The buzz generated by the simultaneous introduction of bills in the U.S. House and Senate on November 9, 2023, seeking to repeal the section of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 excluding truck drivers from overtime pay has subsided in the subsequent months.
Senate Bill 3273, titled the Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers (GOT) Act, introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), is currently in the hands of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Its counterpart, House Bill 6359, referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, has seen no progress.
“I think it is pretty simple and straightforward, for the same reason that a lot of other workers and a lot of other industries get paid overtime for their time and their work,” Padilla said. “Truckers deserve the same, but for reasons I don’t understand, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 exempted many truckers from overtime protections, including overtime compensation.”
This stagnation is not unfamiliar to those well-acquainted with the intricacies of the trucking industry.
“The proposed overtime bill would force additional costs on the carrier and hope the carrier finds a way to pass on those costs to the shipper,” said Dave Williams, chairman of the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and senior vice president of equipment and government affairs for Knight-Swift Transportation. He says the legislation is, “a case of good intentions with unintended consequences.”
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) has predictably expressed support for the bill, aligning with various advocacy groups.
“Truck drivers have been denied overtime protections for nearly 100 years,” said Sean O’Brien, IBT general president. “The Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act rights this wrong and would end this inexcusable abuse to hundreds of thousands of drivers across the country.”
However, the practical implications of such legislation remain unclear, raising concerns about potential unintended consequences.
TCA Senior Vice President of Safety and Government Affairs David Heller shares apprehensions about possible repercussions.
“When you start looking at the unintended consequences of such a bill, the reality is going to be in today’s market,” he said. “Does that put carriers into a situation where maybe they start monitoring those hours and keep them at 40 hours?”
He, like others, worries about the adverse impact on the supply chain if driver hours are reduced. Addressing the question of where the added cost would be absorbed, particularly in the current freight market, remains a challenge.
“Where does the cost come from, especially in today’s freight market?” Heller said.
George O’Connor, Director of Communications and Government Affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), sees the issue as one of fairness and safety.
“In addition to basic fairness and decency, our roads are more dangerous because truckers aren’t guaranteed overtime,” he said. “The system allows shippers and receivers to excessively detain truckers at loading docks.”
He suggests that changes in drivers’ working hours, pay structures, and shipping procedures would be just the beginning. Adjustments to carrier operations, freight rates, and contracts would be necessary to accommodate overtime pay. He emphasizes that safety could be enhanced if shippers and receivers compensated drivers more for detentions.
“The delays truckers face when waiting to be loaded or unloaded is proven to increase safety risks,” he explained. “If a truck spends just 15 minutes more than usual at a facility, it increases the accident rate by 6.2%. This results in over 6,500 more crashes per year.”
However, Heller and many others in the industry argue that the unintended consequences of the GOT Act could have negative safety implications. Limiting drivers to a 40-hour workweek could lead to traffic congestion, increased competition for parking spaces, and exacerbate the existing driver shortage.
“More trucks, more drivers, and more parking,” he said. “We already don’t have enough parking spaces.”
Complicating matters further is the recent Department of Labor (DOL) announcement of its Final Rule on the classification of independent contractors.
“Misclassifying employees as independent contractors is a serious issue that deprives workers of basic rights and protections,” said Julie Su, DOL’s acting secretary of labor. “This rule will help protect workers, especially those facing the greatest risk of exploitation, by making sure they are classified properly and that they receive the wages they’ve earned.”
This development adds another layer of complexity for the trucking industry, as independent contractors reclassified as employees would also be subject to changes in overtime law.
“The DOL ruling, or even AB5 in and of itself, is a threat to that business model that has been so rewarding, specifically in the truckload segment,” Heller said. “The majority of our industry started because one person had a dream to own their own business, purchased a truck, and started hauling freight. It’s that American Dream that these misclassification-type rules threatens.”
While both sides of the overtime pay debate emphasize the need for fair compensation for drivers, the future of the GOT bill appears uncertain, particularly in a year overshadowed by presidential races as it continues to languish in committee.
“I think it’s worth noting that nobody wants to see drivers get paid more than the industry itself,” Heller said. “I think you can look at recent history and see that salaries have gone up.”
Source: The Trucker
