Trucking Wage Theft: 12 Ways Carriers Short Your Pay

I've signed thousands of settlement statements from the carrier side. I know exactly how easy it is to make a driver's pay quietly smaller without a single obviously illegal act: choose the shorter mileage database, hold the accessorials, add a "technology fee," round the fuel surcharge down. Some of it is legal if disclosed. Some of it is flatly illegal. Almost none of it is visible unless you know where to look.

This is the companion to how trucking companies scam CDL drivers, which covers the traps you meet before you sign. This one is for after you've signed: the twelve places your money leaks every week, the rule for each, and how to catch it with documents you already have. When you find something, here is exactly how to report a trucking company that won't pay.

1. Short miles: HHG versus practical

In 2026, carrier Roehl Transport's own mileage explainer puts the gap plainly: practical-route pay "typically means 5-8% more paid miles" than household goods (HHG) miles, with a sample run of 542 HHG miles, 565 practical miles and 571 address-to-address miles. HHG is the shortest legal route between zip codes; it ignores the interstate you actually drove. On 2,500 miles a week at 55 cents, a 6 percent gap is $82 a week, more than $4,000 a year.

How it shows on the settlement: paid miles consistently below your odometer and ELD miles, by roughly the same percentage every load.

The rule: paying HHG miles is legal if that is what you were told. Promising "practical miles" or "all miles" in the offer and paying HHG on the settlement is a breach of your pay agreement, and in Texas, Illinois, New York and most states an unpaid-wages claim.

How to catch it: take five loads, pull your ELD miles (you have a legal right to them under 49 CFR 395.36), and divide paid miles by driven miles. Under 0.95 with no explanation? Ask payroll in writing which mileage database and routing they use, and compare the answer to your offer letter.

2. Deadhead paid at nothing

Empty miles are where per-mile pay quietly becomes hourly pay you'd never accept. A carrier that pays 100 percent of loaded miles and zero on deadhead can have you driving 300 unpaid miles to the next pickup, and it costs them nothing to route you that way. For leased owner-operators, 49 CFR 376.12(e) requires the lease to state who is responsible for "empty mileage" along with fuel, tolls, permits and detention; a lease that's silent is already out of compliance.

How it shows: a loaded/empty split on the settlement where empty miles carry no rate or a rate far below the loaded rate you were quoted.

How to catch it: total your empty miles for a month and compute what percentage of all miles they were. Above 15 to 20 percent on OTR freight, the dispatch pattern itself is the problem, not just the rate. Ask for the deadhead policy in writing; if there isn't one, the answer is the policy.

3. Detention that never reaches you

In its January 2018 audit, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Inspector General estimated that detention costs for-hire drivers "$1.1 billion to $1.3 billion" a year in lost income, between $1,281 and $1,534 per driver, and that a 15-minute increase in average dwell time raises the expected crash rate by 6.2 percent. Nothing in federal law requires a carrier to pay you detention. But if the carrier bills the shipper for it and keeps it, you are subsidizing their accessorial revenue with your unpaid hours.

How it shows: no detention line at all on loads where you sat four hours, or detention paid at a fixed amount while the rate confirmation shows a higher hourly accessorial billed to the customer.

The rule: for company drivers, the policy you were given at hire governs; get it in writing. For owner-operators paid on percentage, 49 CFR 376.12(g) entitles you to a copy of the rated freight bill, which shows every accessorial the carrier charged.

How to catch it: keep arrival and departure times from your ELD and bills of lading, then request the rated freight bill or ask payroll what the customer was billed. The full playbook, including fair 2026 rates, is in detention pay in trucking.

4. Unpaid orientation and training

Under 29 CFR 785.27, time in training is unpaid only if all four conditions hold: it's outside regular hours, "in fact voluntary," not directly related to your job, and you do no productive work. Carrier orientation fails on the first test and every other one. Section 785.28 removes any doubt: attendance "is not voluntary, of course, if it is required by the employer." Three days of mandatory orientation plus road tests plus pre-trip drills are hours worked, and hours worked must clear minimum wage.

How it shows: a first check covering only your first dispatched load, or a flat "orientation stipend" of $50 to $100 a day that comes out under the federal or state minimum wage once you count the hours.

How to catch it: multiply the hours on the orientation schedule they handed you by the minimum wage in that state. Compare with what you were paid for those days. The difference is a Wage and Hour Division claim with the evidence already printed on carrier letterhead.

5. Deductions you never authorized

Federal rules require wages to be paid "free and clear" (29 CFR 531.35), and Department of Labor Fact Sheet #16 says deductions for items that mainly benefit the employer, including damage to the employer's property and vehicle repair costs, cannot cut a week's pay below the minimum wage. State law is often stricter. Texas allows deductions only with your specific written authorization for a lawful purpose. Illinois requires "express written consent... given freely at the time the deduction is made." New York limits deductions to enumerated categories for the employee's benefit. California bars deductions for accidental loss or breakage no matter what you signed.

This isn't hypothetical. In June 2023 a federal court ordered Travelon Transportation of Minnesota to pay $254,628 in back wages and damages to 21 drivers after the Department of Labor found deductions "for van leasing, insurance, maintenance, dispatch and use of a tablet."

How it shows: ELD or "technology" fees charged to a company driver, insurance rates that drift up without notice, a new line item that appeared without a signature.

How to catch it: list every recurring deduction on your last four settlements. For each, find the document you signed authorizing it. No document, no deduction. Send the list to payroll in writing and ask for the authorization; a carrier that can't produce it usually refunds it rather than argue.

6. Damage chargebacks without paper

A $2,400 "trailer damage" line with no photos, no repair invoice and no claim number is one of the most common complaints in driver reviews on this site. It is also one of the most useful things a review can record: the amount, the date, and whether the carrier ever produced the paper. For leased owner-operators the rule is explicit. Under 49 CFR 376.12(h), the lease must list every chargeback item "together with a recitation as to how the amount of each item is to be computed," and you must be given "copies of those documents which are necessary to determine the validity of the charge." Section 376.12(j)(3) adds that cargo or property damage may be deducted only under conditions the lease spells out, with "a written explanation and itemization" before the deduction.

For company drivers, Fact Sheet #16 controls: damage deductions can't take you below minimum wage, and in the states above they need your written consent.

How to catch it: answer every chargeback with one written question: "Please send the repair invoice, photos and claim file supporting this deduction, as required by my lease." Courts have made carriers produce exactly that. In the Landstar litigation, the Eleventh Circuit held owner-operators were entitled to documents showing how each component of a charge was computed.

7. Insurance markups

When you buy insurance through the carrier, 49 CFR 376.12(j)(2) requires it to give you a copy of each policy plus a certificate showing the insurer, policy number, coverage, cost and deductible. Two decades of litigation turned on carriers charging owner-operators more than the insurance actually cost. The Ninth Circuit, in the 2011 Swift decision, described the chargeback rule as "intended to curb excessive mark-ups by motor carriers and level the playing field with regard to information about how charge-backs are computed."

How it shows: a weekly insurance deduction with no certificate ever provided, or a certificate whose premium doesn't match the deductions over a year.

How to catch it: multiply the weekly deduction by 52 and compare it with the annual premium on the certificate. Ask for the policy copy in writing; the regulation says you're owed it.

8. Escrow that never comes back

Escrow is the largest single sum most owner-operators ever leave with a carrier, and 49 CFR 376.12(k) governs every dollar of it. The lease must state the amount and "the specific items to which the escrow fund can be applied." You have "the right to demand to have an accounting for transactions involving the escrow fund at any time." The carrier must pay interest at least quarterly, at no less than the 91-day Treasury bill yield. And on termination it may deduct only obligations "previously specified in the lease," must give you a final accounting, and "in no event shall the escrow fund be returned later than 45 days from the date of termination."

Courts treat these funds seriously. In the Arctic Express case, the Sixth Circuit called the escrow regulations "a statutory trust for the benefit of owner-operators," and the class settled for $5.5 million.

How to catch it: if you've never seen an escrow statement, request one in writing today; the regulation entitles you to it. On the way out, put your termination date in writing and count 45 days. Everything else about escrow and exits is in escrow, chargebacks and your Truth-in-Leasing rights.

9. The fuel surcharge skim

Owner-operators paid on percentage assume the fuel surcharge the shipper paid is theirs. Often only part of it is. No federal rule requires a carrier to pass the surcharge through; a 2008 bill to mandate 100 percent pass-through never became law. What the regulation does require is that your compensation method be "clearly stated on the face of the lease" (49 CFR 376.12(d)) and that you get the rated freight bill when paid by percentage (376.12(g)). The freight bill shows the surcharge the customer paid. Your settlement shows what you got.

In 2022, Illinois carrier C&K Trucking settled a class action for $3.35 million over owner-operator pay computed, in the drivers' words, "in an opaque, confusing, arbitrary, and contradictory fashion," including fuel surcharge withholdings.

How to catch it: on three loads, compare the FSC line on the rated freight bill with the FSC line on your settlement. If they differ and your lease doesn't say by how much, you have a Truth-in-Leasing complaint.

10. Per diem plans that shrink your W-2

Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 took effect, company drivers can no longer deduct per diem themselves, so carriers offer "per diem pay": part of your per-mile rate is reclassified as a non-taxable travel reimbursement. The IRS allows this under an accountable plan (Publication 463), with a transportation-industry meal rate of $80 a day in 2025. Your take-home goes up a little. Three other things go down.

First, many carriers charge an administrative fee, one to three cents a mile, for running the plan. Second, your reported wages fall, and Social Security benefits are computed from your 35 highest-earning years of reported wages. Third, lenders may not count per diem as income when you apply for a mortgage or a truck loan. A plan that's mandatory, or that comes with a fee larger than your tax savings, is a pay cut with a tax-form disguise.

How to catch it: compare gross wages on your W-2 (Box 1) against your total settlement pay for the year. The gap is your per diem. Then ask two questions in writing: what is the fee, and can I opt out?

11. Bonus clawbacks and training debt taken from the final check

A sign-on bonus that must be repaid if you leave in twelve months is legal in most states, if you agreed to it in writing. Taking it out of your final paycheck is a different question. California's Labor Commissioner, following the Barnhill decision, says a lump-sum balloon deduction from a final check "is not allowed." Texas, Illinois, New York and Indiana require written authorization for any deduction. Federally, nothing can take the final week below minimum wage.

Training-repayment agreements are worse. In a July 2023 report, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found one trucking company charged drivers more than $6,000 for CDL school while paying the schools $1,400 to $2,500 per driver. Legislatures noticed. California's AB 692 bans most stay-or-pay contract terms signed on or after January 1, 2026, with a minimum $5,000 per worker for violations. New York's Trapped at Work Act, signed December 19, 2025, takes effect December 19, 2026.

How to catch it: before you resign, pull the bonus or training agreement and read the repayment clause and the deduction clause separately. Whether they can hold your last check for it is covered state by state in Can a trucking company hold your last paycheck?

12. A 1099 for an employee's job

The most expensive line on your settlement may be the tax form it comes with. A misclassified driver pays the employer's 7.65 percent share of Social Security and Medicare on top of their own, gets no unemployment insurance, no workers' compensation, and no minimum-wage floor under the deductions in items 5 and 6. Department of Labor Fact Sheet #13 lists the tests: who controls the work, who has the opportunity for profit or loss, who invested in the equipment, how permanent the relationship is, and whether the work is integral to the business. What you're called "is not relevant."

The settlements say how often carriers get this wrong. Swift paid $100 million in 2019 to roughly 20,000 lease drivers. XPO paid $29.5 million in 2021 to 784 port drivers. On July 29, 2026, New Jersey settled with STG Logistics for at least $2.775 million after alleging deductions for fuel, tolls, parking, insurance and repairs that left some drivers with negative pay.

How to catch it: answer three questions. Does the carrier assign your loads and set your rates? Can you haul for anyone else without permission? Whose name is on the truck title? Employee answers to all three with a 1099 in your hand is a Wage and Hour complaint plus IRS Form SS-8.

The 20-minute settlement audit

You don't need a lawyer or a spreadsheet degree. You need four settlements, your ELD logs and the document that states your pay. Then:

1. Miles. Paid miles divided by ELD miles for five loads. Below 0.95: ask which mileage basis they use and compare it to your offer.
2. Empty miles. Empty miles as a share of all miles for the month, and the rate paid on them.
3. Accessorials. Every stop over two hours: is there a detention line? Every extra stop, tarp or hand-unload: is there a line?
4. Deductions. List each one. Match each to a signed authorization. Circle the orphans.
5. Chargebacks. For each damage or claim deduction, do you have the invoice, photos and claim file? Request what's missing, in writing.
6. Owner-operators only. Rated freight bill FSC versus settlement FSC; escrow statement received in the last quarter; interest posted.
7. Per diem. W-2 Box 1 versus total pay; the plan fee; whether you can opt out.
8. The floor. Take your worst week. Net pay after unauthorized deductions, divided by all hours worked including waiting. Below your state's minimum wage is a federal claim regardless of anything you signed.

Write the total at the bottom. That number is your claim, and the list above is your evidence.

What to do when you find it

Company drivers: the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (1-866-487-9243) and your state labor agency, within two years federally and often sooner under state law. Owner-operators: a Truth-in-Leasing complaint with FMCSA, and for real money a federal claim under 49 U.S.C. 14704, which makes the carrier pay your attorney fees. Fired or punished for complaining: that's illegal under the FLSA, and if it followed a safety refusal, OSHA within 180 days. Every agency, deadline and a demand-letter template are in how to report a trucking company that won't pay you.

Frequently asked questions

Is it legal to pay truck drivers HHG miles instead of actual miles?

Yes, if that's the pay basis you were told in writing. HHG miles are the shortest legal route between zip codes and typically run 5 to 8 percent below practical miles, according to carrier mileage explainers published in 2026. The problem is a recruiter promising practical miles while the settlement pays HHG. That's a breach of your pay agreement and, in states like Texas, a Payday Law claim.

Can a trucking company deduct damage or repairs from a driver's pay?

For company drivers, federal rules say damage deductions can't cut a week's pay below the minimum wage, and Texas, Illinois, New York and Indiana require written authorization first; California bars deductions for accidental loss entirely. For leased owner-operators, 49 CFR 376.12 requires every chargeback to be listed in the lease with its computation method, and the carrier must supply the documents to verify it.

Do truck drivers get overtime pay?

Most interstate drivers don't, because Section 13(b)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act exempts them from overtime. The exemption doesn't touch minimum wage, and it doesn't apply in any week you drive a vehicle of 10,000 pounds or less. The Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act, reintroduced in March 2025 as H.R. 1962 and S. 893, would repeal the exemption but hasn't advanced.

What counts as wage theft in trucking?

Any practice that pays you less than the law or your written agreement requires: unpaid orientation, unauthorized deductions or deductions below minimum wage, detention billed to the shipper but never passed through, escrow held past 45 days, chargebacks without documentation, and calling an employee an independent contractor. In fiscal year 2025 the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $259 million in back wages across all industries.

How do I prove a carrier shorted my pay?

Compare settlements against records you have a right to: your own ELD logs under 49 CFR 395.36, the written pay agreement, rate confirmations and bills of lading with in and out times. Pick five loads, compute what each should have paid, and total the difference. That itemized number is what the Wage and Hour Division, a state agency or a small claims judge will act on.

Sources

All sources retrieved September 8, 2026.

• Roehl Transport, "Practical Route Mileage Pay Explained," April 6, 2026: roehl.jobs
• U.S. DOT Office of Inspector General, "Estimates Show Commercial Driver Detention Increases Crash Risks and Costs" (ST2018019), January 31, 2018: oig.dot.gov; per-driver figures via FreightWaves, October 20, 2021
• 29 CFR 785.27 and 785.28 (training time); 29 CFR 531.35 (free and clear); 49 CFR 395.36 (driver access to ELD records): law.cornell.edu
• U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #16 (deductions), Fact Sheet #19 (motor carrier exemption), Fact Sheet #13 (employment relationship): dol.gov
• U.S. Department of Labor news release, Alpha & Omega USA Inc. dba Travelon Transportation, June 27, 2023: dol.gov; WHD enforcement data, FY2025: dol.gov/agencies/whd/data
• Texas Labor Code 61.018 and TWC deduction guidance; 820 ILCS 115/9; New York Labor Law 193; Indiana Code 22-2-6-2; California DLSE deductions FAQ (Barnhill v. Sanders): dir.ca.gov
• 49 CFR 376.12 (Truth-in-Leasing: paragraphs (d), (e), (g), (h), (j), (k)): law.cornell.edu
• OOIDA v. Swift Transportation, 632 F.3d 1111 (9th Cir. 2011); OOIDA v. Landstar System (11th Cir. 2008, 2010); In re Arctic Express (6th Cir. 2011): caselaw.findlaw.com
• Top Class Actions, C&K Trucking $3.35 million settlement (N.D. Ill., 2022): topclassactions.com
• FleetOwner, "Mandatory pass-through, part two" (TRUCC Act, H.R. 5977), April 25, 2008: fleetowner.com
• IRS Publication 463 (accountable plans; 2025 transportation meal rate): irs.gov; Land Line, "Per diem for truckers explained," August 14, 2024: landline.media
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, "Issue Spotlight: Consumer Risks Posed by Employer-Driven Debt," July 20, 2023: consumerfinance.gov
• Morgan Lewis, "California Bans Stay-or-Pay Employment Clauses" (AB 692), November 2025: morganlewis.com; WilmerHale on New York's Trapped at Work Act, March 23, 2026
• IRS Tax Topic 751 (employer and employee shares of Social Security and Medicare); About Form SS-8; About Form 8919: irs.gov
• FreightWaves, Swift/Van Dusen $100 million settlement, March 15, 2019; Land Line, XPO port driver settlements, October 2021; New Jersey Department of Labor, STG Logistics settlement, July 29, 2026: nj.gov
• Rep. Mark Takano, Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act (H.R. 1962 / S. 893), March 6, 2025: takano.house.gov

This guide is general information from someone who runs trucks, not legal advice. Rules and rates change; the sources above were checked on September 8, 2026. For your situation, talk to a labor attorney or your state labor agency.