Hourly Jobs And Overtime

Not 100% sure about the laws there, but it should be illegal.

 

Legal or not he will never keep a crew!!

 

Your friend could try and turn them into the dept of labor, but the trucking industry is not subject to them. It is one of the reasons that we are not paid very much when sitting at docks. If it were to ever change, truckers would adhere to truthful logbooks and much safer driving, since there would be no incentive to run illegal.

 

Plenty of trucking companies don't pay overtime over 40.
Old Dominion does not in my area. They pay overtime but you
have to work way over 40 hours to make it. (can't remember how
many exactly). I am told Estes is now the same way but they
used to not pay over time at all. I get payed overtime at over
45. There are plenty of variations, I get the feeling that
the only reason they pay overtime for hourly truck drivers
is to keep them, Or the Union, But Union usually pay overtime over
8 in a day.

 

You could probably look up the labor laws for your state and find out if it's legal or not, probably is and they are just taking advantage of the law to save themselves some bucks. The only state that I know of that has to pay truckers overtime is Washington state.

 

There are several occupations that are not protected by the FLSA.
If your occupation is exempt from these laws, it is not mandated by any law that you receive overtime pay.

For instance, anyone operating under the FMCSA HOS regulations is exempt from overtime provisions.
This goes for anyone that is part of the maintenance of trucks/trailers & any other safety aspect of trucking.

In trucking, there's no rule stating an hourly wage must be paid.
If you are getting paid by the hour, that's an agreement between you and the company.

The only guarantees anyone has is to collect the minimum wage after all is said and done.

If you drove enough in your day to equal the minumum wage for that day, you got what the rules say you were supposed to.

As to the company changing pay methods in mid-stream, that's something you can approach the labor board on.

There's something about the company unilaterally changing the terms of your employment without providing an equal compensation that I believe is actionable in court.

There's "right to work" states & "at will" states.
"Right to work" regards being in a union shop without being in the union.
"At will" means you or the employer can arbitrarily chose to end the relationship for any reason.

However, even in an "at will" state, you still have some protections.
They cannot fire you for engaging in a protected activity such as "whistleblowing" or any of the usual anti-discrimination terms.
I don't think you can be fired because you disagreed with the company's sudden change in pay policies.

It's best to check with an employment lawyer & the labor board.

 

GOOD answer BOBC ! You summed it all up rather well sir. Along time ago, a bunch of GOV"T bigwhigs determined that TRUCKDRIVERS were classified as "unskilled labor" & not deserving of overtime! NOW you know what the GOV'T thinks of US

 

Up with Teamsters I say!

 

Drivers who operate INTERSTATE (cross state lines) are EXEMPT from the Fair Wage and Labor Act, which means they are not entitled to get overtime pay. Also ANYONE who works in the INTERSTATE Trucking Industry, including office workers, loaders, unloaders, mechanics etc, are exempt as well.