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November 30, 2007 PrintSaveE-mailSize: +/–Washington truckers win overtime case Truckers who are based in the state of Washington have won a major court victory on overtime pay.

The Columbian newspaper reported that a state Supreme Court ruling was upheld on Monday, Nov. 26, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal in the case.

The state court ruled earlier that truckers who log more than 40 hours a week are entitled to overtime pay. The decision opens the possibility that other drivers could file similar suits and force trucking companies to re-examine driver compensation.

The court awarded nearly $10,000 in unpaid overtime to trucker Larie Bostain of Vancouver, who had filed suit against his former employer, Food Express Inc. of Arcadia, CA.

“I would speculate that there will be a number of Washington-based carriers right now saying ‘Oh (insert your own four-letter word here),’ ” said OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer.

Despite the reality that many companies may not be too thrilled at this point, Spencer speculated that this court decision will likely have a silver lining in terms of its overall impact on trucking.

“For the more than two and a half decades that we’ve been involved in deregulation we keep seeing a significant degradation placed on the value of a driver’s time,” Spencer said. “Their time has always had a tremendous value, but because it has not been recognized as such by trucking companies, shippers and receivers, the work week for the driver has constantly been extended.”

Spencer said the hours-of-service regulations are intended to be the maximum permissible hours worked. But what has happened is that those limits have evolved to be the industry norm.

“The result is that a driver’s time ceases to have value, and the occupation becomes one that many people see as not a valuable occupation,” Spencer said. “That’s why we have this tremendous driver turnover and retention problem.”

Spencer pointed to ongoing issues with drivers’ abilities to comply with HOS regs and enforcement across the board.

“Trucking has evolved into likely the most inefficient industry in America in terms of utilization of human driver resources. ... This decision (in Washington) might encourage more efficient utilization of drivers’ time,” Spencer said.

“It will be a win-win for everyone – drivers and the companies they work for.”

By Land Line staff :twisted:

They didn't say if those drivers are paid hourly or by the mile/percentage. It'd be nice to get paid for the 30+ hours overtime we put in week after week.

the best news in trucking in ten years...









Train more drivers. Train youself out of a job.

It will be very surprising if this decision is not appealed to the federal level. For the most part truck drivers are exempt from federal wage and overtime laws. :cry:

I can understand this if the driver is paid by the hours. I doubt if it will fly if a drive is paid mileage. On mileage the driver is paid on performance. I don't see how this will work on mileage.

all my truckin jobs ALWAYS paid OT after 40. Expect for VENEZIA thats one of the reason i left after 3 weeks.

According to the OP the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal.

[quote="Colts Fan"]Is trucking going to be a real job some day? Should we be treated as normal in the eyes of society? Are we someday going to be paid for all hours of our work. According to one magazine, if companies continue to put in more electronic devices for driver compliance, this may back fire in the companies faces and may be forced to pay drivers by the hour.

The text of the Washington law was clearly written to apply to local drivers, not leaving the state of Washington. The plaintiff in that case drove over 60% of his miles outside Washington. That state court is clearly legislating from the bench (by a hearty 5-4 margin as well). What they feel like the law should be is irrelevant. There is an explicit law on the books and these people are not legislators. Explain to me how the following passage leaves any room for interpretation:
As mentioned before, long haul drivers are intentionally left out of overtime laws and this was clearly the case in Washington as well. Further to that, trucking companies had operated under guidance from the state department in charge of their industry (title escapes me at the moment). That department had consistently advised companies that, like the law says, hours worked within Washington were the only ones subject to the rule.

On the woulda, coulda, shoulda part... I'm not naive enough to think that we would suddenly see a huge spike in pay if overtime were mandated. Our pay, largely falling in the $40-60,000 range, is a budgeted cost of doing business. Companies, when their hands are forced, don't just suddenly become benevolent donors and decide to operate at a loss. They would either (a) cut the base wage in order to make the pay come out roughly equal after overtime was added in, (b) limit us to 40 hours, effectively cutting our wages, and hire more people or farm out more work to railroads (c) give us the raise and then pass on 100% of the added costs to the end consumer, crippling our economy and saying "the feds made us do it", or (d) some combination of the above.

uturn, that is true but apparently state's wage and hour laws can supersede federal law. i'm sure that's what food express thought when they told the driver that he wasn't going to get overtime. maybe she wasn't aware of the law, afterall she is overworked! :wink:

a reference to that is here, the bottom of page 3, top of page 4

note on page 5 that washington state allows for double penalties, maybe that was why the award was so high.

gman,
i found an article relating to a case between a bakery and their driver/route salesmen that awarded overtime to them even though they weren't paid hourly but at a percentage. sadly now i can't find the damned thing. :roll: it does illustrate that overtime can be calculated without an hourly wage. i'll keep looking for it. :oops: