Trucking industry warns DOL that modifying federal worker classification rules would be catastrophic
The Biden Administration’s Department of Labor is currently sifting through upwards of 50,000 comments regarding its proposed modification of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in the Federal Register. The overwhelming consensus among truckers? It’s a bad idea.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a federal law that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, record-keeping, and child labor standards for employers and employees in the United States. The law applies to most private-sector employers and employees, as well as some public-sector employees. The FLSA sets the national minimum wage and requires that most employees be paid at least 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for any hours worked over 40 in a workweek and sets strict limits on the amount of work that can be performed by minors. However, the sticking point for the trucking industry falls in the worker classification definition. If changed, owner-operators will no longer be able to be classified as independent contractors.
The American Trucking Association has been a vocal opponent of the proposal, labeling the move as a “blunderbuss approach”. Congressional leaders seem torn over the proposal, with the GOP arguing rule modification would be devastating to the economy and Democrats arguing that the move would protect workers.
House lawmakers have passed the Mail Traffic Deaths Reporting Act of 2024, directing the U.S. Postal Service to create new rules for tracking crashes involving its trucking contractors.