Thousands of alleged safety violations, multiple lawsuits — and now a report from storied television news magazine “60 Minutes.”
SuperEgo Holdings, also known as Super Ego, released statements in its defense in the aftermath of CBS News’ correspondent Bill Whitaker’s report on the company as a chameleon carrier, which aired Sunday, April 12.
The news magazine cited an “eight-month investigation” into the carrier, which calls itself a “leasing company” in response to Whitaker’s reporting.
SuperEgo Holdings decided to do damage control this week in response to the broadcast report.
In a press release issued Tuesday, April 14, SuperEgo Holding called itself “a U.S.-based leasing company committed to transparency, compliance, and high standards of professional conduct.”
In its release, Super Ego said the report from “60 Minutes” was “misleading.”
“The company calls on the public and media to understand a fundamental fact that the segment ignored entirely: Super Ego is an equipment leasing company, not a carrier company,” the release stated. “Every claim made in the segment, including allegations about driver clocks, DOT rate sheets, DOT numbers and pay, are false and derived from this central misunderstanding.”
In the April 12 segment, “60 Minutes” reported that drivers were driving as many as 18 hours at a time, claiming the company would reset the clocks after the maximum 11 hours of driving were completed. It also reported that DOT rate sheets were manipulated and that the company intentionally took pay away from drivers, in addition to instructing drivers to change DOT numbers on trucks.
One driver told “60 Minutes” that he had gotten checks “in the negative” after Super Ego deducted fees from his earnings.
Derek Barrs, administrator for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, told Whitaker that Super Ego was “part of an ongoing investigation.”
There are lawsuits filed against Super Ego, including a nationwide class and collective action on behalf of truckers who contracted with Super Ego from Aug. 5, 2012, to the present, and were paid based on a percentage of the load, according to a website, which is dedicated to recruiting plaintiff drivers.
The firm Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym (HSPRD) Ltd. offers a summary as well as a few frequently asked questions regarding joining the case.
The lawsuit alleges that Super Ego has a companywide practice of underpaying drivers by skimming off the top of the load price. The complaint alleges Super Ego regularly lied to truckers about the price of the load by secretly altering the brokers’ rate confirmation sheets to make the load price appear lower than it actually was. Super Ego then paid truckers a percentage of the lower, secretly altered price, and pocketed the difference.
The lawsuit also claims that Super Ego misclassified truckers as independent contractors, made illegal deductions from their pay, withheld their pay, and even paid them less than the federal minimum wage during some pay periods. Plaintiffs seek damages for fraud, breach of contract, violations of the federal Truth in Leasing Act and Fair Labor Standards Act, and violations of the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act.
The initial complaint was filed on August 5, 2022 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Also a Class Action suit filed by a woman from Lawrenceville, Ga., in the same court accuses the company of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by “sending two or more text messages to members of the Do Not Call Registry without consent in a 12-month period.”
The plaintiff, Zyereri Jackson filed the Class Action suit on Feb. 21, 2024, in the Northern District of Illinois.
In her 14-page complaint, Jackson admits to working for Super Ego for approximately two months in 2022. She states that “at no point during or after her relationship with Super Ego did Plaintiff consent to text messages from Super Ego.”
She is suing for damages to be determined at trial.
In further response to the “60 Minutes” report, Super Ego stated that the holding company “leases equipment to more than 1,200 licensed carrier companies. Those carriers employ their own drivers and dispatchers and maintain full authority over them. Super Ego does not hire, pay, supervise or contract drivers or dispatchers who are not employees or independent contractors.”
“When a carrier’s driver arrives at a Super Ego facility to pick up a truck bearing the Super Ego name or causes dangerous conditions on the road, that driver works for the carrier and not for Super Ego,” the company statement continued. “The segment was especially misleading by exclusively showing video clips of Super Ego trailers, when carrier trailers have no marking requirements and are rarely connected to the carrier that is operating the tractor.”
CBS has promised further reporting on its Sunday Morning news program.
Bruce Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has lived in three states including Arkansas, Missouri and Georgia. During his nearly 20-year career, Bruce has served as managing editor and sports editor for numerous publications. He and his wife, Dana, who is also a journalist, are based in Carrollton, Georgia.
this whole company is misleading. I wasted a lot of money and time going to Chicago.