Wash. State Truck Driver Meal/Rest Break Rules Preempted

Monday, November 23, 2020

The U.S. Division of Transportation’s Federal Motor Provider Security Administration (FMCSA) issued an order this week that Washington State’s meal and relaxation break guidelines are preempted as utilized to property-carrying business motorcar drivers topic to its hours of service guidelines. This order follows selections by the FMCSA in late 2018 during which the company introduced that California’s meal and relaxation break guidelines have been equally preempted.

In response to the FMCSA, the federal Motor Provider Security Act of 1984 “prohibits [s]tates from imposing a legislation or regulation on [commercial motor vehicles] that the Secretary of Transportation has decided to be preempted” by federal legislation. Preemption is suitable “when the state legislation or regulation has the identical impact” because the federal security guidelines, is much less stringent than the federal security regulation, or is extra stringent than the federal security regulation. The place a state legislation or regulation is extra stringent, it might be preempted if it “(1) has no security profit; (2) is incompatible with the [federal safety rules]; or (3) would trigger an unreasonable burden on interstate commerce.”

In late 2018, the FMCSA concluded that California’s hours-of-service guidelines relevant to all California staff have been preempted for business motorcar drivers underneath the ideas described above. The FMCSA restricted its preemption determination to California’s meal and relaxation break guidelines, but it surely additionally urged (with out ruling) that meal and relaxation break guidelines underneath the state legal guidelines of Oregon and Washington have been considerably just like these underneath California legislation, and positioned comparable burdens on interstate motor carriers. In April 2019, the Washington Trucking Associations requested the FMCSA to equally preempt Washington’s meal and relaxation break guidelines, however the FMCSA waited virtually two years to concern this week’s ruling.

Washington’s meal and relaxation break guidelines are extra burdensome than the FMCSA’s hours of service guidelines. Beneath Washington’s Industrial Welfare Act, all nonexempt staff should be supplied with a meal interval of not less than 30 minutes. This meal break should begin a minimum of two hours after work begins and no later than 5 hours after work begins. The meal break could also be unpaid, however provided that the worker is relieved from all work duties of any variety. Workers should even be supplied with “a relaxation interval of not lower than ten minutes … for every 4 hours of working time.” These relaxation break durations should be scheduled as close to as attainable to the midpoint of the four-hour work interval, and no worker might be required to go greater than three hours with no absolutely paid relaxation break.

Washington State has lengthy taken the place that its Minimal Wage Act and Industrial Welfare Act apply to all Washington-based staff no matter the place their work is carried out. Thus, till now, Washington State has required that business motor carriers should present their drivers with Washington-compliant meal and relaxation breaks even when their Washington-based drivers are performing most of their driving duties exterior of Washington

This week’s ruling by the FMCSA relieves business motor carriers of the duty to adjust to Washington’s meal and relaxation break guidelines however, after all, they nonetheless should adjust to the FMCSA’s hours-of-service guidelines. Nonetheless, it’s unclear how lengthy the FMCSA’s ruling will stay in impact, as simply this week the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral argument on the FMCSA’s California preemption determination and is anticipated to concern a ruling quickly. Questions by the Ninth Circuit panel judges urged to some observers that the court docket could also be leaning in favor of setting apart the FMCSA’s broad preemption determination, which was usually a lot broader than any prior such determination. If the Ninth Circuit does put aside the FMCSA’s determination to preempt California’s meal and relaxation break guidelines (and, once more, it’s too quickly to know which approach the Ninth Circuit will rule on this matter), the Washington State Division of Labor and Industries might ask for comparable reduction from the Ninth Circuit.

No less than for now, the FMCSA’s enforcement place is that Washington’s meal and relaxation break guidelines usually are not relevant to interstate business drivers primarily based in Washington State. Nonetheless, as a result of the FMCSA’s determination is nearly actually going to be appealed and there’s a materials probability that the choice might be overturned, any service with Washington-based drivers might need to proceed complying with the Washington meal and relaxation break guidelines.