Could a Verdict in Arkansas Transform Driver Pay?

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Oct. 22, 2018  A federal court in Arkansas ruled that drivers are entitled to earn minimum wage for all hours worked – even during waiting periods officially entered as "off duty" in log books – in a case that could eventually have national implications.

According to various news sources, including Business Insider, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, Fayetteville division, on Oct. 19 ruled again Tontitown, Arkansas-based PAM Transport, in a class action suit for alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

The court denied PAM's motions to dismiss the claims of the three truck drivers who sued PAM in 2016 and the nearly 3,000 drivers who joined the class action suit. The decision means, in essence, that the court has decided that the time a driver spends waiting in his truck in the sleeper birth still constitutes work — even though the driver may log that time as "off-duty."

According to Justin Swindler, the attorney representing the drivers in the class action suit, the Arkansas decision suggests that drivers are entitled to minimum wage for 16 hours per workday — every hour spent in the truck save for eight hours of sleep time. Because the carrier has hired the employee with the knowledge that part of their job duties are waiting, the Supreme Court has argued that those employees should be paid even though they are not actively carrying out a work task.

As District Court Judge Timothy Brooks wrote in his Oct. 19 memorandum on the PAM case:

There is no ambiguity here, then, as to whether an employer must count as hours worked the time that an employee spends riding in a commercial truck while neither sleeping nor eating: time thus spent "is working" and "any work" performed "while traveling must... be counted as hours worked."

The judge also said that the DOT hours of service regulations "have little, if any, bearing on the matter at hand."

"It's worth noting the case only stands for the proposition that carriers must pay their drivers $7.25 per hour," Swidler told Business Insider. "Under the FLSA, hourly wages are considered over the course of a whole workweek. This means that while carriers nationwide should understand their minimum wage exposure, companies which pay reasonable wages to their drivers have no reason for concern."

The payout for this case hasn't been determined yet, Swidler added. In 2015, PAM paid truckers $3.45 million in a similar settlement concerning a class action suit by employees who alleged PAM didn't pay them minimum wage.

The Arkansas decision echoes other recent lawsuits around the country that have found in favor of drivers. Last year, a Nebraska court decided that Werner Enterprises must pay $780,000 to 52,000 student truck drivers for alleged pay practice violations. Another major carrier, C.R. England, paid $2.35 million in back wages to more than 6,000 drivers in 2016.

https://www.truckinginfo.com/317276/could-a-verdict-in-arkansas-last-week-transform-driver-pay

Officials scrambling for solution as truckers refuse to use Indiana toll roads following truck-only toll increase

Article thanks to Wimberly Patton and livetrucking.com. Links provided:

Citizens living off of these backroad highways have been noticing the traffic increase and are urging officials to do more than just post “no through trucks signs.”

Oct 18, 2018  The recent 35% increase in truck only tolls on roadways in Indiana has led to some unintended consequences – truckers are now avoiding the toll roads altogether and are instead using back roads not meant for large commercial vehicles.

The toll increase went into effect on October 5th of this year as part of a $1 billion infrastructure plan by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, who claims that the 35% truck-only toll increase is fair because of the damage large trucks do to roadways, despite the fact that much of the money raised by the tolls will be used for improving the state’s railroads, airports, ship ports, walking and biking trails, and even broadband internet – none of which have to do with the roadways truckers are now paying heavily to use.

Now that the increase has been in effect for several weeks, state officials who previously ignored naysayers who advised that the toll hike would deter truckers entirely are noticing a decrease in toll road users and an increase in commercial truck’s usage of back roads such as US Highway 30, US Highway 6, and US Highway 331, reported ABC 57.

“I think that with the regular increases that we’ve had here and then seeing a 35 percent increase again I think you’ll find a lot of traffic is going to leave those [toll] lanes,” explained Chief Strategy Officer of Holver Lines, Carl Svendsen.

“They may make the decision to go on a different highway and that highway may not be designed to handle truck traffic in significant volumes,” he continued – and that’s exactly what is happening.

Citizens living off of these backroad highways have been noticing the traffic increase and are urging officials to do more than just post “no through trucks signs.”

“This is a main through fair for the shortcut from Bremen down to US30 so everybody takes this versus 331 a lot to save them several miles,” said Patrick Walters, who has been living on Fir Road off of US 30 for 25 years.

“[No through trucks] is posted on both ends of Fir Road that we don’t allow trucks, but they’re still using them [the road],” Walters said.

“Have them [police] start issuing tickets to people that are speeding, also the truck traffic,” he suggested.

Because of all this, the state will vote on an ordinance that may allow for clearer enforcement regarding the use of county roads in November but until then, trucking companies warn that drivers will likely continue to avoid the toll roads and that the cost of shipping goods through Indiana may spike if drivers and their companies are forced into paying tolls.

http://livetrucking.com/officials-scrambling-for-solution-as-truckers-refuse-to-use-indiana-toll-roads-following-truck-only-toll-increase/?fbclid=IwAR1rNvfS3lFVFfV64ECEONKaP2zE3RYACM6s7WMmsN82Yq5i6UYJ1RWc2jw