Cowan Systems LLC Cowan Intermodal Cowan steals sign on bonuses from owner operators without contractual authority to do so. Baltimore , Maryland

When I leased my truck to Cowan Systems through a subsidiary office of Gwen's Trucking LLC in Jacksonville, FL, I was promised a $1000 dollar sign on bonus.  This was then paid out to me over the next month in $250 increments.  

Five and a half months later our whole fleet in Jacksonville pulled our lease due to several negative reasons, and a better offer from a different carrier.  When the guys (including myself) got our final settlements, $1000 dollars was missing.  After contacting Cowan (who our contract was with, and therefore was responsible) we were told that it was at the agent's (Gwen's Trucking in Charleston, SC) request that our sign on bonus was held from our (6 drivers) checks.  In our lease agreement, this bonus was not mentioned, and they had no contractual authority to take this money.      

Unfortunately, our best recourse is to stop our operation and file a suit and appear in Maryland to try to reclaim our money in court.  This will obviously cause us to lose more money if we try to pursue this.  There are probably other options, but at the time of this writing I am not very sure which ones are practical, if any.

In today's trucking industry the single truck owner operator has many challenges.  It is very hard to scratch out a living even in the best of circumstances.  When a broker/agent/carrier decides to steal from you, it is devastating.  I hope that noone else falls victim to these people's scam.