Overnight Drivers

Kent · September 2004

We have truck drivers that will occasionally be out overnight. They will sleep in the sleeper portion of the truck. What are our obligations to pay them? Do we only pay for their drive time or do we have additional responsibility? If not, is there anything wrong with us paying them an additional 2-3 hours of straight time to compensate them for the night out?

Elle · September 2004

I don't see anything wrong with paying the drivers 2-3 hours of straight time, but you do have to make sure you are consistent with all your night drivers come up with exactly how many hours extra you do want to compensate them with.

I always assumed third-shift jobs paid more due to the time of the shift.

Good luck.

marc · September 2004

Seems to me that getting into the sleeper portion of the cab is the equivalent of clocking out. Of course, one could argue that they still had security responsibilities with respect to the equipment and the load.

A company I used to work for had both owner operators and company drivers. The company drivers were paid by the mile. We occasionally compared the logged driving hours with the paycheck to make sure we were meeting minimum wage requirements, but never had a DOL audit to challenge our practice. No one questioned their sleep time or their stand around time when the loading and unloading were being done.

Don D · September 2004

Over the road truck drivers are exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Most OTR drivers are paid by the mile. You have no obligation to pay the for the time they are not driving.

Crout · September 2004

Don is absolutely correct. I would only add that if you're paying for TIME instead of milage, AND a couple of hours of sleep time, unless you require highly experienced drivers with great safety records, you will NEVER have a problem hiring all the drivers you can use.

Overnight Drivers

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