Black Out On RATE CONFIRMATIONS

Man THEY are STEALING from you!!

Legal or not, If you like the job and they have a history of cheating your paycheck, I'd demand to see identifiable rate confirmations. Maybe they need to black out some things I don't know, but you need to KNOW its your bol showing date, amount as well as pickup/delivery cities. Otherwise they could pay you 450 instead of 800 by sending you a blacked out copy of wrong rate confirmation.

Hell, they could have a stack of rate confirmations in 50.00 increments just to screw drivers out of pay

If they don't agree to this, then seems like you have a case for labor dispute and if they are flying dirty, it will be bad news for those cheaters.

 

Dude......if you are not making $ 900 dollars a week ( ave for US company drivers)
then you are getting s c r e w e d.

 

Something smells really fishy here but let me open by sayings: I AM NOT A LAWYER AND I STRONGLY ADVISE TO SEEK A PROFESSIONAL.

Now some points of interest:

1 - If they are filing your income via 1099 you are a contractor not an employee. This will be contained in any paperwork you signed when you hired on along with a lease agreement to use their truck free of charge or whatever they are cutting out of your pay.

2 - If they are using you as a contractor and paying you percentage then you need to check this out. https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/section/376.12

Pay special attention to paragraph G.

(g) Copies of freight bill or other form of freight documentation. When a lessor's revenue is based on a percentage of the gross revenue for a shipment, the lease must specify that the authorized carrier will give the lessor, before or at the time of settlement, a copy of the rated freight bill or a computer-generated document containing the same information, or, in the case of contract carriers, any other form of documentation actually used for a shipment containing the same information that would appear on a rated freight bill. When a computer-generated document is provided, the lease will permit lessor to view, during normal business hours, a copy of any actual document underlying the computer-generated document. Regardless of the method of compensation, the lease must permit lessor to examine copies of the carrier's tariff or, in the case of contract carriers, other documents from which rates and charges are computed, provided that where rates and charges are computed from a contract of a contract carrier, only those portions of the contract containing the same information that would appear on a rated freight bill need be disclosed. The authorized carrier may delete the names of shippers and consignees shown on the freight bill or other form of documentation.

God honest truth I don't know all the rules to this mess but right out of the gate I would start asking some serious questions. Particularly in the realm of liability. Pay aside somebody is cutting some serious corners be it taxes or whatever the case may be. If you are a contractor operating their equipment without written proof acceptance of liability etc etc you're wide open if something goes bad.

Edit:

3. They let me hang for 2 weeks with no load, put me on road and make me wait a week for my pay. (so 3 weeks with no paycheck) which means money outta my pocket for food and stuff with no paycheck for 3 weeks.. like what the heck man..
One more reason they call you a "contractor". They can skirt labor laws not provide health insurance or workers' comp if you get injured on the job. Keep ALL personal receipts as they are write offs. You will need them if you haven't been setting money aside.

 

All good advice here....

The facts being told, and this can be discussed with an accountant and verified, anyone driving a truck for another owner of the said vehicle, while under dispatch, taking orders, directions, etc. is not considered a sub-contractor and the owners are only avoiding having to deal with payroll deductions, taxes, etc. It's being done every day, but it's not legal.

My boy got into the same deal a year ago with a company in Pa. He went on a 1099 and even had an accountant tell him this, but being 25 yrs. old can't tell him much, lol. He got CLOBBERED at tax time. Luckily he had just enough sense to listen to me and my wife to save about 23% of his earnings in an account for that which he did, but it cost him that plus some more.

 

After reading your post from early november, I wouldn't even worry about the statements. I would find another outfit that plays everything above the table. You aren't getting paid. You aren't getting employee benefits. You're about to get r##### by the IRS. You can do ALOT better than this.

Find every receipt of every item you ever paid for out on the road including what the company reimbursed. Because those reimbursements are going to show up as income to the IRS and you are going to have prove that the + and - balance to 0 on a 1040-SE/C. With any luck you can write the PL to a point where the IRS owes you money.

 

The law requiring them to show copies of the freight bills only applies if you are an O/O or I/C. As a company driver, you have no legal right to that information. Secondly, your percentage is based off of the freight portion of the bill. If you aren't paying for the fuel, you have ZERO claim to whatever is figured as a fuel surcharge. If it is a brokered load with a one-time rate quote, it may be a lump-sum dollar amount that the company then breaks down as "freight" vs. "fsc" before paying you. As a company driver, if you aren't happy with the arrangement and what is going on, you are free to go elsewhere.

 

You are an employee, not a contractor, so a 1099 is illegal. But people do this every day.

They are doing this to get out of paying the employer's share of taxes (and to justify not providing health insurance or other benefits). As a result, you will not only pay income taxes, but also 15.2% (I think) in self-employment taxes. You will be screwed at tax time. You need to self-withhold at least 25% of your check in order to pay that huge tax bill you will have. You will not get a little tax refund to play with like most of us; you will owe, big time.

There is an IRS form you can file which basically rats the employer out for having had you work as a contractor when you're really not (SS-8.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misclassification_of_employees_as_independent_contractors