Understanding Detention Pay Clauses

If you’ve ever sat at a dock for three hours with no pay and no apology, you’ve already felt the pain of a bad detention policy. The truth is, detention is one of the most common and overlooked ways carriers lose money—and often, it’s not because the pay isn’t there. It’s because it was buried in the paperwork and nobody fought for it.

Every rate con tells a story. And the detention clause tells you whether your time is respected—or just taken for granted.

This article breaks down how detention pay works, what you need to look for in a rate con, how to document it properly, and what to do when brokers try to avoid paying it.

What Detention Pay Really Is

Detention pay is compensation for when a driver is held at the shipper or receiver beyond the agreed-upon time window. It doesn’t matter whether you’re loaded or not. If you’re parked, not moving, and not under a new rate, that time needs to be paid.

Typical detention looks like this:

• Grace period: first 2 hours are “free”
  
• Paid time starts after hour 3
  
• Rate: usually $30 to $75 per hour
  
• Paid in half-hour or hourly increments
  

The problem? That grace period starts from appointment time, not arrival time. And if your paperwork isn’t tight, you don’t get paid.

Where It Hides in the Rate Con

Detention clauses aren’t always clearly labeled. Sometimes they’re in the “Notes” section, buried in legal language, or only shared through email instead of in the document itself.

Here’s what to look for:

• A clear start time for detention (usually “after 2 hours from scheduled appointment”)
  
• The rate per hour
  
• The requirements for proof (GPS timestamp, in/out times on BOL, detention request forms, etc.)
  
• A time limit to submit the claim (usually 24–48 hours)
  

Red flag language includes:

• “Must be approved in writing” with no clear process
  
• “No detention will be paid without written authorization from agent”
  
• “Detention only valid with shipper approval”
  

If you see terms like that, you need to confirm in writing exactly how to get paid before you move that load.

Real-World Example

You book a load picking up in Charlotte at 10:00 AM. Driver arrives at 9:30 AM. Shipper doesn’t touch the truck until 12:45 PM. You submit your paperwork showing arrival and departure times—but your rate con said detention starts “2 hours after appointment time” and only pays “with broker approval.” You didn’t call it in when it started. No pay.

That’s how detention gets lost—not because it wasn’t deserved, but because the broker made it easy to deny.

How to Protect Yourself

1. Document Everything

• Take a photo of your GPS showing arrival time
  
• Have shipper sign the in/out times on the BOL
  
• Use your ELD logs if your BOL is blank
  
• Save email or TMS messages showing scheduled appointment
  

2. Communicate Early

• As soon as you’re approaching the 2-hour mark, email or call the broker
  
  • “Driver arrived at 9:30, not loaded as of 11:30—please start detention clock.”
    
• Even if you don’t hear back, that email is your proof that you notified them.
  

3. Submit Fast

• Most brokers require detention claims within 24–48 hours
  
• Don’t wait until after delivery—submit it right after the delay with BOL and timestamp
  

What You Can Negotiate in Advance

If the detention policy is vague or one-sided, negotiate it before signing.

Ask:

• Does detention start 2 hours after arrival or appointment?
  
• What’s the hourly rate and is there a cap?
  
• What documentation is required?
  
• What’s the submission process and timeline?
  

You don’t need to be aggressive—just informed. A simple “Hey, can you confirm the detention policy in writing?” will usually prompt them to send the details.

Final Word

Detention is a cost. Your time, your fuel, your HOS clock—they all keep ticking even if the shipper doesn’t.

The carriers who get paid on detention aren’t lucky. They’re prepared.

They read the rate con. They save the emails. They get the BOL signed the right way. And they don’t let $90, $120, or $250 in wasted time walk out the back door just because they were too busy to follow up.

It’s not petty to ask for it.It’s business.

The post Understanding Detention Pay Clauses appeared first on FreightWaves.