In a case of first impression, a federal appeals court has ruled that long-haul truckers driving as a team are entitled to be paid for “sleeper berth time” in excess of eight hours in a 24-hour period.

The employer, defendant CRST Expedited, uses a “team driving model” to transport goods nationwide in which two drivers ride in a truck, alternating between driving and resting in the vehicle’s sleeper berth.

Per trip, CRST pays each driver half the total number of miles at a per-mile rate corresponding with their level of experience. That means their hourly rate can be calculated by dividing the pay they receive by the total number of hours they work.

U.S. Department of Labor compensation regulations allow employers to deduct up to eight hours of sleeping time from each 24-hour period when calculating an employee’s compensation.

Meanwhile, under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s “hours of service regulations,” each driver can be “on duty” for up to 14 hours at a time, during which they can drive for up to 11 hours, spending the remaining three hours on non-driving duties such as loading and unloading. After those 14 hours, they must take at least 10 consecutive hours of “off-duty” time.

Much of the off-duty time is time is spent in the sleeper berth while the other team member is driving. DOT regulations also specifically exclude time resting in the sleeper berth from “on-duty” time.

Employer refused to pay

In this case, driver Juan Carlos Montoya, the lead plaintiff in a collective action, alleged that CRST’s refusal to compensate him for hours spent in the sleeper berth beyond the DOL’s eight excludable hours resulted in him being paid less than minimum wage in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

CRST countered that none of the time Montoya and similarly situated drivers spend in the sleeper berth should be considered work under the FLSA because that time is predominantly to the driver’s benefit, not the employer’s, and because of the DOT’s exclusion of sleeper berth time from on-duty time.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.

“The DOT regulations concern driver and road safety and, unlike the FLSA, do not address worker compensation,” Judge Kermit V. Lipez wrote for the court. “Indeed, the DOT itself has recognized that using DOT classifications of ‘off-duty’ time to guide issues of compensability is misplaced and can result in employers circumventing the FLSA’s requirements.”

As for CRST’s argument that sleeping berth time was for the benefit of the employee, Lipez said the panel found it “unpersuasive considering the drivers’ physical confinement in a restrictive space that is ill-equipped for many activities.”

Experts say that the decision makes clear that employers must not only comply with DOT safety regulations but also with federal wage laws.

Employers must also be aware that time spent primarily for the employer’s benefit must be paid under the FLSA.