A proposed rule prohibiting carriers, shippers, brokers and others from coercing drivers to drive beyond hours of service limits or in contravention of other federal rules has been released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
In addition to the prohibition of coercion and threatening drivers to exceed hours limits, the rule puts in place procedures for drivers to report coercion to the agency and procedures for the agency to respond to the allegations.
The rule is in some ways related to the March-released proposed electronic logging device mandate, whose predecessor — the 2011 limited electronic onboard recorder mandate — was tossed in court due to FMCSA’s failure to address the issue of driver harrassment as part of the rulemaking.
The coercion rule will have a 90-day comment period from the date of its publication date, which is slated for May 13. The rule was mandated by language in the current highway funding act, MAP-21.
The rule would make it illegal for carriers, shippers, receivers or intermediaries (brokers) to coerce drivers by threatening them “with loss of work or other economic opportunities for refusing to operate a CMV under circumstances that those entities knew or should have known would require a driver” to violate FMCSA’s hours limits, drug and alcohol testing rules or hazmat regulations, among other rules, according to the agency’s proposal.
These entities have broken the agency’s coercion rule if they “fail to heed a driver’s objection that the request would require him/her to break the rules,” the proposal reads.
