Charging company drivers - insurance / damage / permit

. I’ve heard of stories of guys deducting money from a driver s paycheck If a driver is a subcontractor / corporation worker and only if he damaged equipment. From what I’ve seen heard or know , it’s legal to deduct money from a subcontractor driver if they damage your equipment. But if he’s a payroll employee then it’s illegal. I know nothing else about insurance fees or permit fees

 

Highlight Motor Freight came to mind as I read your post.

Based on posts and threads I've seen on here, it appears the kind of drivers that wind up at these companies are new comers to the industry who had cut corners in the beginning. They chose some cheap, shady truck driving school over a reputable one and now nobody decent will hire them so they end up settling for one of these “charge-back” companies.


Charging the driver for operating permits is a new one. Hadn’t heard of that one before.


In a way this kind of underhanded crap is just like Driver Inc. In the sense that it gives a carrier an improper advantage with their rates.

 

This was back in the 90's but when I drove for TransX through a driver service they did it to me. Had no idea until I got paid.

 

Yes, highlight deducts $50 biweekly for their insurance which they claim is for new drivers who are new to the industry and will cover any damage or accidents that may occur during their time at HL. They claim its optional but when you tell them you don't want it, they make you sign another contract stating that any damage found on the vehicle, you are 100% responsible up to $5000.

Obviously as a new driver back in 2019, i didn't fight it because i was happy to be hired but after 8 months i asked to have it taken off and they did. When i took them to the federal labour board, i couldn't get it back because I did sign the contract and the agent said it fell under "reasonable deductions" category but i still got back the other 10k in deductions they dinged off me for other reasons.

 

I applied with an o/o
O think the carrier was something like worldwide. Ontario company. He printed out about 30 pages of bs. The actual application eas a cut and paste for a
usa application. Some of the questions are ng in Canada so I just crossed them out. There were 3 pages that must have been written by a lawyer. You were responsible for the insurance deductible. In this case it was $5000. It was for at fault accidents but the o/o determined who was at fault. I ripped the whole thing up and walked out. So my advice is to run from any of these sleazy outfits.