California Turns Back Clock on Overtime

December 27, 1999 9:45 AM, EST

California trucking companies are afraid of losing an important overtime pay exemption for many of their drivers because of new work regulations.

“Assembly Bill 60, signed by Gov. Gray Davis in July, makes changes to the state's worker pay rules. The most significant revision returns to the old practice of counting overtime after eight straight hours on the job. It reverses a 1997 decision by the Industrial Welfare Commission to start overtime pay at the point where work exceeds 40 hours in a week — the rule in 47 other states.

The California statute only affects intrastate trucking since interstate drivers are covered by a federal exemption.

Current California rules require many trucking wage-earners — including safety personnel and loaders — to be paid overtime for work in excess of eight straight hours, but exempt drivers. The new law gives the state industrial commission the task of reviewing the rules and exemptions, and some California trucking managers fear drivers will be brought under the same overtime pay that applies to other workers.

For the full story, see the Dec. 27 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.