A recent final rule from the U.S. Department of Labor expanding overtime protections for millions of workers excludes truck drivers. Nevertheless, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) is actively supporting a legislative proposal aimed at eliminating a longstanding overtime exemption for motor carriers.
Published on April 23, the final rule raises the salary threshold for exempting salaried employees from overtime compensation. Initially set at $35,568, this threshold will climb to $43,888 by July 1 and further to $58,656 by Jan. 1, 2025.
Beginning in 2027, the threshold will be adjusted every three years based on relevant wage data. These adjustments are expected to impact approximately 4 million workers, necessitating businesses to either meet the threshold or compensate employees for overtime hours beyond the standard 40-hour work week.
The Wage and Hour Division of the DOL proposed these changes last September, undergoing scrutiny through over 33,000 public comments before its official finalization.
“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.”
OOIDA submitted comments in November urging the administration to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to ensure that employee truck drivers are eligible for overtime pay. Currently, the FLSA exempts motor carriers from paying their truck drivers time-and-a-half for hours exceeding 40 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“The FLSA motor carrier exemption was originally enacted in 1938 to prevent truckers from working excessive hours but now prevents them from receiving adequate compensation in the modern trucking industry,” OOIDA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. “Ironically, this exemption is now part of the reason why drivers regularly work more than 40 hours a week.”
Despite truck drivers being excluded from the final rule, OOIDA played a role in crafting the Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act. This legislative proposal, introduced in both the House and Senate, seeks to eliminate the overtime exemption for motor carriers.
“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.”
Representative Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., who introduced the bipartisan bill in the House, emphasizes its commitment to 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 actively encouraging its members to rally support for the bills by reaching out to their lawmakers through OOIDA’s Fighting For Truckers website.
Source: Land Line
