On reflection, the signs were there that Elite Transit Solutions was in dire financial trouble. Nevertheless, former employees say that after they raised concerns to CEO Michael D. Johnson — or MJ as he’s called — about carriers not being paid or suddenly being blocked from posting freight on one in all the country’s largest load boards, the entrepreneur “at all times had a solution for all the pieces.”
While Elite Transit Solutions, headquartered in Pittsburgh, hasn’t officially ceased operations, it appears Johnson is the one worker remaining on the freight brokerage. After initially keeping on a skeleton crew of about 10-12 employees after firing 65 employees via Microsoft Teams on Nov. 3, he has since laid off those employees as well.
![](https://www.freightwaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/17/Elite_Transit_Payroll_2.jpg)
As of publication Friday, Johnson sent out an email to around 75 former employees who haven’t received their final paychecks for 2 weeks’ work and accrued day without work, which were due Nov. 10. Johnson’s email, obtained by FreightWaves, said, “At this moment, it’s looking like we will get the payroll released in the subsequent couple of weeks. The most important variable upcoming is Thanksgiving and Black Friday.”
Those that stayed on an additional week to assist Johnson, as they were reportedly told there was a promising deal within the works but that he couldn’t disclose more details because he was waiting for the papers to be signed, are owed three weeks’ pay after the deal apparently fell through.
“We knew things were bad but he strung us all together with the idea that he was signing these contracts, that he was selling a portion of the corporate to a private-equity firm, which we were told was going to inject the funds into the business so everybody’s jobs shall be saved,” said one ex-employee, who spoke to FreightWaves on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
One source aware of the situation claims Johnson couldn’t provide you with the nearly $200,000 needed to make the ultimate payroll and is now dodging ex-employees’ questions on when or in the event that they shall be paid.
FreightWaves obtained a replica of the Microsoft Teams video call on Nov. 3 wherein Johnson fired 65 staff members but didn’t allow them to submit questions using the chat function and muted their microphones in order that they weren’t capable of ask questions.
After stating that employees who worked in Elite Transit Solutions’ satellite offices in Charlotte, North Carolina, Chicago and Phoenix needed to return their company-owned equipment by Nov. 8, he offered his support and volunteered to achieve out to his “somewhat large network” for ex-employees needing jobs.
“It’s a really tough situation, a really tough time within the industry and within the economy as well,” Johnson said on the video call. “When you need a letter of suggestion or support in obtaining latest employment, I need to be personally here to make it easier to. Please be happy to achieve out to me directly. When you don’t have my cellphone number, please be happy to message me on LinkedIn.”
Johnson has since deleted his LinkedIn account.
Further pouring salt within the open wounds of the 65 employees Johnson had just fired, he closed out the video call by stating, “I hope you guys have an ideal weekend. I’ll refer to you soon.”
One ex-Elite worker told FreightWaves, “Just do the appropriate thing. Is it that arduous to do the appropriate thing in 2023? It really shouldn’t be that difficult — just pay us.”
On Tuesday, one ex-Elite Transit worker asked if the fired staff could expect paychecks soon.
“Like many others who need these final paychecks to purchase Christmas presents for his or her families, MJ fed me and others a line of BS. … ‘I got great news however the papers aren’t signed yet. Blah, blah, blah.’”
Ex-employees describe ‘crisis mode’ in final months
A typical theme amongst ex-employees at Elite Transit’s 4 offices was that the freight brokerage was in crisis mode through the final months of operation.
“We received calls from potential customers wanting to do business with us but we needed to turn them away and were told to call them back in 60 days because our funds were in such terrible shape we couldn’t service any latest accounts,” a former worker, who didn’t need to be named for fear of retaliation, told FreightWaves.
The death knell for Elite Transit was when former brokers say DAT Freight & Analytics, one in all the trucking industry’s largest load boards in North America, blocked the corporate’s ability to post freight on its load board because so many carriers had filed on Elite Transit’s bond for nonpayment.
While a DAT spokesperson said the corporate doesn’t comment on specific customers, it said in an announcement to FreightWaves it does “take the responsibility of providing DAT business services to our customers who depend on us to run their business very seriously and require strict adherence to our network governance policies.”
DAT continues “to make substantial investments in our Network Integrity Unit, which sets compliance policy and responds to each customer concern, in addition to deploying our AI-powered technology to assist keep bad actors off our network,” the statement said.
Nearly 80% of the inbound calls former Elite Transit Solutions’ employees received were from a whole lot of carriers owed 1000’s of dollars for loads they delivered but were never paid.
They were instructed to transfer the calls to the billing department, which went to voicemail, but claimed that nobody answered the phones.
“We were cut off by almost every factoring company you may consider,” the ex-Elite Transit worker told FreightWaves. “It got so bad that the factoring firms were taking a reimbursement from the carriers since the contract was between the factoring company and the carrier, not with Elite. We heard from carriers that were forced to shut their trucking firms, including one which needed to sell his business and his home because we hadn’t paid him. We received an email from the wife of a carrier owner whose husband attempted suicide and blamed Elite for not paying him.”
One trucking company owner with eight trucks is owed for loads his small trucking company hauled in May and June. While Irhad Kapidzija, owner of Aquida Trans LLC of Manchester, Recent Hampshire, had an agreement with Elite Transit to be paid inside a 45-day timeframe, it didn’t occur.
“We initiated quite a few communications with Elite Transit Solutions to request updates on the outstanding payments,” Kapidzija wrote in an email to FreightWaves. “Nevertheless, our inquiries were met with an absence of transparency and misleading statements as they were unwilling to supply concrete payment dates.”
Kapidzija alleges he then tried to file on Elite Transit’s bond, but his company’s efforts were unsuccessful.
“They [surety bond company] were instructing us to contact Elite Transit for payment resolution. Our response to this directive was to reiterate that our pursuit of payment from Elite Transit was met with repeated failures and it was the responsibility of the surety bond provider to make sure payment to carriers within the event of non-payment by the broker. Nevertheless, their response was disheartening, as they asserted that in keeping with the policy listed on their claim form, they’d only consider payment within the case of Elite Transit’s insolvency or a legal judgment and advised us to be patient,” Kapidzija said.
The Aquida Trans owner said he reached out to Elite Transit Solutions yet one more time via email on Sept. 23 and was advised there have been no updates regarding the payment status.
A former Elite Transit worker said when irate carriers called about after they could expect to be paid, they were to inform the carriers that their “payment was within the queue,” when in actual fact no payments to trucking firms were being processed.
“What drew me to need to work for Elite Transit was a slogan that MJ used the entire time. … ‘F—k odd, be legendary,’” one former worker told FreightWaves. “Oh, he’s going to be legendary by the point that is throughout but another way.”
Read related article here: Pennsylvania brokerage lays off nearly 65 employees, sources say
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