday I didn't secure the tarp on my truck and it came off, no accident, no injuries just an expensive tarp. My fault, I forgot a step.

The place I work for, at the time of this post, runs us ragged. I cannot find any sort of fair labor standards for drivers. Question 1. Is there such a thing?
The same place forces us to run overwieght 2-6 tons over the 80,000 lb GVW regularly. while it is not said "do it or youre fired". It is said "if it doesnt get done we have to pay 'those' fees, what do I have to do, find someone who will?"
Furthermore they routinely make us run over the DOT 70 hours in 8 days rule. We operate mostly inside the 100 Nautical mile radius so no logs are required, The rules still apply though 60 in 7 days, or 70 in 8 days. The normal day is 13-14 hours, after 5 days we should be off. This is not the case we are often made to work the 6th and 7th days over hours. Sometimes we run 15-26 straight days. all work is paid by the load. any hours worked not driving are very hard to get paid for consistently, they generally pay part of what we worked.

Lastly, we have been forced recently to drive equipment that failed the FHWA annual safety inspection.
I have documentation of weights, and time frames as the scale tickets are time stamped.

Question 2 Does this amount of stress constitute a hostile work environment? Question 3, whether or not I'm fired do I have any recourse on the mistreatment, (I believe that 16 months of this type of working conditions may have contributed to my mistake) or will I just be the disgruntled guy with an axe to grind?
Recently I have been running compliant in hours and weights, as I my situaution has morphed into a OTR and Local mix. But not without a constant fight with the boss.
Thanks. I still created the wall of text, my appologies.

The boss also said he may take the tarp out of my pay, if he doesn't fire me.
Payday was today the correct amount hit the bank, but what about next check/last check?

They can't just take it out of your pay and it doesn't appear that they did. You could be fired for forgetting to secure it though.

If your employer is violating other guidelines you can bring it to the attention of the DOT. That won't save your job however. It isn't like the reward for turning in a violator is that you get to keep your job even though you committed an offense that would ordinarily get you fired. If you have been following the guidelines of late, the excuse that it is the crazy hours and such that made you forget a step doesn't hold water, but even if that were the reason, it would still be legal to terminate you.

No, this is not a hostile work environment under the law. No, you can not sue them because you didn't like their management style.

Thats what I thought but I'm not well versed in legal matters, never hurts to ask around. I may still have a talk to the DOT, the other guys that work there are still very good friends and, if it comes to firing, I could still look out for them.
If the willful violations keep up someone is going to get killed.
BTW, the jury is still out, no answer on the job yet. I'm pleading my case to the boss on how many times I've pulled his *** out of the fire and got things done when nobody else would report for work. It's a reach but worth a shot.
I'd rather keep the job, I hate looking for work.
Thanks for the answer.

I wouldn't waste my time with the DOT if I were you.

They are certainly within their rights to fire you for the tarp.

If you want to take issue with the fact that they are forcing drivers to run illegally and want to fire you because you are complaining, then you should take that up with OSHA instead. They have the authority to investigate violations in the trucking industry. You will find them a bit more interested than the DOT because they have more resources.

http://www.osha.gov/dep/oia/whistleblower/index.html

Except as the violations mentioned are not OSHA regulations but violations of the the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations, which is a division of the DOT, OSHA isn't going to be able to help.

The hours worked are a violation of regulation §395.3 and the weight issues violate §658. Operating a vehicle that failed inspection or violating the regulations regarding inspection would fall under §396.

Elle,

I realize that what OP posted is in violation of the FMCSR's, and am very familiar with that. While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration administers the OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT, it also adminisers the whistleblowing provisions of thirteen other statutes DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY ARE OTHERWISE REGULATED. For instance:
trucking - DOT regulated
airline - FAA regulated
environmental - EPA regulated
securities - SEC regulated

He is certainly free to take it up with the DOT under the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act. The number he can call for that is 1-888-DOT-SAFT.

I read that the OP had issue with being "run ragged," and was just a bit concerned for the fact that he may now be terminated for their violations. I interpreted it as whistleblower because he said "do I have any recourse?"

OSHA, NOT DOT, administers the whistleblowing provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.

To OP, if you simply want to report it, 888-DOT-SAFT. If you want something DONE about the retaliation, you'll have to report it to your regional OSHA office http://www.osha.gov/html/RAmap.html.

Believe me, I'm well versed in the regs. There is no need to shout and act like I have no idea what I'm talking about. The purpose here is to provide information to posters, not argue with others trying to help.

OSHA is only going to play a role here if an employee is retaliated against for reporting violations under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act. They are not going to ensure that the DOT regs are followed. Not all of the violations are safety ones directly. Since the OP expressed a desire to report the violations, and we don't know whether or not he will be retaliated against or if that will even be possible if he's looking for another job, just stating what he needs to do if he is retaliated against isn't the full answer.

To report the violations, you would contact the DOT.