Overtime rule leaves out truck drivers; OOIDA promotes GOT Truckers Act

A new final rule from the U.S. Department of Labor that extends overtime protections to millions of workers does not apply to truck drivers. However, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is promoting a bill that would remove a longtime overtime exemption for motor carriers.

The DOL published a final rule on April 23 that increases the amount of money a salaried worker must make to be exempt from overtime compensation. Under the rule, the current salary threshold of $35,568 will be increased to $43,888 by July 1 and to $58,656 by Jan. 1, 2025. Starting in 2027, the salary threshold will be updated every three years based on up-to-date wage data. It is estimated that about 4 million workers will be affected by the increases, which will require businesses to either meet the salary threshold or pay the employee overtime for any hours beyond the 40-hour work week.

The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division proposed the changes last September and reviewed more than 33,000 comments before issuing the final rule.

“This rule will restore the promise to workers that if you work more than 40 hours in a week, you should be paid more for that time,” said Julie Su, the Department of Labor’s acting secretary. “Too often, lower-paid salaried workers are doing the same job as their hourly counterparts but are spending more time away from their families for no additional pay. That is unacceptable. The Biden-Harris administration is following through on our promise to raise the bar for workers who help lay the foundation for our economic prosperity.”

Truckers not included

OOIDA filed comments in November to encourage the administration to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 so that employee truck drivers would be required to be eligible for overtime pay. The FLSA currently exempts motor carriers from having to pay their truck drivers time-and-a-half when they work more than 40 hours in a week.

“The FLSA motor carrier exemption was originally enacted in 1938 to prevent truckers from working excessive hours but now prevents them from receiving adequate compensation in the modern trucking industry,” OOIDA wrote in its comments filed in November. “Ironically, this exemption is now part of the reason why drivers regularly work more than 40 hours a week.”

Truck drivers commonly work 60 or 70 hours a week but are paid by the mile with no additional compensation for those extra hours. That means truckers spend hours every week getting fuel, checking equipment and waiting for cargo without being compensated for that time.

“While denying guaranteed overtime pay is first and foremost unfair to truckers, the motor carrier exemption also contributes to supply chain inefficiency,” OOIDA wrote. “For far too long, the trucking industry has generally only offered compensation for detention time if waiting times exceed two hours. But even this pay is not provided to all drivers. As a result, entities throughout the supply chain, including shippers, receivers and others, lack a financial incentive to load and unload trucks in an efficient manner.”

GOT Truckers Act

Although the DOL didn’t include truck drivers in the final rule, OOIDA helped craft the Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act.

The GOT Truckers Act, which has been introduced in the House and Senate, would simply amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to end the overtime exemption for motor carriers.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., who introduced the bipartisan bill in the House, said it’s about fairness.

“Let’s be fair,” Van Drew said. “Truckers are breaking their backs. They sincerely are what makes America move. Our country would be in a whole lot of trouble if we didn’t have truckers working for us every single day. When people don’t work hard, that’s up to them and maybe they don’t deserve to make a lot of money. But truckers do, and they deserve to be treated fairly and make a decent income.”

OOIDA is encouraging its members to ask their lawmakers to support the bills. That can be done easily by going to OOIDA’s Fighting For Truckers website. LL