WASHINGTON — Regulators will consider rolling back federal preemption decisions on truck driver work rules by issuing waivers to those who can show that stricter state rules in California and Washington are more safe.
In a notice published Friday, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it will consider waiver requests of its Dec. 21, 2018, ruling affirming that California Meal and Rest Break (MRB) rules — and a similar Nov. 17, 2020, ruling regarding Washington state MRB rules — are preempted by federal law. Both rulings were made during the Trump administration.
“While petitions for waiver may be submitted at any time, FMCSA requests that any petitions for waiver [of the California and Washington rulings] be submitted by November 13, 2023,” the notice stated. “FMCSA will publish any petitions for waiver that it receives and will provide an opportunity for public comment with respect to the petitions.”
Employers in California and Washington are required to adhere to stricter MRB rules than is required by the federal government. In California, truck drivers and other employees must be given a 30-minute meal break if they work more than five hours in a day, and drivers who work a shift of 10 hours or more are entitled to a second 30-minute meal break. Employees are also entitled to a 10-minute rest period for each four hours that they work in a day. Washington’s rules are similar.
However, federal hours-of-service rules — which were made even more flexible for employers in September 2020 — require that drivers only be provided a 30-minute break after eight hours of driving time (instead of on-duty time) and allow an on-duty/not driving period to qualify as the required break.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters challenged FMCSA’s California preemption determination in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and lost. In opposing the Washington preemption, the Teamsters took issue with the Washington Trucking Association’s assertion that the state’s MRB rules undermine safety “by artificially exacerbating the shortage of safe truck parking,” making it more likely that drivers “will have to spend additional time looking for parking when they need rest, or resort to unsafe places to park.”
The union countered, “In our experience, a much larger threat faced by truck drivers is that they are discouraged from taking rest breaks as allowed under federal law because they fear punishment from their employers if they don’t complete a run on time, or because they are paid by the mile and would rather push their bodies to the limit in order to earn extra pay.”
The Teamsters did not immediately respond as to whether it plans to petition FMCSA for a waiver.
The American Trucking Associations, which made the initial request to FMCSA for a preemption determination, sees FMCSA’s latest move as harming interstate freight movement — and potentially costly for carriers.
“Ensuring a singular, national standard of work rules for professional drivers is crucial to both safety and the supply chain,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear.
“Federal law already mandates rest breaks for drivers. Unnecessary and duplicative state laws are not grounded in safety and have been primarily enforced via private lawsuits designed to extort the trucking industry. Opening the door to this spurious litigation once again would impair the safe and efficient movement of interstate goods.
“ATA is fully prepared to oppose this effort that would result in a confusing patchwork of regulations. We will leverage all of our Federation’s resources to stop this in its tracks.”
P. Sean Garney, co-director of Scopelitis Transportation Consulting, agreed with ATA’s assessment.
“The fact remains that FMCSA decision to preempt the California and Washington Meal and Rest Break rules was the right one for commerce and safety,” Garney told FreightWaves. “In general, the preemptions make managing hours of service easier because interstate carriers don’t need to manage to multiple state hours of service rules regimes.”
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 21 states, including California and Washington, regulate meal and rest break requirements in varying degrees (see table).
| States with meal and rest laws |
| California |
| Colorado |
| Connecticut |
| Delaware |
| Illinois |
| Kentucky |
| Maine |
| Maryland |
| Massachusetts |
| Minnesota |
| Nebraska |
| Nevada |
| New Hampshire |
| New York |
| North Dakota |
| Oregon |
| Rhode Island |
| Tennessee |
| Vermont |
| Washington |
| West Virginia |
FMCSA asked that waiver petitions address at least the following issues:
- Whether and to what extent enforcement of a state’s meal and rest break laws with respect to intrastate property-carrying truck drivers has impacted the health and safety of drivers.
- Whether enforcement of state meal and rest break laws as applied to interstate property-carrying truck drivers will exacerbate the existing truck parking shortages and result in more trucks parking on the side of the road, whether any such effect will burden interstate commerce or create additional dangers to drivers and the public, and whether the applicant intends to take any actions to mitigate or address any such effect.
- Whether enforcement of a state’s meal and rest break laws as applied to interstate property-carrying truck drivers will dissuade carriers from operating in that state, whether any such effect will weaken the resiliency of the national supply chain, and whether the applicant intends to take any actions to mitigate or address any such effect.
D.P.
The old 10 & 8 rule was the best and a driver could make miles, take breaks any time, and none of the break time counted against your duty time. I could sleep for a hour in the middle of the day and it only extended my driving time. Say I started at 0600 am and drove for 4 hrs, now I can drive until 1700 pm. The 10/8 rule didn’t penalize you on the ten hour driving time as it does with the 14 hr rule. With the 10/8 rule you could pull over at anytime going off duty and never be penalized.
Jason M. Hohman
I have said this many times during my professional career as a commercial driver; One can operate within the Hours Of Service guidelines and be absolutely dangerous. And, one can operate outside those same guidelines and be completely safe.
We are human beings, not machines. Humans have varying needs, and those needs change on any given day.
A huge flaw in the HOS is not honoring the human body’s natural circadian rhythm. The mandatory 10 hour break (for example) should actually be a 10 hour window, meaning there are specific blackout times a driver can operate as an individual. To change that window should require notification with a mandatory HOS reset to be determined by the driver, not the employer.
I have had employers threaten, harass, and even terminate my employment when I had to refuse work because of being called to duty when my body was needing rest. An example of that is taking my 10 hours off duty after a shift, no work being available after my rest break, and as I’m ready to go to bed at the end of my day being called into work, with them stating I’ve had the mandatory 10 hours off duty and how I am now legally eligible for work again.
I can offer many, many other examples of how the federal HOS have major flaws, and how employers (in there narrow-sighted drive for profit) completely ignore human needs and push drivers behind the wheel into dangerous situations when they need to truly encourage drivers to operate only when they feel safe to do so.
I am very willing to offer my insight and wisdom to this and other important topics related to the Transportation Industry. However, my experience makes me doubtful anyone in a position that can actually make decisions will see me as irrelevant. Sadly, when it comes down to it, safety is nothing but a slogan in this industry, and always, always, always takes a back seat to financial profit!
Wayne Wilken
I am a local driver and iget in and out of my truck at least once or twice in a hour for me to take a meal break is a lost of 30 minutes a day of pay
Dave
Regulation is becoming a second job. FMCSA is becoming the very thing they were started to prevent.
Let’s add some more clocks, how about something else anything else, to add to a drivers day. This all adds the stress of getting penalized for something, somewhere.
Still haven’t stopped shippers and receivers from taking all day. Oh that’s right, can’t touch them. How about getting OSHA on board they have a long arm in SAFETY.
Patric Bogie
I drive otr and most of my trips are 2000+ miles. I seldomly take a 30 minute rest break. Sure I take it because it is required, but usually during that 30 minute break I inspect load and equiptment, look at my route, call customers, etc.
That being said, if it was “all about safety” truly, then company drivers would be paid by the hour and not the mile. Paid by the mile is an outdated , backwards way of thinking that does nothing to promote safety and should be eliminated immediately.
Ali rashawi
Many good qualified drivers left truck driving because of the rules put in place that did more harm than good then they brought in 220000 raghead drivers from India and they are the most unsafe drivers in America today look at the accident rates they cause to sky rocket and freight rates today are a disaster and fuel costs are unbelievably high and its time I park my truck until rates go up and fuel costs go down
Jerrod Anderson
The 30 min break is a waste anyway. As a professional driver I should be able to take a break when when I feel I need one, not when the government thinks I do. Just stop changing things and making rules that cause our industry more stress than needed. They already got their eLogs through by using safety as the reason when in fact eLogs make it more unsafe. I have always abided by the rules set forth for us by the FMCSA, but enough is enough! I am not a child, I don’t need this fake government telling me when I’m tired and need to go to bed, or when to take a break. All these extra regulations do is make it harder to want to continue to provide everything the American consumer needs and wants. You would think the idiots pretending to run this country would realize that the success or failure of our country is a direct result of the trucking industry. Stop making it more difficult to do our job!
Herbert
We need to take a break… it gives us time to get out of the truck… it should be 1 hour… what I think is important is the starting the clock at the time of releasing the brakes… give us 2 miles… sometimes we have to drive to the dock to get unloaded… sat for hours… what will 2 miles hurt… make company have parking for the trucks that have to deliver… it would be a lot safer for us & there freight… You should be helping us … not wanting us to work harder… let’s not waste our time …. Big companies have the space… give us a safe space to PARK…