Just curious

Drivers are exempt from that law I believe

 

several exemptions to that law, including trucking and agriculture.

 

Yes indeed, trucking is by and large exempt from federal overtime laws.

 

Drivers, driver's helpers, loaders and mechanics are exempt from the overtime pay provisions of the FLSA if employed by a motor carrier, and if the employee's duties affect the safety of operation of the vehicles in transportation of passengers or property in interstate or foreign commerce.

http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs19.htm

 

if the truck company does pay hourly and offer OT then yes they must follow all the same work rules as a non driver,,CA only..but OT can be after 8,or after 40,some do both,some do one or the other..but they must be consistent

 

FLSA section 13(b)(1) is a Federal exemption to the OT rule, and companies are therefore exempt from paying time and a half for any hours worked if the driver is driving a Class A vehicle.

This usually only applies in a situation where the carrier has offices in locations other than California; so if the driver begins and ends his shift in California, but the company has operations out of state, they may invoke the FLSA section 13(b)(1) overtime exemption. If the company does not have any out of state interests like I have described, then it becomes more complicated. In that case, a company risks a lawsuit for unpaid wages because the company might assert that they are exempt from OT wages; but perhaps they would not fall under the 13(b)(1) exemption since they are not running on interstate commerce regulations and are therefore bound by California state law first.

The fact is, outside of an employment agreement like a union contract, if the company sends drivers out of state or has offices out of state, they're probably going to pay straight time only. Locally, they'll be more inclined to pay time and a half to reduce their odds of getting sued later on.

 

And if locally in CA carrier A pays OT most likely carrier B will too,Because some companies DO try to retain drivers.