According to a ruling made by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, California-based drivers may be entitled to paid breaks throughout their day just like other California employees. Though a court had previously ruled transportation companies exempt from the rule, this decision calls in to question whether or not truckers are entitled to a paid meal break of at least 30 minutes for each work period of more than 5 hours and ten minute breaks for every four hours worked.
According to an article published in SFGate, the law that had previously stripped truckers of their paid breaks was a nationwide law passed in 1994 that prohibited states from enforcing any statutes “related to a price, route or service of any motor carrier” that is transporting property.
The newest ruling found that the existing California laws that mandate breaks for employees “do not set prices, mandate or prohibit certain routes, or tell motor carriers what services they may or may not provide,” and that therefore motor carriers should not be exempt from giving their employees the same paid breaks as other employers in the state.
As a result of the ruling, a class-action suit brought by 349 drivers against Penske has been reinstated. The case will now be brought back to a lower court where it was first tried for further consideration unless Penske decides to appeal the ruling in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals or seek a review by the Supreme Court.
The court did not address whether or not the breaks would apply for California-based drivers who are driving in other states.
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Source: ttnews, truckinginfo, sfgate
Well fellow drivers,
Get ready for more unnecessary time/money consuming breaks that strip us of our freedoms in our industry. Time to shut these trucks down for a couple weeks and get our “privileges” back.
About time….What a shame that the Drivers never maned up and did this for themselves…..It took the mean old government …to write yet another Hated Regulation…..
When will drivers stop giving it away….and start getting paid for their work and time???
when you get paid for your breaks and lunch, you will have to log it as on duty time. I would rather save my time for driving.
Your company can limit your break time and your lunch time.
I would rather break when I am tired and return to work rested.
I do not want to hurry through my lunch, because I only have a limited time,to eat.If we keep this type of thinking up, we will become like a factory worker, mind numbed robots.
I would rather be “free” to make my own scheduled breaks and lunch, rather than a few pennies in my pocket.
Exactly! Why don’t drivers finally just start taking money away from their employers on their own! By golly I’m gonna go grab some straight out of the cash drawer next time I’m at the terminal!
If you want to work for free come and work for me..I’m sure I can find something for you to do 27/7…..
It’s just sad to see drivers that don’t get it…Everyone else is getting paid but you…..Just try to get a plumber or electrician to show up and tell him that he is going to just hand out until you are able to work him in…and that you aren’t going to pay him for his time either…
And as long as he’s just sitting around on his ass waiting he can break down some pallets for you and sweep out some trailers and that you don’t let his type use the bathroom or wait inside in the building…
Maybe you should pay me to get to drive my truck?
So let me get this straight employees should be paid while sitting on their butt eating their lunch not doing anything associated with the company. Does this fall under their 10 hour break for sleep too. Again people wanting to get paid for nothing. You aren’t working when you are on break or lunch therefore you shouldn’t be compensated for doing whatever you do on your own time.
No kidding. I could not have said it better. And this is not against my fellow truckers… the concept of a paid break is just ridicules. A “break” is just what it says… a break away from doing your job that you are employed to do. This should be across the board for all industries/sectors. I hope they shoot this measure down. Do it before other states follow suit.
While I do agree with the last two statements, perhaps they are just attempting to make this industry more like almost all public sector jobs where they get lots of paid “breaks” and countless other excessive benefits that are paid by the taxpayers. In this case, since it could very well lead to more price increases in the products being delivered that will eventually mean higher prices for the end user. Is anyone surprised that California is leading the charge on this issue?
I agree with one post,I think it’s time to reshuffle the deck and shut our wagons down for a while. Until we do the B.S. laws and regs are going to keep piling up. It’s like a child testing it’s parents ,just keep pushing until somebody says something.silence=spproval.
We do not need more government regulations controlling us!
Getting paid for our MANDATORY 10 HR BREAK should be paid . If we are away from home and under a load . We are baby sitting the equipment and property for free. We need more pay regulations IMO on top of our driver pay for mileage percentage or otherwise
Drivers paid by the mile or by percentage would be paid what – minimum wage for the breaks and meals. Do we dock the mile or percentage pay if they arrive early or the mileage is wrong and less than it was originally calculated at. The driver can then go sit and take another break if he gets finished early so do we dock his pay for that? Also interesting is if we combine this CA break with the federally mandated break? It will take a special program to keep up with a half hour break for every 5 hours,then another half hour break 3 hours later for the federally mandated break and on and on and on it goes.
We parked our second truck and let our second driver go. He would dip in the fuel advance and our emergency repair fund and then call when something happened and need money. So in the middle of the night I am trying to find a way to get him money to keep him going and having to pay anywhere from $30 to $50 because he needed $10.00.
If the government doesn’t get their nose out of our business, we will park our other truck and retire. It has gone beyond ridiculous. We have “been on strike” since December and so far I don’t think anybody has noticed except us. I think we need a lot more to park their trucks before they pay attention but I know that will never happen.
And whenever they talk about the increase in costs – NOT one person mentions the effect that the cost of transportation has to do with the increase in products to the consumer. Not the price we get paid for the loads but the price we pay trying to keep up with all the new expenses FMCSA is throwing at us.
I did retired from driving this year. Enough is Enough. Decided in May, sold truck in June. Now just have to find job working part-time at home and will be bringing in as much as when i was gone weeks at a time.
Minimum wage would be a good starting point, if a company wanted to pay more they always could to entice drivers. And when u say “a special program” to keep track, its already available. The qualcomm or MCP. And of course not why would u dock his pay? We all know what’s in these trailers these shippers can afford the bit of extra charge to cover the mandates suggested . And no, there’s no two separate b30 minute breaks as one covers both local and state and federal requirements no
These suggestions are only meant to keep carriers from abusing and side skirting labor laws. For the company driver that is. Guarantee that if 10 hr breaks were paid drivers would have no problem whatsoever getting there proper sleep. No more rushing hoping to get far as possible etc beat the clock. Contractors or IC’s etc can as usual set their own rates so that freedom is still there. By the way I am also a truck driver and an owner operator.
We all know the cost will be passed down. That is capitalism. McDonalds for example has a hard worker they want to promote. Along with his raise the ice cream shakes cost 2 cents more to cover his raise and maintain profit for the company. Sorry for the triple post moderators, I’m on a mobile device so its a bit difficult
This will just leave it wide open for California to tell drivers what they can and can’t do in their own trucks. It was almost passed that drivers couldn’t smoke in their trucks because it was an “office”. If they are forced to pay for breaks that makes it true. For OTR drivers it would no longer be a home away from home, but a business office. There are too many regulations put on drivers who go by the book now. All because some people care more about the money than doing the job the right way.
I guess some drivers can’t get enough of being told when they hafta take a break
Drivers: If you are federally regulated.by the hour, you should get paid BY THE HOUR!
Amen
Hmm interesting…while I don’t think the lunch break should be paid, the two paid 10 min breaks are pretty standard in the work enviroment.
however, I see you think it would not be right to be paid for your breaks….I can as well understand that.
HOWEVER….. let us not forget also a few other industry ” perks”….
How about fueling the truck….half hour to an hour…….unpaid
pre and post trip inspections, tire checks every 2 hours, breakdowns, 2 to 4 hour unpaid detention ….
see the company you work for negotiates with their customers on rates and unforeseeables.
Drivers are not involved in those negotiations. ..we are paid per mile and shorted 10 to 20 percent of that as well.
as you can see, Drivers are shorted in many ways, and no, your company is not looking out for you. They are looking out for their business.
So whether or not you agree with someone’s idea of getting paid a little better….remember that whether you are company, lease, or owner-op. …whoever you are with makes the majority of the profit while you do the work. Baring that you do not get all your own loads yourself of course.
It amazes me that so many are willing to work for next to nothing after everything is said and done.
Maybe you should not get paid for lunch but ,you should get paid for pre and post trips, the time you sit at a customer for 2 hrs for nothing, Where that whole concept came from just boggles my mind, Your in their truck at their stop away from home and your willing to give 2 free hrs back to your company,now all these politicians looking to get re-elected will come up with all these nutty ideas of how it should work, they have not a clue
I look at some of these outfits out here trying to hire drivers , when they say earnings up too ?
and potential earnings ,run like hell because you will get screwed
Driver shortage is another way to get the goverment to allow imported drivers to really take down the industry ,
There are still plenty of good drivers out there but dont want to re enter the field because of the pay, and another thing the run into is and I was one of them !
I have 30 years exp driving and the companies I call would rather put someone behind the wheel that has 3 months exp in the last 12 months than some who has not been in the truck for 2 years
with 30 years exp, they say its the insurance companies but I think its the Corp. themselves wanting to have control.
Deregulation was the absolute worse thing that ever happen to trucking
Stand up for yourself or it will only get worse