Owners who withhold your money when notice is given

[royalty1956]

It has happened to me too many times and I am tired of it. My last owner is withholding my final 3 weeks of settlements even though I gave 2 weeks notice and worked my way home. This happened with owners from Fedex CC and Panther. Does anybody know what I can do? Fedex or Panther does not seem to care. Any help please.

 

[davekc]

As a fleet owner I sympathise with you. These types of folks give the good ones a bad name. I would say take them to small claims court if you have a case. Read your contract carefully to ensure there were no breeches on your behalf.
As long as we have been doing this, we have never had the instance of a driver not getting paid on their departure. Some are members right here on EO.
It is a shame this kind of stuff goes on, but keep in mind, there are those driver stories when the owner bears the loss of a worthless driver as well.

 

[Zoli]

It has happened to me too many times and I am tired of it. My last owner is withholding my final 3 weeks of settlements even though I gave 2 weeks notice and worked my way home. This happened with owners from Fedex CC and Panther. Does anybody know what I can do? Fedex or Panther does not seem to care. Any help please.

Here we go again... Contract, contract, contract. If you have a contract you can take them to the small claim court. If you don't have a contract is 100% your fault and ...that's it.
It's so simple.

 

[royalty1956]

Yes most owners do not have contracts. Maybe as drivers we should make them sign contracts. And if I know most owners would never agree to this.

 

[xiggi]

Yes most owners do not have contracts. Maybe as drivers we should make them sign contracts. And if I know most owners would never agree to this.

My experience is most owners do have contracts and they also sign them. I am very sorry for your experience but why would you ever drive for someone without one and not once but twice? You know as they say fool me once....

 

[davekc]

Many fleet owners operate with a contract. I would highly advise not signing on with one that doesn't have it.
As far as a drivers contract, it isn't going to happen because they don't carry the investment.
Like anything else, it can be negotiated. Either party reserves the right to say no.

 

[royalty1956]

Yes like I was told by one owner it is not a contract but an agreement not binding. And in these agreements there is nothing about wether the owner will pay you or not. Only what you have to do towards the owner.

 

[Zoli]

Yes most owners do not have contracts. Maybe as drivers we should make them sign contracts. And if I know most owners would never agree to this.

Any decent owner has a contract. I never put a driver on my vans without contract. I email it or fax it to the driver ,prior to come to pick up the van and I tell him to read it before he sign it . In this way we will not have any problems in the future.

 

[davekc]

Yes like I was told by one owner it is not a contract but an agreement not binding. And in these agreements there is nothing about wether the owner will pay you or not. Only what you have to do towards the owner.

That is not a factual statement from that owner. A contract signed by both parties IS a binding contract. One can call it a "binding agreement" but they are essentially the same thing. Only a few variables will change from state to state.
Speaking for my own contracts, it is spelled out very specifically how a driver is paid. Absolutely no guess work.
Any items that a driver would be charged for are spelled out very specifically. Mostly related to not returning a truck or damage on the truck. The latter should be confirmed by a reliable third party and repairs followed in the same manner. Not using Uncle Jed or something foolish.

 

[Turtle]

It has happened to me too many times and I am tired of it. My last owner is withholding my final 3 weeks of settlements even though I gave 2 weeks notice and worked my way home. This happened with owners from Fedex CC and Panther. Does anybody know what I can do? Fedex or Panther does not seem to care. Any help please.

Buy your own truck and be your own owner. Solves a lot of problems. That, or get it in writing that none of your pay can be withheld beyond a mutually agreed upon time frame that's also in writing.