OTA wants supply chain to help crack down on Driver Inc.
TORONTO, Ont. – The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) is calling on members to help educate other supply chain partners on the ramifications of Driver Inc.
Driver Inc. is a payment model that classifies company drivers as independent contractors, allowing them to claim benefits they’re not entitled to, and for the carrier to avoid certain source deductions.
The OTA has been pushing to have this model stamped out, and has developed a tip sheet for shippers.
“This OTA document is intended to assist the supply chain in engaging an informed conversation about the impact of the illegal practice known as Driver Inc.,” said OTA president Stephen Laskowski. “Every member in the supply chain needs to understand how this practice is non-compliant from both a tax and labor perspective.”
The tip sheet can be accessed here.
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This makes me laugh out loud.
The tip sheet provided has all the right question but I am afraid that the Beneficial Freight Owners (BFO) wouldn’t even ask one of them. In today’s economic situation they are only looking for the lowest cost provider – just a number on a spreadsheet sorted Z-A. There is no skin in the game for a BFO to even care about how a vendor pays their employees. The extra questions at the bottom are even more hilarious. Do you think any carrier or broker would provide a customer their T4 summaries, EHT returns?
What is the OTA even thinking about giving this out? The onus is not on the supply chain, the onus is on the government to enforce the current laws. A lack of enforcement only hurts the honest people.