States Exempt from paying overtime?

I can just about guarantee you that the OD drivers getting paid OT after 40 in Washington are making a slightly lower wage to compensate for it. In Ohio, OD P&D drivers get paid $2.50 more per hour than my company pays, but since we get overtime after 40 and they don't (until after 60 hours), a 50-hour week ends up paying the same.

If you are looking for a warmer place to live and work, I'd also wager that you won't find any OD terminals paying OT in the South due to strong anti-Labor sentiment there. For instance, Con-way terminals in the North pay OT after 8, but their terminals in the South pay OT after 50. Who knows, you may find an exception to that in southern California. Good luck.

 

Yeah, that "exemption" sort of threw me for a loop, when I first came off the road and went to an hourly local job. Somebody made the comment on here about all "GOOD" companies paying overtime anyway. Well, I'm not so sure I buy that. I worked for a company headquartered here in Utah, but with several other states in their basket. I thought at the time, and for that matter still do think that they are a "GOOD" company. They had good benefits, and as long as you did your job and kept your nose clean, they were great to work for. So I willingly gave up overtime pay, to keep driving, rather than going to some type of 40 hour job that I would hate, but getting overtime with it.
Maybe my point of view is a bit skewed, but it seems to me that companies that are looking to be profitable, are going to save money, where they can. Or look at it a different way. You are going to eat at a restaurant. There are two menus available. All food and service is exactly the same. In menu # 1, you are going to have meals priced reasonably. In menu # 2 you are going to have meals that are 30% higher. So which menu will you eat off of?

Let's face it, we are working in an industry that has a long history of corruption. Particularly in the eastern and mid-western parts of the US. The trucking industry has, for many years, a strong lobby. You can bet your backside that a lot of this labor law exemption, is because of that lobby. Frankly, I'm surprised that congress has allowed as much regulation of the industry, as they have. It really doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But then I don't know nuttin' anyhow.

I have always been, and still am, of the opinion that when you agree to go to work for a company, you agree to abide by their rules and policies. Even if you don't like them. So there really is no sense in getting into an industry, if you know that you are going to hate what is a really large part of the reason you are working.

I didn't like not getting overtime. I thought at the time, and STILL think it sucks. BUT, I had the option of going in another direction. Instead I chose trucking.

 

I actually know first-hand of a lawsuit involving a trucking company, and paying overtime. Company was headquartered in NY, but their yard was in PA and the equipment was registered/plated in PA. Several of the initiating parties sued due to job classification, stating that they were not interstate drivers, but local pickup/delivery (as their start and end points were very well inside 100 air miles inside the state, and all the material hauled originated and was delivered in the same area). The company lost. Spent nearly 2 years in the court system, and the company appealed, but lost their appeal and was instructed to pay the difference in wages. No union involved, for what it's worth.

I also worked for another company, who did not pay overtime (but to their credit, did pay a higher hourly rate than the prevailing wage in that area), and was investigated by a state labor board. This company, however, did operate in multiple states out of the yard being investigated, and satisfied the inspector that there was actual interstate commerce taking place on a routine basis.

Point being, in short, that self-classifying your operation as "interstate", or having an MC number and being apportioned for interstate operations, does not necessarily matter to the authorities, if your actual operations fit that particular state's definition for hourly work.

 

What I have found over the years, is that Utah will almost always just follow whatever federal regulations there are.
OTOH, states such as California, just as an example, have decided to make their own laws. And as long as those laws are as or MORE stringent than federal laws, there is no problem. (I'm talking as far as the government dweebs are concerned.)