THE DAILY

Friday, March 20, 2026

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The Daily

Ohio jury awards $22.5 million in TQL pregnancy accommodation case

A Cincinnati jury ruled Wednesday that TQL’s refusal to grant a work-from-home accommodation during a high-risk pregnancy contributed to the death of a newborn, awarding $22.5 million to the infant’s estate.

The case centers on Chelsea Walsh, hired as a claims specialist at TQL in early 2021. After emergency surgery to save her pregnancy, her physician submitted paperwork requesting she work from home. TQL denied it, saying the notes lacked sufficient detail (no physical limitations, no specified condition, no duration) to evaluate the request. The company offered an extended leave of absence instead. Walsh returned to the office. Days later, she went into labor; her daughter Magnolia died 90 minutes after birth. The jury found TQL liable for compensatory and actual damages totaling $22.5 million. Judge Christopher Wagner denied a request for punitive damages. TQL says it is evaluating legal options and "disagrees with the verdict and the way the facts were characterized at trial."

Attorney Matthew Metzger, who represented the estate, was direct: "The jury found that TQL’s denial of that reasonable request led to the death of her daughter." The complaint describes what it called an impossible choice TQL presented Walsh: work in the office and place additional strain on her pregnancy, or take unpaid leave and lose the health insurance she needed. Walsh’s complaint documented a weeks-long back-and-forth over whether her status was leave, remote work, or in-office. She worked some days while the dispute remained unresolved. She was told she could work from home on Feb. 24. That night, her medical emergency began.

The case lands against the backdrop of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, enacted in 2023, which expanded employer obligations to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions beyond what prior ADA frameworks required. The statute’s documentation and verification requirements remain a contested area, and employer requests for detailed medical information can cut both ways: as legitimate business necessity or as a tool that delays or denies accommodation. The TQL case now gives plaintiffs’ attorneys a concrete damages benchmark.

So What? For brokerages, 3PLs, and any large freight employer with office-based workforces, this verdict is a liability data point. A $22.5 million compensatory award, without punitive damages, signals that juries will treat pregnancy accommodation failures with serious financial consequences. The PWFA’s requirements are broader than the prior framework, and documentation standards that function as delays rather than good-faith assessments carry legal risk. HR and legal teams should audit accommodation workflows now.

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Top Stories

Tender rejections hit COVID-era levels as wartime fuel shock jolts an already strong market

The SONAR Tender Rejection Index is in territory not seen since the pandemic. Werner CEO Derek Leathers recently called current rejection rates above 13% "COVID-like." At Thursday’s State of Freight webinar, Craig Fuller and Zach Strickland walked through what’s driving the surge: federal crackdowns have eliminated non-compliant carriers from the pool, industrial flatbed demand, including steel, aluminum, copper for data center buildout, is pulling hard on capacity, and the war in Iran has pushed fuel surcharges higher. "We are moving into the latter part of March and capacity continues to tighten," Fuller said, forecasting new rate highs. Both the NTI and NTIL have returned to early 2023 levels.

So What? The current bid cycle is reset. Spot rates are leading contract rates higher, fuel surcharges are climbing, and available compliant capacity is shrinking. Any shipper benchmarking against 2024 rates is operating on an outdated model.

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FedEx Freight lowers full-year profit outlook again ahead of June spinoff

FedEx Freight posted a 4.7% revenue decline to $1.99 billion in the February quarter, with shipments down 5.7% and an adjusted operating ratio of 93.3%. Full-year adjusted operating income is now expected to fall $400 million year over year, a steeper drop than the $300 million decline forecast previously. Revenue quality initiatives are underway, but they’re running against muted demand. The spinoff as FDXF on the NYSE remains on track for June 1, with an investor day April 8 in New York setting long-term targets. Parent FedEx Corp told a different story: revenue up 8% to $24 billion, adjusted EPS of $5.25 against a $4.13 consensus, and raised full-year guidance again. Shares of FDX jumped 9.3% after hours.

So What? The April 8 investor day is when FDXF sets its public-company financial targets. Those numbers will determine whether the spinoff prices at a premium or discount, and will serve as a benchmark for the entire LTL sector’s valuation.

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Aurora report projects $9 billion in annual consumer savings from autonomous trucks by 2035

A report commissioned by Aurora Innovation and conducted by Steer Group projects 170,000 self-driving trucks on U.S. highways by 2035, representing roughly 15% of the market and logging 33 billion annual miles. The study forecasts $9 billion in annual consumer savings, a $70 billion GDP boost, 490 fewer fatalities per year, and $5.7 billion in annual carrier fuel savings from 32% efficiency gains. Aurora CEO Chris Urmson: "Autonomous trucking can be a massive engine for the American economy." Initial deployment targets the Sun Belt; a national network is planned for 2030. The sector already supports 17,000 jobs and $3.3 billion in economic output.

So What? Aurora commissioned this report, so treat the projections as advocacy-informed. That said, the safety case makes sense. FMCSA pins 87% of at-fault truck crashes on driver error, and Waymo’s 90% serious-crash reduction over 125 million miles offers comparable data. Watch Sun Belt regulatory frameworks because states that move first attract the capital.

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CPKC grows Mexico-Canada corridor as tariffs reshape cross-border freight

CPKC CEO Keith Creel told the JP Morgan Industrials Conference on Wednesday that his railroad is converting trade-policy uncertainty into revenue. Mexico-Canada traffic has grown from roughly 2% of CPKC revenue to more than 3% — approaching $500 million — with another $100 million projected this year. Next month, CPKC and CSX launch the Southeast Mexico Express, linking Mexico and Texas to the Southeast through a new interchange in Myrtlewood, Alabama, cutting Atlanta-to-Monterrey transit to three days. Carloads are down 1.7% quarter to date, largely against tough 2025 pull-forward comps, but revenue ton-miles are up 2.2%. "We create solutions instead of excuses," Creel said.

So What? Creel’s skepticism of the proposed UP-NS merger’s 2-million truckload conversion target carries weight: CPKC is only 40% toward its own 64,000-truckload goal. Intermodal conversion moves slowly, and rail operators projecting rapid truck conversion in merger filings should be stress-tested against that track record.

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Sponsored Insight

From the Research Desk

What We’re Watching

▸ TQL’s appellate response and PWFA precedent-setting. A $22.5 million compensatory verdict without punitive damages will almost certainly face an appeal. How appellate courts interpret PWFA documentation requirements and the "reasonable accommodation" standard for high-risk pregnancies will set the liability framework for every large freight employer. Watch for a filing within the next 30 days.

▸ Whether the STRI holds above 13% through April. Fuller explicitly called the current rejection surge unusual for mid-March, when the market is "typically decent but not great." If rejection rates stay elevated through the second week of April, contract rate negotiations will accelerate across the board and shippers without locked contracts will feel it fast.

▸ FedEx Freight’s April 8 investor day targets. FDXF sets its public-company revenue and margin targets then, ahead of the June 1 NYSE listing. The numbers will function as the first major LTL valuation anchor of 2026 — and will shape how markets price every other LTL operator through the rest of the year.

That’s your Daily for today. See you tomorrow.

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