Can a manager chime in on the madness of mandatory hr breaks?

[Guitarman01]

Forcing a driver to take an hr break if they work past 8 hrs seems highly unethical.
They just reinstated this recently and I would assume its nationwide, why?
Who wants to sit in their van or at taco bell for an hr?
let alone they might be driving a van or truck with no a/c or poor heating in the winter.
No driver wants this. It makes zero sense.
So now a driver is punished for having a busy day or forced to stay out later because they couldnt finish their paperwork in time?
"Well I would have unloaded my truck because they could use the help but I would have been forced to take a hr break so I decided not to."
It is Absolutely insane, it demotivates drivers to actually do their job.
The only reasoning I have heard is to "motivate the driver to get off the clock quicker"
That is very, very sad if that is the case.
Whats the official reasoning for this?
DOT semi drivers dont even need to break like this.

To add, people at my station have already boycotted this and its been made known they are all getting olcc's.

 

[zeev]

It’s to pressure drivers to get off road. FedEx and ethical are oil and water n my opinion.

 

[Mutineer]

Forcing a driver to take an hr break if they work past 8 hrs seems highly unethical.
They just reinstated this recently and I would assume its nationwide, why?
Who wants to sit in their van or at taco bell for an hr?
let alone they might be driving a van or truck with no a/c or poor heating in the winter.
No driver wants this. It makes zero sense.
So now a driver is punished for having a busy day or forced to stay out later because they couldnt finish their paperwork in time?
"Well I would have unloaded my truck because they could use the help but I would have been forced to take a hr break so I decided not to."
It is Absolutely insane, it demotivates drivers to actually do their job.
The only reasoning I have heard is to "motivate the driver to get off the clock quicker"
That is very, very sad if that is the case.
Whats the official reasoning for this?
DOT semi drivers dont even need to break like this.

To add, people at my station have already boycotted this and its been made known they are all getting olcc's.

I'll guess it has something to do with successful class action lawsuits of drivers alleging being worked too hard for too many consecutive hours.

 

[Guitarman01]

I'll guess it has something to do with successful class action lawsuits of drivers alleging being worked too hard for too many consecutive hours.

I kind of doubt that when DOT drivers in general do not abide by any sort of policy even close to this. Plus we are talking about going over by minutes and the system flags you, it would be one thing if it was lets say 10 hrs, but 8.01?

What are your thoughts @Operational needs ?

 

[Mutineer]

I kind of doubt that when DOT drivers in general do not abide by any sort of policy even close to this. Plus we are talking about going over by minutes and the system flags you, it would be one thing if it was lets say 10 hrs, but 8.01?

What are your thoughts @Operational needs ?

I think that DOT drivers are under different labor rules.

 

[Operational needs]

I kind of doubt that when DOT drivers in general do not abide by any sort of policy even close to this. Plus we are talking about going over by minutes and the system flags you, it would be one thing if it was lets say 10 hrs, but 8.01?

What are your thoughts @Operational needs ?

It’s something that has been going on for years, station by station, at the discretion of the Senior Manager. Nothing you can do about it. No, it’s not policy. Policy says 30 minutes after 6 hours. Some SMS will even force people to take an hour at 6 hours and one minute. You can try to call HR in Memphis, but I doubt they’ll do anything about it.

 

[Operational needs]

I kind of doubt that when DOT drivers in general do not abide by any sort of policy even close to this. Plus we are talking about going over by minutes and the system flags you, it would be one thing if it was lets say 10 hrs, but 8.01?

What are your thoughts @Operational needs ?

Also, DOT has nothing to do with that break policy.

 

[Bald1der]

Definitely station level, not nationwide. We're back to managers running routes so we need every minute possible.

 

[Guitarman01]

It’s something that has been going on for years, station by station, at the discretion of the Senior Manager. Nothing you can do about it. No, it’s not policy. Policy says 30 minutes after 6 hours. Some SMS will even force people to take an hour at 6 hours and one minute. You can try to call HR in Memphis, but I doubt they’ll do anything about it.

Very informative thanks.
I guess im also thinking HOS or hours of service regulation when I think DOT.
My point would be HOS regulation does not even come close to the Fedex policy being forced on some of its drivers.
That would be quite the joke in the semi industry if they had to take a hr break after 8 hrs and these guys are driving big rigs, not mini vans.

 

[purplelife]

It comes and goes, generally the MD makes the call and the senior can push back. It's always been a thing because when you take a 30min and work over 8 hours, if you look at your time card it shows an error. An unspoken thing is that the push comes when performance needs improvement. If you require hour breaks, generally there will be some people who will drive on part of it and hours will reduced. No one will ever say that officially nor will it ever be written somewhere but it does get discussed. To properly run a station with taking hour breaks you should need more routes but that really isn't an option these days.

 

[59 Dano]

It’s something that has been going on for years, station by station, at the discretion of the Senior Manager. Nothing you can do about it. No, it’s not policy. Policy says 30 minutes after 6 hours. Some SMS will even force people to take an hour at 6 hours and one minute. You can try to call HR in Memphis, but I doubt they’ll do anything about it.

Employees are advised of meal periods by their manager. Meal periods are nonpaid and are normally 30 minutes to one hour in duration, as determined by location or by departmental guidelines. - People Manual, Section 10-95

 

[Operational needs]

Employees are advised of meal periods by their manager. Meal periods are nonpaid and are normally 30 minutes to one hour in duration, as determined by location or by departmental guidelines. - People Manual, Section 10-95

Is that an updated version? I don’t remember it reading like that before. It’s been around five(?) years since I last looked up the policy.

 

[NC man]

But during peak 30 min is ok, 12 hours but don’t need an hour break.

 

[fdxsux]

If you require hour breaks, generally there will be some people who will drive on part of it and hours will reduced. No one will ever say that officially nor will it ever be written somewhere but it does get discussed.

This is the reason.

 

[Guitarman01]

This is the reason.

idk, we were told not to drive on our break very explicitly, but why does it allow you to change your milage while you're on break?
You can have a different milage when you start your break and when you end your break if you choose to enter it.
A whole hr and your not allowed to run errands?

 

[purplelife]

idk, we were told not to drive on our break very explicitly, but why does it allow you to change your milage while you're on break?
You can have a different milage when you start your break and when you end your break if you choose to enter it.
A whole hr and your not allowed to run errands?

You are allowed to drive to a location to take your break, like restaurant or something, within reason. So you can change mileage to account for this. Generally the within reason part is tough to hold someone accountable for. Someone saying you can't drive on your break doesn't know what they are talking about.

 

[Guitarman01]

You are allowed to drive to a location to take your break, like restaurant or something, within reason. So you can change mileage to account for this. Generally the within reason part is tough to hold someone accountable for. Someone saying you can't drive on your break doesn't know what they are talking about.

Well that came from a manager, maybe they meant more so for work purpose like everyone does.
I just came off my break, "Poof" instant delivery.

 

[MassWineGuy]

My senior manager told me we could drive five minutes after the previous stop to wherever we take a break. Then we need to be five minutes from the stop right after a break. I doubt that this is anywhere in black and white.

And aren’t 30 and 60 minute breaks required by DOT regs?

 

[DriveInDriveOut]

That would be quite the joke in the semi industry if they had to take a hr break after 8 hrs and these guys are driving big rigs, not mini vans.

Most UPS drivers including feeder drivers are required by the company to take an hour break.

 

[DriveInDriveOut]

My senior manager told me we could drive five minutes after the previous stop to wherever we take a break. Then we need to be five minutes from the stop right after a break. I doubt that this is anywhere in black and white.

And aren’t 30 and 60 minute breaks required by DOT regs?

If you're driving off the clock to a place to eat or something, it's technically personal use time.

If you're driving to your next stop off the clock and finishing your break there, the drive there off the clock is technically forging your hours of service.