The Chartwell Chronicles: Trucking
Case In Point: Recent Developments in Employment Law
Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to begin enforcement of English language proficiency (ELP)...more
In this era of driver and employee shortages, employers of all kinds - motor - carriers, freight intermediaries and shippers, should be aware of a byzantine array of federal statutes that could confer liability upon them,...more
Picking up trash is one of those unglamorous but essential government functions that we take for granted right up until a couple pick-ups in a row are missed. In those moments we all learn just how essential it is that the...more
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that employers pay certain employees one-and-a-half times their regular rate of pay for any hours they work over 40 in a workweek. There are, however, several exemptions from the...more
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
The trucking industry is experiencing an unprecedented driver shortage. The American Trucking Associations estimates that the industry is short a record 80,000 drivers, a figure that is currently projected to double by 2030....more
The Motor Carrier Safety provisions in the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will impose new obligations on employers and require new studies that, in turn, could lead to additional legislation...more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in California Trucking Association v. Bonta, has reversed the preliminary injunction staying enforcement of AB 5 (now Labor Code § 2775). ...more
With the effects of the ongoing pandemic and ever-changing economic conditions being felt throughout the transportation industry, our firm has recently seen an increase in claims by unpaid motor carriers against shippers and...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a case involving motor carriers, the California Court of Appeal has held that the FAAAA (Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994) does not preempt the ABC employment test California...more
On November 10, 2020, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Division of Labor Standards and Statistics (Division) published the final Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards Order Number 37 (COMPS Order 37),...more
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced on March 13, 2020, that, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, exemptions for some regulations were warranted for certain motor...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Effective April 8, 2020, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) extended an emergency rule suspending “Hours of Service” rules that generally limit the number of hours certain truck...more
As we have written here, the day before California’s controversial AB 5 was set to go into effect, U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez issued a temporary restraining order to block enforcement of the law as to...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A federal court has granted a preliminary injunction blocking the State of California from enforcing AB 5 against motor carriers. The court provided a fulsome analysis demonstrating that the Federal...more
On January 16, 2020, finding that “California runs off the road and into the preemption ditch,” Judge Roger Benitez of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California issued his decision granting a...more
As we recently wrote here, just hours before California’s controversial AB 5 went into effect, a federal court in San Diego issued a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) to enjoin enforcement of the independent contractor...more
While the trucking industry waits for the federal court to hear arguments on the California Trucking Association’s request for an injunction against application of AB5, Judge William Highberger of the Los Angeles Superior...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On the heels of last week’s federal court order temporarily blocking enforcement of AB 5 by the State of California, a California state court in Los Angeles reached the same conclusion, finding the Federal...more
Following the challenges to AB 5, California’s controversial new independent contractor law, can be a difficult endeavor. Every day seems to bring a new development....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Effective January 1, 2020, AB 5 implements the mandatory “ABC” test for determining whether a person is an independent contractor or employee under California law. Specific to motor carriers, AB 5 presumes...more
Employers of drivers who hold commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) have been subject to U.S. Department of Transportation drug and alcohol testing requirements for over twenty-five years....more
As businesses throughout the State of California continue to grapple with the potential implications of AB5, a new law designed to make it more difficult for companies to treat workers as independent contractors, the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently rolled out Our Roads, Our Safety, a national safety campaign to raise awareness about sharing the road safely with large trucks and buses....more
Beginning January 6, motor carriers using drivers subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s drug and alcohol rules will be required to submit testing results and other information to a new electronic Drug...more