Brothers Company Won’t Pay Promised Bonus..

Now I get it, every company is struggling and soon, you’ll be doing better than most just to have a job. I talked my down and out brother to going into trucking a year ago. He completed school and went to a new company that trained him and offered him a big bonus after he finished a year.

That year is up in two weeks. Well the company just called him in and said due to the financial crisis and things changing they wouldn’t be able to pay him his bonus. Now the company is not on the verge of bankruptcy or anything like that. They just said things have changed etc. My brother has driven hard and good for this company. 142,000 miles, no tickets, no fender benders nothing.

Now here’s the thing that I told him to tell the office people denying him his $6000 bonus. When he first came out of school he had dozens of companies offering him anywhere from $.45-$.47 a mile to start. This particular company started him at $.40 per mile for the first year. With the promise of a big bonus. I told him to tell them that and that essentially because of the lower pay than what he could’ve got he already earned that bonus. It’s already his. Because he worked for an entire year at a lower rate. It all comes out the same in the end. I also told him when it comes to bonuses there is no free money. Trucking companies just finagle the numbers throughout the year to make it come out the same as it would have. So I said basically, in a sense, they’re stealing it from you. You already earned that money.

Any thoughts on how he might approach this? Or is it just tough luck? He does like his job overall, but he’s kinda mad. He worked hard to do everything perfect, only taking half the amount of days off he was eligible for, never turning down a load and running hard. They also haven’t said anything about his raise he’s supposed to get to .44 cents.

He’s worried if he presses the issue, due to the situation out there, they’ll just fire him.

Is this a sign-on bonus? If so, he should have some documentation of the agreement. This whole scenario sounds really suspicious. What I'm saying is that something is amiss in the details.

He should have been receiving payments at certain points of progress. This sounds like some small independent outfit. Is that so? He may just be out of luck if it's not a well established national carrier.

I find it very difficult to reconcile the following quotes...

My brother has driven hard and good for this company. 142,000 miles, no tickets, no fender benders nothing.

He’s worried if he presses the issue, due to the situation out there, they’ll just fire him.

There's no way a reputable trucking company will fire a guy like that for standing up and expecting them to keep their word from a written contract.

You say the year is up in two weeks. Why is your brother all bent out of shape at this point? He hasn't even completed his part of the bargain and he's worried about the other party. Something sounds very suspicious here to me.

Can you provide more details?

If this brother of yours is as good as you make him sound, and the company is in that bad of shape, your brother will have no problem landing another job at a stable trucking operation. He would probably be better off.

This statement caught me off guard...

Now the company is not on the verge of bankruptcy or anything like that.

How would you know that? They must be very close to closing the doors if they can't keep a contract with their productive employees. I don't understand how you would know things really aren't that bad.

This argument you suggest makes no sense to me...

Now here’s the thing that I told him to tell the office people denying him his $6000 bonus. When he first came out of school he had dozens of companies offering him anywhere from $.45-$.47 a mile to start. This particular company started him at $.40 per mile for the first year.

At .47/mile your brother would have made $9,940 more dollars turning 142,000 miles. Why did he choose the lower paying job to begin with? See, that tells me there's something else going on here. There's something missing from the story.

Help us out!

I've not seen too many rookie drivers turn 142,000 dispatched miles during their first year. Your brother is a Beast! - he shouldn't have any problems getting a better company to take him on.

William advised his brother:

Trucking companies just finagle the numbers throughout the year to make it come out the same as it would have. So I said basically, in a sense, they’re stealing it from you. You already earned that money.

So let me get this straight...they provided him 142,000 miles as a rookie, at 40cpm...earning him $56,800 over a 12 month period, and you conclude in a sense; they are stealing from him? That makes, "no sense". They sure as hell didn't finagle that number... How can you compare that result to the other two companies offering a higher cpm without knowing the miles he would have turned with them? Good grief Man, that's a really good rookie number. Besides most every bonus I've ever experienced is discretionary, all the more-so now.

He needs to approach this professionally, logically, calmly and not presume they are out to get him or cheating him out of money. My suggestion is to ask if they will be able to pay his bonus once the so-called crises is over. Ask if it's on-hold. Overall this is not the time to be holding any company's proverbial feet to the fire...he has a good job with this "no-name" company, I'd focus on doing everything in his power to continue elevating his performance and once the dust has settled on this, at the appropriate time revisit the bonus and the raise.

They approached him to tell him they couldn’t fulfill the bonus. Not the other way around. He did receive other sign on bonus. $2200 paid out over the first six months in increments. The $6000 was a lump sum bonus to be paid at 1 year. I don’t know why he chose this company over others. They are likely looking at laying off drivers soon, as are many companies.

I’m surprised they didn’t just fire him actually. Everyone knows in trucking if they want to fire you, there’s a way.

Is this a sign-on bonus? If so, he should have some documentation of the agreement. This whole scenario sounds really suspicious. What I'm saying is that something is amiss in the details.

He should have been receiving payments at certain points of progress. This sounds like some small independent outfit. Is that so? He may just be out of luck if it's not a well established national carrier.

I find it very difficult to reconcile the following quotes...

My brother has driven hard and good for this company. 142,000 miles, no tickets, no fender benders nothing.

He’s worried if he presses the issue, due to the situation out there, they’ll just fire him.

There's no way a reputable trucking company will fire a guy like that for standing up and expecting them to keep their word from a written contract.

You say the year is up in two weeks. Why is your brother all bent out of shape at this point? He hasn't even completed his part of the bargain and he's worried about the other party. Something sounds very suspicious here to me.

Can you provide more details?

If this brother of yours is as good as you make him sound, and the company is in that bad of shape, your brother will have no problem landing another job at a stable trucking operation. He would probably be better off.

This statement caught me off guard...

Now the company is not on the verge of bankruptcy or anything like that.

How would you know that? They must be very close to closing the doors if they can't keep a contract with their productive employees. I don't understand how you would know things really aren't that bad.

This argument you suggest makes no sense to me...

Now here’s the thing that I told him to tell the office people denying him his $6000 bonus. When he first came out of school he had dozens of companies offering him anywhere from $.45-$.47 a mile to start. This particular company started him at $.40 per mile for the first year.

At .47/mile your brother would have made $9,940 more dollars turning 142,000 miles. Why did he choose the lower paying job to begin with? See, that tells me there's something else going on here. There's something missing from the story.

Help us out!

I've not seen too many rookie drivers turn 142,000 dispatched miles during their first year. Your brother is a Beast! - he shouldn't have any problems getting a better company to take him on.

Everyone knows in trucking if they want to fire you, there’s a way.

Really?

That is exactly the kind of warped and myopic thinking we advise against. Swift hasn't fired me in 7 years...and "we all know" how bad they are. Right?

My advice to your brother...suggest he become a member of this forum and fend for himself;... firsthand.

No company will "fire" a top performer. Period.

William, everything G-Town said was spot on. You do your "down and out brother" a great disservice by convincing him his employer is stealing money from him. Good grief, he's sure to lose that job if he takes that angle in his plea for getting that bonus. They've provided him some really great miles and a really nice rookie payday for his first year.

He needs to inquire if things improve would they pay him the bonus. If he's not confident he will ever get it, then just move on but ditch the drama. He's doing a great job, he just needs a solid company with solid financials behind him. Most of the major carriers are still hiring experienced drivers with good records.

During regular, normal times which is 99.9% of tracking history I would agree with you. But this is unprecedented. Nobody’s job is secure anywhere! 35% unemployment coming. Trucking companies are getting hundreds of applicants right now as we speak for any open position. And it’s only gonna get worse. They own is drivers for the near term future. The days of picking thousands of jobs are done for now. We are still in the very beginning phase of this mess. Wait until the realization that 50% of restaurants and 60% of bars will never reopened. And that’s just one industry.

Everyone knows in trucking if they want to fire you, there’s a way.

Really?

That is exactly the kind of warped and myopic thinking we advise against. Swift hasn't fired me in 7 years...and "we all know" how bad they are. Right?

My advice to your brother...suggest he become a member of this forum and fend for himself;... firsthand.

No company will "fire" a top performer. Period.

William, I just got a BIG pay increase in the midst of this so-called crisis. How would you explain that?

One more thing I want to add here. Really it's for the education of those reading this exchange. It's providing a really great teaching platform on a critical understanding necessary to success in trucking.

I'm employed by a solid company. I continue to receive my monthly bonuses in addition to an awesome compensation package. Now that we're in this "crisis," they've upped their game, and are paying their productive drivers an additional weekly bonus. There is always considerable demand for drivers who get a lot accomplished without much fuss. In good times or bad, the driver will always produce his own level of demand. Several companies are offering additional compensation during these difficulties. They do that because they want to keep their valuable players.

I only have two questions:

Is your brother an adult male?

If so, why are you on here worried about his bonus?