Finding no viable safety benefit in California’s meal and rest break (MRB) laws for truck drivers, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld that federal laws preempt state rules in denying a petition brought by labor unions and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
“It's a victory for uniformity in safety regulation of trucking and a recognition that without one agency at the federal level to have primacy in this area is going to result in a patchwork of state laws that interfere with the ability of motor carriers to operate safely and efficiently,” Richard Pianka, deputy general counsel with the American Trucking Associations (ATA), told the Northern California Record.
The federal Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984 provides the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the agency that regulates trucking, preemption authority over state MRB laws.
“Petitioners argue both that the FMCSA lacks the statutory authority to preempt the MRB rules, and, to the extent it could do so, that the agency’s preemption decision was arbitrary and capricious,” the court wrote. “Based on our careful review of the FMCSA’s decision and after applying the deference that is due the agency, we conclude that petitioners’ challenges lack merit.”
Plenty of industries have been seeing these claims, but they've been particularly prevalent in the trucking industry, Pianka said.
“You have allegations that motor carriers weren't complying with these break rules, and the cumulative liability of these claims, if successful, is so enormous that it's essentially a massive sledgehammer to induce settlements,” Pianka said.
The ATA initially filed a petition with the FMCSA seeking the determination, which was granted in 2018. It was summarily challenged by the Teamsters, the California Labor Commissioner, and individual drivers represented by plaintiffs’ lawyers who have been bringing a number of these meal and rest break cases, Pianka said.
The FMCSA in November also said the agency’s rules take precedence in a similar case brought by the state of Washington.
“The FMCSA designs a set of uniform regulations for interstate trucking that is based on science, based on input from stakeholders who understand the trucking industry, understand highway safety,” Pianka said. “And it's very important for everybody that those rules are able to operate the way they were designed, and not be interfered with by a patchwork that is going to undermine efficiency, which you don't want during a pandemic in particular, and which is going to undermine safety, which is always our first concern.”