Seyfarth Synopsis: In 2023, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) under the Biden administration started accepting public comments about the many petitions for waiver that key stakeholders, including the California Attorney General, had submitted. These petitions sought waivers from the FMCSA’s 2018 determination preempting California and Washington’s meal and rest break rules for truck drivers. Many commentators—including this one—anticipated that the Biden administration would grant the waiver, in effect reinstituting state meal and rest period laws for truck drivers. But the Biden administration never took action on those petitions, and it is unlikely that the new administration will. The upshot of this is that truck drivers will continue to have no right to meal and rest periods under California state law, and the failure to provide truck drivers with compliant meal and rest periods under state law cannot be the basis for a lawsuit under the Labor Code.
In December 2018, the FMCSA under the first Trump administration concluded that the federal Motor Carrier Safety Act preempts California’s meal and rest break rules when a driver is subject to federal hours-of-service requirements.
In a potential shift, the FMCSA announced in August 2023 that it would start accepting petitions for waivers from its own preemption determinations. The agency’s announcement under the Biden administration signaled a shift in the agency’s view of the preemption determination over more employee-friendly state rules, or at least a shift in the politics surrounding the issue after the exit of the prior administration. Then, by December 2023, the FMCSA was soliciting comments from the public in response to multiple petitions requesting waivers. This included the opportunity to respond to the California Attorney General’s broad petition submitted on behalf of California’s driver in November 2023, discussed here.
The petitions for waiver, and the comments from the public in response, have been pending for well over one year. The Biden administration did not take action on those petitions. The new administration could theoretically take action on the petitions. But it seems these efforts to reinstitute state meal and rest period laws for truck drivers have stalled on the side of the road, with no relief in sight. The preemption determination was issued during the first Trump administration; it’s unlikely that the second Trump administration would effectively nullify the preemption determination that it issued the first go-around.
As discussed previously, the issue of whether drivers are subject to state meal and rest break rules will remain in flux as a result of legal and political considerations. Employers should continue to keep their eye on these developments.