Layovers made clear.....at last.

The following is an extract from a letter received in drivers wages...

A layover is defined as: a period of driver idle time caused by H&R due to lack of a load or other work.

Detention is defined as: a period of driver idle time caused by the customer,i.e waiting for loading or unloading. There are no plans to pay drivers for detention time, other than for Carghill.

Now, get a load of this.
A new system has been introduced which will virtually fully automate layover eligibility and will require no human input other than the final authorization for payment to be made. So does this new system have a cool acronym for a name.....no...its....

.........................."Removed by request".........................

So basically if you are sat in Calgary waiting for a load, once the 12hrs period which will qualify you for a layover payment is nearly up, the system will alert despatch that they need to do something with you. You will be offered a job of some kind, lets for arguments sake say that they want you to check all the trailers in the yard that are empty and you will be paid hourly for it. If you say no then you wont be paid a layover as you have refused work, if you do the trailer check you have sat all day for $16. Clever system eh.

Not being paid while under "Detention" is a pain, customers see you as mobile storage and will gladly leave you sitting all day long.
"Demurrage" (an hourly rate charged to the customer by the haulier for periods of excess waiting time) has been charged in Europe for god knows how long and i dont believe for one second that companies over this side of the pond dont charge it.

To summarize, you have more chance of .............Removed by request..........than you do of qualifying for a layover.