Hours of service questions and answers

I have a friend that drives for Harrt Transportation out of Maine. Every time I talk to me he tells me how ALL the loads he hauls out of Poland Springs Water are overweight. Sometimes a hundred pounds and sometimes a thousand. I always tell him he is putting himself at risk. JUST SAY NO! But he claims they'll fire him if he does. Well, if all the drivers refused and got fired, they would have no drivers and would be forced to lighten the loads. It simple enough, you just can't get everyone to stand up and do what's right.
I refused a load that was 6000 pounds overweight but only going 200 miles, I told them I don't run illegal, no matter how short the run!
It's the same with the logs. The company preaches 100% legal books, but when I run legal, they complain about how long my runs take. You can't have it both ways. Sooner or later it will be nearly impossible to falsify the logs, so you might as well cover your butt and start running legal now.

 

First, I've pulled those loads out of Poland Springs, and they know better than to load us heavy. We were routinely taking back overweight loads to them, and our sales department finally told them to quit jacking around on the loads if they wanted us to pull them. That's all it took for this shipper to straighten up.

If Harrt were to fire him for refusing to run an illegal load (due to weight violations,) the carrier would be violating section 405 of the federal Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982.

"Effective in 1983, Section 405 (49 U.S.C. § 31105) was enacted to encourage employee reporting of noncompliance with safety regulations governing commercial motor vehicles. Congress recognized that employees in the transportation industry are often best able to detect safety violations and yet, because they may be threatened with discharge for cooperating with enforcement agencies, they need express protection against retaliation for reporting these violations. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_Transportation_Assistance_Act

All he has to do is send a QualComm message to his dispatcher after obtaining a CAT scale ticket showing the overweight condition, stating that he's returning to the shipper to correct the load. If dispatch sends a message back that threatens him in any way, he's got them. Its vital he gets this over the QualComm to prove their intent. The message content will remain on the mainframe in San Diego, and will be archived to keep it independently of the carrier and what's on his screen in the truck. If he gets a screen shot with a cell phone camera, that's all he really needs.

If his dispatcher tries to tell him this verbally over a cell phone, he should politely refuse to discuss it except over the QualComm link. Also he should retain copies of his trip reports to document any sort of retailiation that may occur in the pattern of his dispatches, length of run, etc.

He's got 180 days to file a complaint with the US Labor Department after the date any retaliation goes down against him. If this kind of illegal behavior is occuring, he should consult a labor rights attorney - as we all know, if he's running illegally, the law will come down on him if he's caught, not the carrier.

Just to let you know, this law works. My carrier was successfully sued by an ex-driver who was directed to drive in unsafe conditions by a dispatcher who totally screwed-up violating company policy. She was terminated over this, contacted an attorney and sued the carrier. She won, and won big financially.

 

I think my brain melted as I read the last several pages of this thread.

LOL but I think I understand how the whole HOS thing works. How might some of the proposed changes affect HOS ? Have they gone into affect yet ?

 

There have been no official changes to the HOS rules as of yet. To speculate about what "might" be changed would be a waste of time, energy, and space.

 

Really, even if we linked you to the FMCSA's official release on the proposed changes, there's so much "maybe" in their release, it'd just be confusing.

Best bet is to learn the current rules, because whatever changes are made (if any) will be adjustments and additions to the current rules, and less of an overhaul than from 10/8 to 11/10 within 14.

 

I have gotten a " gig" from Ga and from Mo
They Both say that unless it is a 8 hour break
It counts against your 14. Everything in this thread
Left me thinking I could take a 2 hour break
And extend 14 as long as total driving does not
Exceed 11. HELP
Thanks

 

They are correct.

A two-hour break does not extend your 14. Ever.

 

I had taken a 11 hour break. While
Doing my 14 I had taken a 2 hour break
I was planning a 11 hour break at end
Of the 14. The said the 2 counted against
The 14 always. Nothing less than 8 would
Work

 

Yeah, I think it's that there's no way to extend the 14 but you can reset to a new 14 by going off duty for 8 hours. then you have to take the 2 hour break on that next 14 to make the 8 hours valid. I'm wondering if there's a specific time window in which you have to take that 2 hour break. Can you run your day normally and shut down two hours early, like take the break at the end of the day and be shut down 12 hours? I suspect not.

 

No. The 8 hour break "pauses" the 14. So when you're done with 8, you get whatever you had left when you started it.

There's an exception, though. If you take a 2 hour break sometime during the preceding day, then take 8 in the sleeper, your 14 and 11 are bumped to the end of the two hour break. So on Monday, you drove 5 hours, took a 2 hour break, then drove 4 hours. You'd have 2 hours of your 11 left, and 3 hours of your 14 left. Then take your 8. Because of that 2 hour break, you'd now have 7 hours on your 11 and 10 hours on your 14 before needing another 2 hour break.

You can do this in perpetuity, actually (8 and 2), but eventually that 2 hour break or the 8 hour break is going to come at a really crappy, impossible time.