Suspending a driver pending investigation: paid or unpaid, how long, and what brokers require

You can take a driver off trips the moment an allegation, a crash, or a complaint needs checking. The harder choices are what happens to the driver’s pay, how long the review runs, and what the broker expects. An hourly driver is paid for hours worked, so an unpaid suspension is lawful under federal wage law, but paid leave or a paid desk job is the lower-risk choice until the facts are in. This page covers the pay question, the clocks, and the close-out. The discipline guide covers the progressive steps and the offenses that mean removal, and the incident investigation guide covers how to run the review itself.

Should the suspension be paid or unpaid?

For an hourly driver, you can choose any of three, and paid time away is the safest while the facts are unclear. The FLSA pays for hours worked, and the Labor Department says it does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations or holidays. A driver sent home is not working, so unpaid time off is not a federal wage violation. Any hour the driver does work that week must be paid, so do not ask a suspended driver to cover “just one run.”

• Paid leave. The driver stays home at regular pay. It costs wages, and it leaves nothing to repay, nothing to argue about, and no sign that the company decided before it looked.
• Paid reassignment. The driver works off the road at the same rate, for example on van cleaning, filing, or phones. Minnesota’s testing law names this option for tested employees. Pick a task with no rider contact.
• Unpaid suspension. The driver stays home without pay. It is the cheapest while the review runs and the most expensive if the review clears the driver.

State testing laws show what a wrong call costs. In Minnesota, an employer may temporarily suspend a tested employee, or transfer the employee at the same rate of pay, while the confirmatory result and any requested retest are pending, when the employer believes it is reasonably necessary to protect the health or safety of the employee, coworkers, or the public. A driver suspended without pay must be reinstated with back pay if the result is negative (181.953, subdivision 10). In Iowa, an employer may suspend an employee with or without pay while waiting for a test result, and must reinstate the employee with back pay, and interest at 18 percent a year compounded annually where it applies, if the result is not a confirmed positive (Iowa Code 730.5, subsection 10). Most investigations involve no test, but the pattern is a fair guide: if the driver is cleared, make the driver whole.

A salaried manager is different

Pay an exempt dispatch or operations manager in full during the review. The salary-basis rule allows deductions for unpaid disciplinary suspensions of one or more full days, imposed in good faith for infractions of workplace conduct rules, under a written policy that applies to all employees (29 CFR 541.602(b)(5)). The text covers discipline for an infraction. It does not cover time away while an allegation is checked. The Labor Department’s fact sheet on the salary basis repeats the same wording and does not mention suspensions pending an investigation. It also warns that improper deductions can cost an employer the exemption when they become an actual practice.

Do broker rules decide the suspension for you?

For that broker’s trips, sometimes. MTM’s standard provider agreement has the provider pull a driver from service at once when there is reasonable suspicion of impairment, then pay for the screen (version 01.01.2023, posted by Pennsylvania DHS). CareOregon’s brokerages may immediately suspend a driver from trips during an investigation into improper conduct or harassment, and the driver is disqualified if the allegations are proven. The provider is told and may appeal in writing. The discipline guide lists the offenses that mean removal, and the arrest guide covers pending charges.

A broker’s suspension covers that broker’s trips only. It says nothing about the driver’s pay or your other work, so you decide whether the driver works private-pay or facility rides, does non-driving work, or stays home, and whether that time is paid. CareOregon’s manual also bars a provider from retaliating, under any circumstances, against a rider or anyone else who reports a grievance, which shapes what you tell the driver below.

How long can a suspension last?

Plan on days, and put the number in your policy. Neither the federal wage rules nor the Minnesota and Iowa testing laws above set a maximum. The clocks that exist come from testing laws and contracts. A Minnesota testing laboratory must report within three working days after a confirmatory test (181.953, subdivision 3). CareOregon gives a provider three business days to answer an ordinary grievance, or one business day when the matter is serious, and the broker complaints guide covers those deadlines.

Everything else is yours to set. As an example, a policy could say the owner reviews every suspension on the fifth business day, and that a review still open on that day is either closed or the driver returns to paid status. A suspension without a review date turns into a punishment before anyone has found a reason for one.

What to tell the driver

Tell the driver in writing, on the day, in plain words. A short notice covers the following.

1. That it is not a finding. The driver is off trips while the company looks into a specific report.
2. Whether the time is paid. Say it in one sentence.
3. What the report is about. Give the general subject, such as a rider complaint on a date, and no more than the driver needs to respond. Leave out the rider’s name and details unless a law or contract requires them.
4. What the driver may not do. Drive for the company, use the company’s driver and broker apps, or contact the rider or anyone who reported the problem. CareOregon’s no-retaliation rule is the reason for the last one.
5. When you will next be in touch. Give the review date, and call on it even if nothing has changed.
6. Who to reach. One name and one number.

For the interview, a union-represented driver can ask for a representative if the driver reasonably believes the meeting could lead to discipline, and employers do not have to announce the right. Under current Board law, drivers with no union do not hold it. If the review started with the driver’s own injury report, handle it with extra care. Federal recordkeeping rules forbid retaliating in any way against a worker who reports an injury or illness from the job (29 CFR 1904.35(b)(1)(iv)), and the whistleblower protections guide covers who else is protected.

When the allegation involves abuse of a rider, the report to the state is a separate duty from the suspension. The rider abuse guide and the mandated reporter entry cover who calls whom.

What if the suspended driver files for unemployment?

Answer the state agency’s notice with the facts and the dates, and do not assume the claim fails. The Labor Department’s 2023 comparison of state unemployment laws says some states provide for disqualification after a disciplinary suspension, and its table lists Arkansas at the shorter of the suspension or eight weeks. A suspension that is still an investigation is not yet discipline, and the agency decides under its own state’s law. The unemployment claims guide explains how to respond.

How to close the review

End every review with a written decision, even when the answer is that nothing happened. Four outcomes cover most cases.

• Cleared. Return the driver on the next shift, pay back wages if the time was unpaid, tell the broker if the broker was told, and say plainly to the driver that the matter is closed.
• Substantiated. Apply the step in your discipline policy, use the firing guide if employment ends, and send each broker whatever its contract requires.
• Partly substantiated. Use coaching or retraining, and write down what the driver must do and by when.
• Not provable. Decide under your policy, write down why, and watch the trip records for a repeat.

The closing note holds the date the review started and ended, the records reviewed, the finding, the action, and who decided. Keep it with the rest of the file for the retention period in the record retention guide.

Records and reassignments in HealthRide

A review starts from the record. Every trip in HealthRide keeps its timestamps, signatures, and GPS-recorded miles, so you can check what happened without relying on memory. While a driver is off the road, the dispatch board moves that driver’s trips to other drivers in one motion, so riders still make their appointments. Every status update a driver makes in the driver app shows up in the portal as it happens, so the timeline of the trip under review is already written.