Will Wage and Hour Rumbles... Affect You?

CA usually the leader in cases like this for workers, don't know if they will win or not. I could see the future with more ideas of pay for truckers, but I think it would be confusing to payroll to keep up with. I think they should pay at least minimum wage for the time that has to be put in dragging company trailers around to repair shops to be worked on. All of this seems to be freebies in most places, including the mileage.

 

Truck drivers have been exempt from labor laws since the beginning. California is known for over stepping their legal authority. They should not be able to control labor rates for interstate carriers, especially those NOT headquartered in California.

There is a misconception that carriers are not paying drivers and the carrier is being compensated. Most carriers pay drivers for detention or sitting as long as the shipper pays them. I thought the Washington lawsuit was won by the drivers. Apparently, it is the company that won. I would not expect carriers to pay drivers to load or unload unless they are compensated by shippers. Profit margins are already tight. If carriers are forced to pay drivers to sit, you can expect these companies to lower mileage pay to offset the additional costs.

Carriers are not the bad guys and drivers are not victims. That is the way they are portrayed. Drivers know how they will be compensated when they accept a job offer from a carrier. With lawsuits such as these, the drivers decide after accepting and working for several years, that they need to change the contract. Shipper do waste drivers time. If things are to change, it is the shippers who must pay for their time. When drivers are sitting, it is not just the driver who is not making money. It costs the carrier money for their truck to sit. Rather than going after the carriers, they should be going to the source, the shippers.

 

Rebuttal: While I'll agree margins are tight in trucks there is ample cash to compensate the driver more / better.

2012 published numbers have each mega power unit grossing 220k on the low end. With an operating ratio of 90% ( std) he will still bank 22k per power unit. I agree that's below the std 35% model however there is plenty of room left.

My former lessor BANKED 1.3M in collected ( not passed through ) fuel surcharges in 2012......off of 100 trucks. Another lease I was on passed thru .90 cpg off the pump price at PFJ.....0.90? ( It fluxed a few either way ) Think the mega isn't picking that up too? And more ?

And I thought the FLSA did say you must be compensated ( min wage) for all hours worked ( logged )......

JMO

 

This is a copy of the exemption.

Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
(Revised November 2009) (PDF)
Fact Sheet #19: The Motor Carrier Exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Section 13(b)(1) of the FLSA provides an overtime exemption for employees who are within the authority of the Secretary of Transportation to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to Section 204 of the Motor Carrier Act of 1935, except those employees covered by the small vehicle exception described below.
Thus, the 13(b)(1) overtime exemption applies to employees who are:

1. Employed by a motor carrier or motor private carrier, as defined in 49 U.S.C. Section 13102 (see Employer below);
2. Drivers, driver’s helpers, loaders, or mechanics whose duties affect the safety of operation of motor vehicles in transportation on public highways in interstate or foreign commerce (see Employee Duties below); and
3. Not covered by the small vehicle exception (see Small Vehicle Exception below).

1. Employer

• Motor Carriers are persons providing motor vehicle transportation for compensation;

• Motor Private Carriers are persons other than motor carriers transporting property by motor vehicle if the person is the owner, lessee, or bailee of the property being transported, and the property is being transported for sale, lease, rent, or bailment, or to further a commercial enterprise.

2. Employee Duties

• The employee’s duties must include the performance, either regularly or from time to time, of safety-affecting activities on a motor vehicle used in transportation on public highways in interstate or foreign commerce. Employees must perform such duties as a driver, driver’s helper, loader, or mechanic. Employees performing such duties meet the duties requirement of the exemption regardless of the proportion of “safety affecting activities” performed, except where the continuing duties have no substantial direct effect on “safety of operation,” or where such safety affecting activities are so trivial, casual, and insignificant as to be de minimis (so long as there is no change in the duties).

• Transportation involved in the employee’s duties must be in interstate commerce (across State or international lines) or connect with an intrastate terminal (rail, air, water, or land) to continue an interstate journey of goods that have not come to rest at a final destination.

• Safety affecting employees who have not made an actual interstate trip may still meet the duties requirement of the exemption if:

a) The employer is shown to have an involvement in interstate commerce; and
b) The employee could, in the regular course of employment, reasonably have been expected to make an interstate journey or could have worked on the motor vehicle in such a way as to be safety-affecting.

• The Secretary of Transportation will assert jurisdiction over employees for a four-month period beginning with the date they could have been called upon to, or actually did, engage in the carrier's interstate activities. Thus, such employees would satisfy the duties requirement of the Section 13(b)(1) exemption for the same four-month period, notwithstanding references to the contrary in 29 C.F.R. § 782.2.

3. Small Vehicle Exception
Notwithstanding the Section 13(b)(1) exemption, the overtime provisions of Section 7 of the FLSA shall apply to an employee of a motor carrier or motor private carrier in any work week that:
1. The employee’s work, in whole or in part, is that of a driver, driver's helper, loader or mechanic affecting the safety of operation of motor vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or less in transportation on public highways in interstate or foreign commerce, except vehicles:
(a) Designed or used to transport more than 8 passengers, including the driver, for compensation; or
(b) Designed or used to transport more than 15 passengers, including the driver, and not used to transport passengers for compensation; or
(c) Used in transporting hazardous material, requiring placarding under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Transportation;
and
2. The employee performs duties on motor vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or less.
The Section 13(b)(1) exemption does not apply to an employee in such work weeks even though the employee's duties may also affect the safety of operation of motor vehicles weighing greater than 10,000 pounds, or other vehicles listed in subsections (a), (b) and (c) above, in the same work week.
Typical Problems
The Section 13(b)(1) overtime exemption does not apply to employees not engaged in “safety affecting activities”, such as dispatchers, office personnel, those who unload vehicles, or those who load but are not responsible for the proper loading of the vehicle. Only drivers, drivers’ helpers, loaders who are responsible for proper loading, and mechanics working directly on motor vehicles that are to be used in transportation of passengers or property in interstate commerce can be exempt from the overtime provisions of the FLSA under Section 13(b)(1).
The Section 13(b)(1) overtime exemption does not apply to employees of non-carriers such as commercial garages, firms engaged in the business of maintaining and repairing motor vehicles owned and operated by carriers, or firms engaged in the leasing and renting of motor vehicles to carriers.
Where to Obtain Additional Information
For additional information, visit our Wage and Hour Division Website: http://www.wagehour.dol.gov and/or call our toll-free information and helpline, available 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in your time zone, 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243).
This publication is for general information and is not to be considered in the same light as official statements of position contained in the regulations.

 

Regulations written by the companies, for the companies.

 

Shippers and Receivers are responsable for the down time however when a company goes after the pay for down time on their rig then fails to pay their driver's. the company is responsable .. minimum wage for drivers ain't. gonna cut it imo.. not when one compares what could be made per hour en route to or from

 

I have not looked at those numbers, so I don't know how they came up with them. Some of the mega carriers are privately owned, so they are not required to do financial reporting. Numbers can sometimes be misleading.

It is easy to make assumptions about someone else business when you don't have all the facts. Another thing to keep in mind is that most carriers have 50 or fewer trucks and they haul about 90% of the freight in this country. The largest carriers often can negotiate much lower fuel prices than smaller carriers. That puts the mega carriers at an advantage. If a carrier is collecting a fuel surcharge, they should be passing 100% of it to the owner operator who is paying for the fuel. There was a bill that was proposed a few years ago that would have some accountability for passing the fsc along to the one paying for the fuel. Unfortunately, it failed, but didn't really have any teeth for non compliance.

For the most part, drivers are still well compensated. The only way drivers will be paid from the time they hit the dock is if the shipper is forced to compensate the carrier. Anyone who is in business deserves to earn a profit. Even using the numbers you posted, that is only bout a 10% profit margin, providing the numbers are correct. And that may not include after tax profits or other costs incurred by carriers. You seem to resent anyone in business who earns a profit. The employer is the one taking all the risk. Drivers can leave and go to another company, if things don't work out. Employers could lose everything. Do you think employers deserve to make a profit? If so, how much do you think a carrier should profit? Without profits, there is no need for the employer or stakeholders to invest their money. Companies are in business to earn a profit. What some of these figures may not show is the amount of that "profit" than is put back into the business that will provide additional jobs. Some of that may be reinvested in newer equipment. Unless you own the company or sit on the board, you don't have all the facts about any of those companies. I hope they make a profit. For the capital investment, trucking shows a small profit margin. It is unreasonable to expect an employer to give all their profits to employees.

If you want to be compensated more, you can always buy your own equipment, get your authority and toss the dice. Being in business will give you a much different perspective.

 

Most carriers are not compensated for sitting at shippers. Most carriers who collect detention pass along money to the driver.