On Duty Time and Off Duty Time

So are we all in agreement? Commuting to work isn't on-duty, but after you arrive to work and go on-duty and your dispatcher asks you to drive your personal vehicle to McDonald's to get him an egg McMuffin, it is?

 

Only if the dispatcher buys.











Which ain't ever gonna happen.

 

Nope. He isn't going to get the hint, so I no longer see the point in wasting my time. In fact, I'll just go ahead and save myself future issues by adding him to my ignore list.

 

That's what I've been taught by several instructors.

Now, a lawyer may argue differently, but will this argument stand against the regulation? Are there any pecedent cases where a judge has accepted, and ruled for such an ARGUMENT?

As far as I'm concerned, I'm off duty until I arrive at my employers yard, and get my tractor ready to leave, beginning with the pre-trip inspection. If I'm working shift, and I'm supposed to start at 6:00 am, that's when my duty starts, even if I arrive at the yard at 5:30 am. I won't start pre-trip until 6:00 am in that case.
Same thing when I go home. As soon as I'm done with my post-trip, and leave my tractor, I'm OFF duty. If I drive my car home for 3 hours, that's off duty, because it's my personal vehicle, and my personal time.

 

I thought this argument was settled? lostNfound and myself had a misunderstanding of what we were saying. Any driving that you do which is unrelated to your job is logged off duty. It doesn't matter if it's your personal car or the truck itself.