should employer pay for time off if employers truck breaks down ?

by brenda
(louisana)

I work for a construction co 12 yrs now .i was hired as a truck driver for their 7yd dump truck pulling a 20 pindle hitch trailer hauling mostly construction equip. dozers ,exavators ,front end loaders ect}

In Sept that truck went down { rearend went out motor was already needing work done on it.

So they decided not to fix it .they paid me until they found another truck .from 9|25|15 to 10|27 |15 .

got new truck started working with it until 11|12|15 the freeze plug blew out on hwy 'mechanic came and fixed it .but it smoked real bad .i was told to keep driving ,i drove and hauled heavy equipment all that week and the next week .finally on 11|18|15 i was told to take it to a shop .well they found 3 pistons in the bottom of the motor along with they rings needed changed .needless to say i just went back to work on 1|29|16.truck is finished ..they were paying me this whole time.

i went to my supervison way back with the old truck and asked what they were going to do with me since my truck was down ,i was informed that they were still going to pay me .every week they seen me there turning in my paper work ..well today i was asked by two office personel who authorized my pay ..well they both did .

now i'm being told that they only meant when the old truck went down .no one told me this at all .they knew i was still getting a paycheck.. should they have paid me for both times ..