When a worker completes tasks for their employer, they expect compensation. Unfortunately, the definition of what is considered to be “work” often comes under dispute. As a result, numerous lawsuits have been filed against a variety of companies to determine whether time spent locking up or booting up a computer to punch in count as work that demands payment.

In the majority of these cases, employees are found to be owed some type of compensation for their time. Yet despite these advances in labor justice, truck drivers still go unpaid for time in their trucks.

To challenge this practice, drivers from across the nation took the issue all the way to the Supreme Court. And the verdict may change how truckers are paid.

Lawsuits Challenge the Current State of Truck Driver Pay

Traditionally, truckers are paid by the mile, rather than by the hour. Theoretically, this was done to ensure drivers prioritized moving freight as quickly as possible, rather than going slow to increase weekly pay. Unfortunately, the consequences of this payment method forces truckers to go unpaid for time spent in their trucks, specifically while getting loaded and unloaded.

According to most trucking companies, during these periods of downtime, truckers are not driving, so pay shouldn’t be required. But in the view of Class A Drivers, given the fact that this action is mandatory to complete the haul, downtime is technically work. Which means truck drivers should be paid for their time.

Although this seems like a pretty straightforward concept, legal hang-ups, such as how much should a trucker be paid for downtime, left truckers in an unpaid purgatory. To add insult to injury, lawsuits that were filed to address the labor issue resulted in settlement money being awarded rather than mandating hourly payment at a federal level.

For example, back in 2015 PAM Transport was sued for not paying truckers minimum wage for downtime. Even though the court ruled the trucking company had to pay truckers $3.45 million, a similar lawsuit was filed against the firm in 2018 and the same ruling was reached. Pay truckers for their time, even if it is just minimum wage. Other cases are listed below.

• $780,000 awarded to Werner truckers in 2017 to cover pay practice violations
• 2016 ruling in favor of C.R. England drivers for $2.35 million
• Walmart to pay out $54 million to 9,000 semi-truck drivers determined by a finalized 2016 lawsuit ruling

Sure, some truck drivers got paid, but nothing was changed on a systemic level. As you can see, these quiet settlements did not enact change.

Will a Supreme Court Case Create a New Precdent?

Prime, now known as New Prime, Inc., had two class action lawsuits filed against them regarding unpaid wages. Of the two cases, only the case of Oliveira v New Prime made it to the Supreme Court. And finally, truckers won a case in the Supreme Court.

Drivers for New Prime, both former and current, were awarded $28 million. Additionally, the SCOTUS ruled that the owner-operators hired by New Prime counted as employees and had to be afforded the same protections.

Experts say that this could finally create the scenario where truck drivers will be paid for their necessary downtime.