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Driver Settlement Process

What is the Driver Settlement Process?

The Driver Settlement Process is the systematic workflow for paying drivers based on completed trips. It transforms scattered trip data into organized pay statements by automatically tracking when manifests are completed, collecting all unpaid trips for each driver, reviewing the compensation amounts, and generating final pay stubs that document gross earnings. The process creates a clear audit trail from trip completion to payment, ensuring every load gets properly compensated and nothing is missed or paid twice.

The settlement workflow lives in two main boards: Driver Pay Items and Driver Pay Stubs. As your operation runs and manifests are completed, the system continuously creates pay items in the background. When you're ready to settle with drivers (typically weekly or bi-weekly), you filter the pay items board to see outstanding trips for specific drivers, review the amounts to catch any errors or adjustments, and then generate pay stubs that bundle everything together. The pay stub becomes the official record of what the driver earned, and it provides the documentation drivers need to understand their compensation while giving you the backup for payroll processing.

How the Driver Settlement Process works:

  1. Automatic pay item creation: When driver pay is recorded on a manifest (typically after the trip is completed), TMS.ai automatically creates a new pay item in the Driver Pay Items board. This happens continuously as trips are finished throughout your operation.
  2. Pay items accumulate in board: The Driver Pay Items board acts as a holding area for all unpaid trips across your fleet. Each pay item represents one manifest or trip that needs to be included in a driver's settlement.
  3. Establish settlement schedule: Determine your settlement frequency (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly). Most carriers settle weekly or bi-weekly to maintain driver satisfaction and cash flow predictability.
  4. Open Driver Pay Items board: When your settlement period arrives, navigate to the Driver Pay Items board to begin the settlement process. This board shows all outstanding pay items waiting to be settled.
  5. Filter by driver and status: Apply filters to view unpaid trips for a specific driver. Set filters for the driver name and "Manifest Status = Completed" to ensure you're only settling finished trips, not trips still in progress.
  6. Review trip compensation: Go through each pay item to verify the pay amount is correct. Check for any special compensation like detention pay, layover pay, accessorial charges, or bonuses that should be included.
  7. Verify rate accuracy: Confirm that the pay rate matches what was agreed with the driver. Check for percentage-based pay, per-mile rates, flat rates, or any other compensation structure your operation uses.
  8. Edit costs if needed: Make any necessary corrections to pay amounts before generating the final pay stub. This includes adjusting for rate changes, adding missed accessorials, or correcting calculation errors.
  9. Check for deductions: If your operation deducts costs for fuel advances, equipment damage, or other charges, ensure these are properly reflected in the pay items before settlement.
  10. Select trips for settlement: Once you've confirmed all amounts are correct, select all pay items you want to include in this settlement period for the driver. Use bulk selection to choose multiple trips at once.
  11. Generate pay stub: Create the pay stub, which groups all selected manifests and trips onto a single document. The system calculates the total gross pay automatically by summing all individual trip payments and accessorials.
  12. Pay items move to Pay Stub board: After pay stub creation, the items are automatically removed from the Driver Pay Items board and appear in the Driver Pay Stub board with a reference to the generated pay stub. This prevents accidental double-payment.
  13. Review generated pay stub: Open the Driver Pay Stub board and view the newly created pay stub. Check that all trips are included, amounts are correct, and the total matches your expectations.
  14. Distribute pay stub to driver: View the PDF pay stub document and email it directly to the driver through TMS.ai. The driver receives detailed documentation showing all trips included, pay per trip, accessorials, and how their gross pay was calculated.
  15. Process payment through payroll: Use the gross pay total from the pay stub to update your payroll processing system. Enter the amount into your payroll software, which handles net pay calculations after taxes, government deductions, and benefit withholdings.
  16. Maintain settlement records: Keep pay stubs in the Driver Pay Stub board for historical reference and audit purposes. They provide complete documentation of driver compensation over time for tax filing, dispute resolution, and compliance.

What it means for you:

Settlement stops being a manual reconstruction project where you dig through spreadsheets trying to remember which loads were paid and which weren't. The system tracks everything automatically from trip completion to payment, creating an organized workflow that ensures every driver gets paid correctly for every completed trip.

Drivers receive clear documentation that eliminates confusion about compensation. When questions arise, you have a complete audit trail showing exactly what trips were included, what each trip paid, and when the settlement was processed. Your payroll team gets clean, accurate totals they can trust, reducing the back-and-forth to reconcile numbers. The entire settlement process becomes faster, more accurate, and less prone to the disputes that come from manual tracking and poor documentation. Settlement processing time drops from 6-8 hours per week to under 1 hour, and driver disputes about pay decrease by 90% because everyone has the same documentation showing exactly what was earned.