need advice from the seasoned vets

[gsmacker]

I have decided to patiently wait and see if the Driver/Owner is going to man and do the right thing and actually pay me what is owed (it isn't over $1k). After reading the replies, I now know that I should of gotten a contract before driving for this man. I have even gone as agreeing that I should compensate hime for his "going out of the way to meet" Even though I had to go out of my way to meet in the middle also. What about the $$ I shelled out so his truck could be considered a team truck?? He got a lot of $$ having me in the truck. Should I charge him for use of my laptop and gps, or how about all the extra miles I drove on loads?? Our verbal aggreement was drive half of the miles and recieve 20% of what the truck gets paid, less FSC and tolls. I will not agree that I should write this off as a lesson learned, cause I dont agree that you should gip someone on what they earned. I wasnt active in seeking other work. I was offered a job. I let him know right off the bat, that if another job came along and it paid better, I would give my notice. And I gave a fair notice! I look at it this way. I know where to reach him, I know what his truck # is and what it looks like. I have all the time in the world to make things even, which in the end it will cost him if he wants to short me. I will give him another week to make things fair. I hope he is reading this and takes it into consideration.

 

[Slo-Ride]

Wait & See,,,, Good idea give him time,,not alot just fair amount.

Contract,,,, Don't know,,to me employee is an employee. any time I drove for someone I was just that an employee never thought there was a need for one..

Compensate him?? No way in my book,,I really doubt he ran truck up to just grab you,,Did he expect ya to met the truck at the loading dock.. Going home could be your cost...

Shelled out $..Why? it was his truck,,what did you use your money for?????

Laptop & GPS ,,,doubt it,,tools of the trade bro,,ya wanted those with ya anyways...

Xtra miles...ya said 20%,,,,any thing xtra ya do is because your properly a good worker which makes it his loss..(or ya didn't like your co-driver driving)

Lesson learned,,,Don't chalk nothing up to that...This guy owes you wages,,get it from him..if not for you do it for the next drive that works for him.

Make things even,,, Not sure I would put this in print,,but good for you
Again I hope all works out for ya Bro....


Now lets talk bout that farm,,,,Can some of us hunt it

 

[pjjjjj]

From what I've seen in my lifetime, people don't seem to respond all that favorably in response to threats.

It was kind of you to concede that he has the right to deduct costs incurred to travel the distance to meet you half way, and I'm assuming, to drive you back to your truck to drop you off, as well. It is not the carrier's responsibility to pick up their owner/operators or pay their expenses in getting there or going home, nor is it the owner's responsibility to pay for their drivers to do so. Many will take a bus.

You hadn't mentioned before, what your costs were when you say you spent money to make his truck become a team truck?

I'm not sure how it works at whichever carrier your owner is with, but there may have been other charges as well, to get you on board as a driver, ie drug test? some get charged for orientation for a driver? uniform(s)? He may want to recoup those expenses as well, since you were with him a very short time.

You can look at it that you enabled him to get a lot of money for having you in the truck... I'm sure he looks at it the opposite way, that he enabled you to get a lot of money for allowing you in his truck.

It seems to me you are considering only your side of the equation. Even if you had a written contract, how detailed would it have to be? Would any owner ever even think of the possibility their driver may want reimbursement for using their laptop or gps? Or would an owner even consider the driver will be adding up the miles each one drives and expecting compensation if he drives more?? You are presenting just the type of attitude which prevents many owners from wanting to hire drivers for their trucks. They'd probably rather lose their truck than have to deal with crap like this.

 

[MentalGiant]

I may have missed spoke on the Federal labor board after reading a bit I found they will not help a person that quite his job voluntarily,,,
So here is a copy and paste that I found on another site that may help guide him,,,allot of reading ahead of ya bro,,
G/Luck

Recordkeeping & Reporting
Question: I didn't get my last paycheck. What can I do?

Answer: Employers are not required by federal law to give former employees their final paycheck immediately. Some states, however, may require immediate payment. If the regular payday for the last pay period an employee worked has passed and the employee has not been paid, contact the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division or the state labor department. DOL also has mechanisms in place for the recovery of back wages.


United States Department of Labor: Frequently Asked Questions

Don't think the labor board would do him much good anyways. He was not a employee, he as a contractor doing business with a business. When you are a contractor, you are basically just a business doing business in your on personal name. You pay your own taxes, which is what a business does. You could call the federal labor board and ask them and they probably could explain better. But, I'm afraid you will have to go to court to get your money if he doesn't pay you.

But, have your facts straight if you do go to court. And I would go delete what you said about making things even. If he does read that thread and something happens to his truck, even if you didn't do it, it could cause you problems down the road.

 

[highway star]

How long were you with him? Sounds like it may have only been a couple of weeks.

 

[Desperado]

But with no contract wouldn't it be hard prove that he wasn't an employee and put the owner in a real jam

 

[Slo-Ride]

Pj,,I agree with ya threats are not good,,,but either is peeling someone for measly 2 weeks wages if all this is true.Especially when someone is living in a truck for bread money.I'm thinking best thing here was that it was only 2 weeks wages and he got away from this fleet.Ppl as whole don't like to see threats..I agree..

Mental Giant,,From what I found out Feds wont do anything for someone that quits a job on their own..He needs to contact the Dept of labor..if there is a case here don't think he will need to hire his own lawyers as the DOL will defend him???
Like Despesado,,I'm thinking he was an employee.
The NLRB and DOL are 2 different org,,as far as i could read the DOL would be the ones to contact

 

[Slo-Ride]

It is not the carrier's responsibility to pick up their owner/operators or pay their expenses in getting there or going home, nor is it the owner's responsibility to pay for their drivers to do so. Many will take a bus.

Thought he was working for an individual fleet owner and not under payroll of a carrier?? Thanks PJ now I gotta read back wards
Guess I also need to learn or understand what ppl on E.O. mean when they say carrier..To me its the stickers on the door not who owns the truck.

To me if I wanted a driver in my truck to work for me(and live in the truck making me money) I would foot the bill to get him in it..I think it would go along way to him or her taking care of my equipt..ya never know that simple lil act may have prevented this whole thread??

Now when driver quits,,I guess I would look at why and how he or she quits before I got em home..

I think the mentality some fleets owners have about being able to put any monkey in their equipt should change,,,would go along way to keeping and making good employees.(yeah I know kinda off topic but its still the internet)

 

[inkasnana]

I'm thinking he was an employee.

I don't think he could be considered an employee without filling out a W-4. I could be wrong though.

 

[Desperado]

be hard to prove he didn't think about it no contract between fleet owner and driver but driver is on record working for fleet owner by carrier if anything might cost him more to get out of it than what he owes driver

 

[nightcreacher]

verbal contract is binding,so my lawyer tells me.Anything you pay for a person to come on your fleet makes him an employee,contract or not,but,those expenses can be reimburst by the co driver,even if not paid.As far as taking his last two weeks pay,its a moral issue more than a business issue.I'm sure there had to be something mentioned about picking up and dropping off the driver when owner was going home.
Now if this driver quit after only two weeks work,this money issue can get touchy.Good luck

 

[gsmacker]

Sorry its been a few days since I have got to post but here is how things have went down. The owner that I drove from turned out to be a total a$$. He decided to deduct about $200 from my last to pay checks to cover his cost on everything. LMAO. The funny part is that I dont even care cause I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but his "deductions" were some of the cheesiest, lamest and down right pathetic excuses I have ever seen. He "deducted" money for driving 50 miles on the way to the express center. Mind that he had a paid relocate to the express center. Or how about deducting for flying J wi-fi service for the month. He bought the month's worth so he could use my laptop to surf the web. And I told him that I didnt want the service and wasnt paying for it. I guess he felt like a loser for spending $25 for a month of looking up porn and eharmony(I would expect dating services and porn out of my 18yr old nephew not my 45yr co-driver). As for ?'s before. Our agreement was simple. We had a designated truck stop where we met, and continued to the express center. He always drove the straight truck to the meet up location cause thats what he lives in. Is that cool with FDCC?? Also I got 20% of the load pay for driving 50% of miles. Which I drove about 75% of them, yeah I prefered driving over letting him drive. It's quite eerie to be in the sleeper trying to sleep and hearing the truck go over the rumble strips time and time again. Or watching this idiot drive in two traffic and have close encounters time and time again. For the record I have only 5yrs driving and about 3 in expedite so I dont consider myself a newbie, I was a newbie to FDCC. I am relieved to not be driving for this owner anymore. The new job on the farm is actually working on my father's oil & gas wells. (He has the wells and fish farm and a regular hobby farm that all work into one business.) If ya wanna know more about that pm me. Sorry no hunting allowed, I did ask. Anyway I miss driving but I do like being home, getting paid on time and having an agreement and having it honored. So if any newbie or anyone else wants to know who this loser is just pm me and I will tell you his name, carrier and truck #. TO everyone who gave me advice THANK YOU.