The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an internal agency enforcement policy on May 20, 2025 (the Policy), outlining its approach to English language proficiency (ELP) for commercial motor vehicle...more
6/16/2025
/ Brokers ,
China ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Common Carriers ,
FMCSA ,
Manufacturers ,
Motor Carriers ,
New Regulations ,
Safety Standards ,
Tariffs ,
Transportation Industry
As March Madness gets underway, a California federal judge has called a flagrant foul and ejected the trucking industry from its ongoing battle to challenge Assembly Bill No. 5 (“AB5”)....more
3/18/2024
/ ABC Test ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Motor Carriers ,
Preemption ,
State Labor Laws ,
Teamsters ,
Trucking Industry ,
Wage and Hour
On April 28, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the application of California’s Assembly Bill 5 (“AB5”) to motor carriers is not preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration...more
In November 2020, a California state appeals court ruled in People of the State of California v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County and Cal Cartage Transportation Express, LLC that the Federal Aviation Administration...more
12/14/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Preemption ,
State Labor Laws ,
Trucking Industry
Since then, many in the trucking industry have been considering and evaluating alternative ways to maintain a mechanism of dispute resolution through arbitration on an individual basis so as to avoid class actions, collective...more
8/29/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Class Action ,
Collective Actions ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Independent Contractors ,
New Prime v Oliveira ,
Transportation Industry ,
Trucking Industry ,
Wage and Hour
The Ohio Trucking Association successfully led and won the fight to enact House Bill 62 (the “Bill”) in an effort to assist its members in standardizing the administrative processes that burden motor carriers using...more
In November, we documented a number of 2018 independent contractor-related developments in New Jersey since Democratic Governor Phil Murphy’s inauguration in January, one of which was the filing by the NJDOL in August of an...more
On January 15, 2019, in a very disappointing decision for the trucking industry regarding the application of arbitration provisions in motor carrier-independent contractor service agreements, the U.S. Supreme Court...more
As has been widely reported, the California Supreme Court on April 30, 2018, issued a decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County that rejected a long-standing flexible, multifactor...more
Recently, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed misclassification claims presented by an owner and his company holding that the Plaintiffs did not qualify as an ‘individual’ under Massachusetts...more
Courts continue to review the circumstances surrounding the degree of control exercised over transportation service providers. This has held true in several different segments of the transportation industry whether it is home...more
Two years ago in Flash No. 451, we wrote about the trial court decision in the Indiana case of Celadon Trucking Services, Inc. v. Wilmoth, et al., highlighting the importance of close attention to the “ingredients” of...more
Over the last two years, the Benesch Transportation & Logistics Team has written in various installments of the FLASH about the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, §148B (the “Massachusetts...more
While the rest of the country was basking in the glow of the Cleveland Indians improbable trip to the World Series last week (ok so maybe just the City of Cleveland) the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals threw a knuckleball to...more
On May 11, 2016, the First Circuit Court of Appeals rendered a decision in Massachusetts Delivery Association v. Healy (the “MDA case”) preempting Prong 21 of the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law (the “Massachusetts...more