Full question:
i drive semi over the road for a living. i have drove for 23 years and it is a common practice for trucking companies to require us to sit for up to 3 hours free getting loaded and unloaded, further, at their discretion, they refuse to pay layover pay when we are required to sit waiting on another load for up to and over 24 hours. my question is, this is involuntary servitude, which is slavery, similar to prostitution, is this legal, considering the 13th amendment to the us constitution prohibits involuntary servitude. if you say that it is legal, what do you base your answer on? i have looked under exempt employees and can find nothing to justify this practice.
- Category: Employment
- Date:
- State: Ohio
Answer:
Waiting time is generally governed by contract law principles according to the terms of the agreement with the employer. It isn't categorized the same way that other working hours are because it is time often spent idle, so it falls in a grey area. Mandatory pay for detention time is a hotly contested issue and currently it is a matter of contract with the particular employer. However, legislation has been proposed recently in to make detention time pay mandatory. Hopefully, recognition is growing that unpaid detention time should be illegal. We suggest contacting Representative Peter DeFazio, and having your union do so if you are a member, for further information.
http://www.truckdriversnews.com/bill-introduced-today-for-detention-time-for-truckers/
http://www.truckdriversunited.com/mandatory_detention.htm
This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Legal statutes mentioned reflect the law at the time the content was written and may no longer be current. Always verify the latest version of the law before relying on it.
