Readers were in some ways as divided as the executive and judicial branches of government over whether time spent off-duty in the sleeper berth of a truck should be time company drivers should be directly compensated for. As is shown in poll results above (reflecting the choices of more than 800 respondents), more see pay as necessary than not, by 11 percentage points.
“If you are in your truck at any time, you should be paid,” wrote Jason McCarter, commenting under the poll here at OverdriveOnline.com. Even if off-duty for purposes of the logbook, he added, “You are responsible for the load and the equipment at all times. … We should be compensated for all hours!”
The poll was conducted in the wake of the Department of Labor’s opinion letter following a couple of court rulings from recent history that have placed judgments on large carriers that suggested minimum-wage compensation for drivers’ sleeper berth time was needed. The essence of the DOL’s argument, in response to a related question from a small fleet that spelled out a particular case, was that in that case drivers were, as wrote Overdrive‘s James Jaillet, “not owed minimum wage pay for the off-duty sleeper-berth time, as the driver was ‘not engaged to wait’ for work during that time.”
Driver Bob Stanton, commenting under the story in the Overdrive‘s Trucking Pro LinkedIn group, directly disagreed with the DOL opinion: “OTR drivers are not free to pursue activities of their own choosing while off-duty,” he wrote. “We are engaged to wait.”
The DOL opinion had likened the situation to that of a construction worker in on- or near-site housing away from home. Other drivers like Dan Stodd, commenting under the poll, pushed back at such characterizations. “If you’re responsible for the truck/trailer/cargo and not allowed to leave,” he said, “then yes you must be compensated for your time.”
Not all commenters agreed. James Rowland said so much driver support of direct compensation for truly off-duty sleeper time might be tantamount to “fighting over-regulation and then asking the government to make more regulations, just so you don’t personally have to hold your chosen carrier to a higher standard. … I can’t help but wonder why it is so many drivers seem to want more screwed-up government control in what’s suppose to be a private business?”
More from Rowland, and other voices, via OverdriveOnline.com:
Richard Lacroix: If companies expect you to stay with your truck and trailer, then yes you should get some kind of pay, either an hourly wage or a daily flat rate. When I worked for CN rail here in Canada cooking for the men that worked on the tracks, we were paid for 12 hours a day, guaranteed, but only had to work 8 hours. When you are forced to be away from home for your job, then you should be paid some sort of pay.
