Can a company mandate using sleeper status during 10 Hour Break

There are tons of cases where you can take your break while you're getting loaded too. It all just depends on the policies of the shipper or receiver. I've been lots of places where they'll tell you to bump dock 14 and you'll get loaded as soon the guys in docks 11, 12 and 15 pull out. In that case, once I was on the dock, they didn't care what I did for the next 1 to 3 hours it as going to take them to get to me. Therefore I was not in any way required to be 'in readiness to operate the vehicle' during that time. I could take a walk if I wanted and they wouldn't care. I could and have hiked up the street to the fast food joint for a meal, napped in the drivers seat, did some window shopping at the best buy across the way etc. I come back, they're halfway through loading my truck and everyone's happy. According the regs, perfectly legal to go line 1 in that case and no one at any point had to say 'you are officially released from duty'.

 

I'm not saying anything that isn't in the regs. Like I said, whether you log it "by the book" or by your own loose interpretation is entirely up to you. You might work your entire career and never run across a DOT man who gives a ####...or you could run into a "by the book" type tomorrow. Ignorance isn't always bliss, and I'm sure that "by the book" officer would happily explain the regs to you again as he's handing you the ticket. Know the right way to do it, and if you choose to do otherwise so be it...but don't pretend that fudging the rules is perfectly legal.

 

IF I am doing none of those while at a shipper/receiver, then I can go OFF-DUTY.

 

Very good.

 

I have talked with FMCSA on this question about two weeks ago, they said, if your in the sleeper berth, and logging "off duty" what you are doing is "falsifying logs", and is illegal, if logging completely off duty, you must be out of the truck, as in a motel or home, don't just read the words, call and discuss this with FMCSA, if you just ask "can I log off duty for 10 to complete my rest break" their going to say yes, ask the question in full! "While I'm in the sleeper berth, can I log it as off duty?", you will get a better reply to the question

 

If you are involved in an accident that may involve driver fatigue and your logs show no sleeper berth time, it can be inferred by a jury of your know-nothing peers that you blatantly ignored getting proper rest. Its an aggravating factor in a civil suit. Its to your benefit that you show some sleeper time... whether you did sleep or not.

 

Except that either they misunderstood you, you misunderstood them, or they gave you wrong information.

A driver can, in fact, log off-duty in the cab of a truck, regardless of whether there is a sleeper available or not. Nor is it required a driver be in any other location. Nor is a driver required to prove they were in any other location or engaged in any activity by any means other than their log entries.

 

That part I agree with in full. I always log altleast 8 hours in the sleeper berth, if my 10 is in the truck. My OFF-DUTY time logged at either end of my 10 can be inside or outside the truck.

During my 14, I will log OFF-DUTY, whenever I am doing anything, in a block of time, that is not work related, no matter whether I am inside or outside the truck or at a shipper/reciever. .

 

You are correct that a driver may now log off-duty while in the truck. The regs allow for that. You are incorrect that a driver may log Off-duty while in the bunk. The official guidance still says you must log it as it happens.

Source: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/part/395?guidance

 

Nowhere did I post a driver may log off-duty while in the bunk. The cab is not the sleeper; my post is correct.