Page 19 - Arkansas Trucking Report Volume 23 Issue 2

Motor Carriers: California,

Give Us a Break

California’s labor laws could extend to national impact

By Steve Brawner hour of pay, and employees cannot per- Court, have interpreted the law broadly.
Contributing Writer form any work during the break period. But California’s Ninth Circuit
These break rules don’t always line Court of Appeals has ruled differently.
Trucking advocates were hoping up with the safety and convenience of Three truck drivers working for Penske
the omnibus spending package passed a driver’s workday. Of course, drivers Logistics claimed in a class-action law-
by Congress in March would address are taking breaks as they need them suit that Penske had failed to provide
California’s rest break laws. It didn’t, so and as they are federally mandated, but them the rest break benefits to which
now the trucking industry will continue California’s stringent rules are super- they were entitled under California law.
to seek a solution through Congress or seding the federal requirements for They lost in district court but won their
the courts. employers who do business in the state. appeal in the Ninth Circuit in 2014.
At issue are California’s labor laws The laws would seem to violate There, the court ruled in Dilts v. Penske
requiring employers doing business the Federal Aviation Administration Logistics, Inc. that California’s rest break
there to provide employees a 30-minute Authorization Act passed in 1994. provision was not preempted by F4A.
meal break if they work more than five Known by many as “F4A” or “FAAAA,” That’s because it did not “‘bind motor
hours and a second break if they work it said that states could not enact laws carriers to specific prices, routes or ser-
more than 10 hours, as well as 10-min- “related to a price, route or service of vices” – “bind to” being a higher bar
ute rest breaks for every four hours they any motor carrier … with respect to the than the “related to” actually contained
work. Employers must provide the break transportation of property.” Courts, in the law. Other California court cases
and cannot instead provide an extra including the United States Supreme 

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 2 2018 19