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Does Detention Pay Apply to Company Drivers?

Company drivers get detention too, but the money flows differently than for owner-operators. Here is who owes you, what your contract controls, and how to make sure it reaches your check.

Published

Most detention talk is aimed at owner-operators, so company drivers assume it does not apply to them. It does. The money just moves differently.

Who is owed the detention

When a broker pays detention, it goes to the carrier on the rate confirmation, not directly to the driver. If you are a company driver, that carrier is your employer. Whether the detention reaches your paycheck depends on your company's pay policy, not on the broker.

Read your pay agreement

This is the document that matters for company drivers. Many carriers pay detention to drivers, often after the first 2 hours, at a set rate per hour. Some keep it. Some split it. Find the detention line in your pay agreement so you know what you are owed and from whom. If it is not paid out, that is a conversation with your company, not the broker.

Owner-operators leased to a carrier

If you are leased on, the detention is owed under the carrier's rate confirmation, but your lease agreement controls how much reaches you. It still works the same way: the time has to be documented to be billed at all. See how to get paid for detention time.

The proof is the same either way

No matter how you are set up, a detention claim lives or dies on the timestamps. Arrival, departure, free time, and a signed BOL. If your company bills detention, clean records make it easy for them to collect and pass it on. If you handle your own claims, the same records do the job.

Where HaulClaim fits

HaulClaim works for owner-operators and leased drivers. It logs your time on site, builds the claim, and chases the broker, so the detention actually gets billed instead of forgotten. Free for a limited time — you keep 100% of what we recover.


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