Freight truck drivers in the state laid off without explanation

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) – A nearly 100-year-old trucking company recently shut its doors and ceased all operations as of Sunday, July 30.

The trucking company Yellow Corp. filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, just three years after the company received a $700 million federal loan.

And now the company has laid off more than 30,000 employees without severance, leaving the former employees, including a driver from Rapid City, wondering how they are going to make it through.

“And they’re not paying us I guess, because we can’t contact anybody for Yellow to find out why we’re not getting paid. So we’re in a bind, and we’re out of insurance, as of Saturday the 5th. And now there’s 33 thousand of us around the country without insurance, but the corporate people all received a severance package, they’re taken care of,” said Daniel Salvino, former truck driver for Yellow.

Salvino says as of right now, Governor Noem and the Department of Labor have been working with the employees, making sure they can receive unemployment payments and benefits.

“When I explained the situation to her (Governor Noem) office, by law I don’t know any other states, but by law, you need to have a letter of termination or layoff to get your specific benefits, and we still haven’t received one, so she waived that,” continued Salvino.

Salvino also said the Rapid City employees found out they were unemployed due to a sign on the door, and the only explanation they received from management was a text saying don’t come in on Monday.

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