Covenant Transport announced a new pay package for the company’s hazardous materials over-the-road drivers that includes per-week minimum pay.

Hazmat drivers for the Tennessee-based carrier with the requisite experience will be guaranteed $1,000 per week. Hazmat drivers typically earn $1,200 to $1,300 per week, according to Covenant, but the minimum guarantee gives drivers a more consistent income even during slow weeks. Drivers with less than a year of experience will be guaranteed $850 per week.

The pay package went into effect on June 1 and will affect the more than 1,000 hazmat OTR drivers the company employs.

“We’ve been working for the past year to make sure everything is in place to guarantee our hazmat OTR team drivers a minimum of $1,000 per week each and every week,” said Rob Hatchett, vice president of recruiting for Covenant. “We are so confident in the freight network we have that has allowed us to offer such a generous guarantee to such a large number of drivers.”

The pay package also includes guaranteed home time, company paid hazmat endorsement and an improvement in earned home time to two days earned for every 12 worked. Covenant's guaranteed home-time policy also pays drivers $100 for each day they are late for scheduled home time.

Starting pay for new professional trainers has also been increased to 72 cents per mile. The company will also hire drivers without hazmat certification and pay them to get certified, then use an analytics-based matching program to pair them up with a compatible driving partner.

Covenant Transport is currently hiring in 48 states.

“We are up almost 200 professional drivers over this time last year and it’s largely because our pay has gone up so much,” said Hatchett. “We understand that there is a driver shortage happening in the industry, but Covenant has been growing and that makes it very exciting around here.”

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