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Government affairs
PAVED
-With
Good Intentions
Guaranteeing Overtime for
Truckers Act would bring
unintended consequences
to the industry
By Cliff Abbott
The November 9, 2023, introduction of simultaneous
bills in the U.S. House and Senate that would repeal
the section of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
excluding truck drivers from overtime pay generated
considerable noise around the trucking industry.
In the ensuing months, however, there hasn’t been much
to make noise about.
Senate Bill 3273, introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA)
and called the “Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers (GOT)
Act, was referred to the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions, where it remains at the time of this
writing. Its counterpart, House Bill 6359, was referred to the
House Committee on Education and the Workforce and has
seen no movement since.
About the Senate bill, Padilla said, “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. 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.”
Those reasons are all too familiar to those familiar with
the inner workings 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 calls the legislation, “a case of
good intentions with unintended consequences.”
Predictably, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
weighed in to support the bill. General President Sean O’Brien
said, “Truck drivers have been denied overtime protections
for nearly 100 years. The Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers
Act rights this wrong and would end this inexcusable abuse to
hundreds of thousands of drivers across the country.”
While advocacy groups have made it clear where they
stand, what isn’t clear is how such a law — if passed —
would be implemented across the trucking industry.
TCA Senior Vice President of Safety and Government Affairs
David Heller expressed some thoughts on the issue. Like
Williams, he is concerned about unintended consequences.
“When you start looking at the unintended consequences
of such a bill, the reality is going to be in today’s market,” he
explained. “Does that put carriers into a situation where maybe
they start monitoring those hours and keep them at 40 hours?”
A reduction of driver hours would have an adverse impact
on the supply chain, Heller said. “Where does the cost come
from, especially in today’s freight market?” he asked.
George O’Connor, director of communications and government
affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
(OOIDA, says it’s a matter 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.”
Sponsored by SCALE FUNDING / GETSCALEFUNDING.com / 800.707.4845
8 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA MARCH/APRIL 2024