Advocate For Guaranteed Overtime For Truck Drivers
Why is this important? Many truckers are working 70 to 80 hours a week with less than minimum wages, if you break down their commission or mileage base pay down it equals 15.00 to 20.00 per hour.
Many truck drivers even wait at the docks or in-line to get loaded or unloaded and do not get paid while waiting and told by dispatch you must wait for free for the first two hours, add these free hours up, if you waited 2 hours four times a week at four different docks, that is 8 hours you made nothing. We have an idea; all dispatchers must work for free for the first two hours each morning. If this law is passed drivers, then always show your true hours of on time on your ELD whether loaded or unloaded or waiting so you can benefit. You should be doing this anyway because it will only benefit you as the driver as you would run out of hours for the week and trucking companies would be forced to pay you over-time for anything over 40 hours that even means time off duty should be paid as well per diem per day.
In 1938 hours of service were put in place to limit driver activity, Originally the ELD was adopted in December of 2017.
The ELD has long shaken up the trucking industry since it was enacted.
Truckers and carriers were forced to place an ELD in every truck older than 1999 and must install one of these devices but that does not mean you have to run the companies ELD according to the truth and federal leasing laws. You are not required to rent or purchase any equipment upon entering into a lease agreement and most companies rent the equipment out to you or force you to purchase their ELD which is against the federal leasing laws.
There are some exemptions out there where you do not need an ELD.
Our own government has broken their own rules by forcing truck drivers to mandate ELDs, when it comes to the constitution and privacy act that protects individuals from personal identifiers such as name, social security, prohibits disclosure of such records without the written consent of the individual, ask yourself, did you give the government written consent? If your name is being used in the transmission for data, how is this legal.
When it comes to truck drivers getting paid overtime we all can agree this should be a mandate that all trucking companies should be forced to pay to truck drivers any additional wages when working over 40 hours per week, Best advice we can tell you is “never accept driving for a trucking company for salary”, this is where many will try and weasel their way out of overtime pay.
A good example would also be a restaurant manager on salary 1000.00 per week before taxes, keep in mind the manager is working is some cases 90 hours per week which is $11.11 per hour
that’s not even the minimum wage and they are missing out on any extra overtime over 40 hours.
There was a big fuss about The ELD when first introduced, you as the truck driver were not given the choice as personal freedom, onboard driver facing dash cameras are also an invasion of your personal freedom and privacy. Truck Drivers play such an important role in today’s economy, many say they want respect, meaning better pay, overtime wages, the freedom to choose loads. Think about this for a minute! If Drivers were paid extremely well, what would it do for safety? We all know the real answer to that! Drivers would not be in a hurry to make it from point A to point B to make ends meet nor will they be in a hurry to beat the clock on their ELD. You cannot blame the truck driver for having an attitude, you must blame the trucking companies and corporations for their eccentric rules and pay when it comes to rates to the truck driver. Remember truck drivers are the backbone of this nation but also deserve respect from trucking companies and corporations.
Yes, driver, you have the right to refuse a job that does not pay, always know your cost per mile to operate your truck as discussed in our previous article.
Under the fair labor standards act anyone working over 40 hours per week is to receive time and half for any hours over during that week, there should be a law required for 1099 owner operators as well if an owner operator ask for overtime from the company he is contracted through. Otherwise, if you don’t implement this law for owner operators many carriers will simply take the simple way out and switch to all owner operators only to avoid overtime wages.
Most carriers you are required to obtain workers comp or similar or occupation insurance but remember you have the right to choose which policy you want to carry even it is outside the company, forcing all trucking companies to pay overtime whether employee or 1099 to their drivers the smart thing to do for the safety of the public and also helps with driver retention, the FMCSA said ELDS would decrease accidents when in fact it has only increased them due to drivers having to beat the clock or get into a truck stop early for a safe place to park, If you get in late, good luck in finding a place to park.
We ask that congress to implement a mandatory overtime wage for any over 40 hours worked in each week, we also ask that if at any time a trucking company violates the truth and federal leasing laws, they are fined $25,00.00 per occurrence that would go directly to the driver’s pocket, A trucking company would think twice before trying to deceive the driver. In fairness to all truck drivers and in fairness to public safety, we all know truck driving is a skilled profession that not everyone can do and professional as most of us demand better pay.
Remember drivers, it takes all of us to change the world including trucking companies on the way they operate and treat their drivers
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