When Regulations are in Question you break the federal laws just like you are ordered to do, or you will not make any money and you will be terminated with bad stuff on your DAC. Claiming the FMCSA will help the newbees is a pile of cow dung. The department of labor handles all complaints on FMCSR and STAA Acts and in 2007 denied 98% of all claims by drivers. Drivers protections and the FMCSR are to appease the public and not in anyway real enforcement. If they were enforced on the trucking industry 5000 drivers would not end up in meat wagons every year. If you dance to the industrys tune, they will kill you.

Obviously you've never contacted the FMCSA for any help. I've had no problem getting clarification on some of the regulations. And after all that's what was posted. Clarification and not protection.

If you have to break the law to drive then maybe you're stuck in a job because you can't go anywhere else. I'm really sure the company is going to send a bad report on you for NOT breaking the law. If you blindly follow a cheap outfit then maybe you should take a look at yourself and find a job where you don't have to drive. Because your advice here is the real cow dung.

hear hear! As a newbie, I can speak from experience here. There was a logging question raised a few months ago, right here on the board. Opinion was divided pretty evenly. I called FMCSA locally. Got a bemused look over the phone, and they referred me to the head office. I called and left VM detailing the question as best I could. It was either the next day or the day after, but certainly not a horribly long time, and I got a call back with the answer.

(for the record, the position I'd taken on the question turned out to be... in error. Fortunately for my self esteem, LogsRus took the same position.)

Sure, that's only one instance, but it certainly bodes well if I ever have other questions.

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Keep the big doors at the back!

I believe every driver should have the FMCSR Pocketbook. When you're in doubt it's not all that hard to read and figure out the direction you should take. Then when you have a conflict you can call. You can find the same material on the FMCSA's web site but I found that when I'm in the sleeper the pocketbook was good to go over. It's come in handy for me during two DOT inspections when the inspector was off base.

Like I said before I haven't had any problems finding the correct way to follow a reg. There's more than one source for the information but I always start at the originator. But as everyone knows not all the people in power have the right information and I was lucky that I never had to fight a dispute. But if I did I would take it to court and fight it there and not filing some complaint to some government agency.

I wonder why the gentleman above in bold print has such a negative attitude. Perhaps his driving record is such that he's stuck working for companies that expect things like he suggests. Or is it that he fails to completely understand his rights and how to correct a problem, except for verbal complaints. Perhaps he fails to understand that it is illegal for a dispatcher to order a driver to violate the rules. Incidentally, he is correct about one thing; if he was fired for refusing to violate the rules he is correct in assuming it is the U.S. Dept of Labor that handles that. They can get him his job back plus back wages, plus 18% interest on his money. The only problem here is that he hasn't been fired for refusing therefore he has no out in that regard. But Labor doesn't handle complaints until he is fired.

He also fails to understand that if he files a complaint with my former employer against a carrier that requires a driver to violate, then by federal law, the USDOT/FMCSA is required to investigate within 45-days. I have investigated several companies based on individual complaints, as well a issued big time federal civil penalties (fines) to many of these carriers for dispatchers doing as suggested above. Then if the driver is fired for turning in the carrier to the FMCSA he has another complaint with the U.S. Dept. of Labor. He already has the proof because the FMCSA fined the carrier for allowing dispatcher to issue illegal orders. When he returns to work, and the carrier doesn't give him the miles he was getting before he was terminated, then he reports this to Dept. of Labor as well. Labor gets the difference between what he made then & what he should be making (based on the miles before he was terminated) after his return plus the 18% interest again.

I also believe that perhaps with a different attitude things could possibly change however with all this negativity perhaps he should be seeking a career change.

Just a few questions here . Can an employer really "require " an employee to violate HOS ? The employee always has the right to refuse and face the consequences . That being the case , if the employee does violate HOS for a certain time then files a complaint isn't he subject to prosecution for the violations ? Finally , if an employee returns to work and runs legally how can the law say he cannot get less pay when his previous pay was based on excessive , illegal hours ?

A federal law makes it illegal for an employer to order an employee to violate a law or rule. When I was an official I would never go against the employee/driver when they were turning in a bad carrier. As well, I cannot remember another federal agent that did this either. We took into consideration a drivers' lack of understanding Re. how to protect their rights, as well as their understanding of the rules/laws which in some cases is very little.

In the obverse, it a driver falsely accused a carrier/employer and was terminated there is no recourse. This is why I have suggested, and it is a good reason for a driver to know & understand the rules. All you need to do is learn one rule per day. Don't attempt to understand the whole 9-yards at once.

Re. Excessive hours: as a rule if a driver was returned to work on an order from the U.S. Dept. of labor the driver will set almost all the time. The carrier is attempting to get said driver to quit. Labor will get back wages & interest based upon what the driver would have made if running legally.

I've drove for 2 different companies and both of them supplied me with an FMCSR pocketbook. Both companies told me I am required by law to keep it in my truck (which I do). I was always reading it when I was sitting untill I found that "Down Time" puzzle book. Funny thing though, I haven't anything in the pocketbook or FMCSR's web page saying anything about it.

OOPS, forgot the "read" in that last statement. Sorry.

At the bottom of your messages you type you should be able to edit.
Just incase you didn't know that. I haven't done it in a while so if I am wrong yell at me

Yeap I just edited mine. You look for the message and click edit, then click in the area you want to change and just type and then click save.

It's respectable to type a reason for editing in the little box below where it says "Reason for Editing".

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"Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then."