OOIDA to represent truck drivers in hours of service lawsuit

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association plans to represent truck drivers’ interests during oral arguments in a case involving hours-of-service regulations.

On Monday, April 25, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral arguments regarding challenges to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s changes to the hours of service that went into effect in September 2020.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and several safety groups argue that the changes to short-haul operations and the 30-minute break negatively affect safety and were made without justification. FMCSA and OOIDA, which is serving as an intervenor in the case, contend that the rule changes were part of a two-year process based off research and more than 8,000 comments from drivers and other stakeholders.

As part of oral arguments, the petitioners and respondents each receive 15 minutes to state their case and answer questions to the D.C. Circuit’s three-judge panel. FMCSA and OOIDA will share the respondents’ 15 minutes.

OOIDA President Todd Spencer said the Association is taking part to speak up for the drivers who are affected by the rule changes.

“We’re supporting the agency’s position because they did the right thing with these rule changes,” Spencer said. “We’re supporting the views of the people who are actually affected. We think it’s important for the court to hear the views from the people on the front lines. They deserve to be heard.”

At issue

Prompted by an OOIDA petition from February 2018, FMCSA made four changes to the hours of service in an attempt to give truck drivers more flexibility within the rules. The short-haul operations provision increased the on-duty limits from 12 to 14 hours and from 100 air-miles to 150. The 30-minute break provision was modified to allow on-duty, nondriving events, such as fueling or inspecting the load, to meet the requirement. The rule changes also included changes to the adverse driving provision and split-sleeper options, but those updates are not being contested in court.

The lawsuit was filed shortly before the rules took effect in September 2020 but was put on hold early in 2021 to give a new administration time to familiarize itself with the case. The lawsuit resumed late in 2021.

The Teamsters, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Parents Against Tired Truckers call the changes “arbitrary” and say the agency didn’t consider the risks caused by provisions involving short haul and rest breaks.

FMCSA responded by claiming the petitioners lacked standing by not even attempting to identify members who have suffered harm from the rule.

The agency also argued that changes were incremental and implemented after careful review.

OOIDA supports rule changes

OOIDA believes the changes to the hours of service were based in common sense and aimed at giving drivers more flexibility to drive when they deem it is safe and to stop when they are tired. The Association also argues that FMCSA justified its changes to the 30-minute break requirement with reasonable interpretations of data in the administrative record.

Regarding the short-haul provision, OOIDA said the petitioners have not shown that short-haul drivers had a better safety experience working a 12-hour day than long-haul drivers do working a 14-hour day.

As part of the comment period for the rule changes, many drivers said the previous break rule forced them to stop before they were tired and at unsafe times or locations.

“The updated rule lets drivers take advantage of natural, preexisting breaks from driving,” the Association wrote. LL