In the matter of Espinoza v. Hepta Run, Inc., et al. (Cal. Ct. App., Jan. 19, 2022, No. B306292) 2022 WL 167770, the Court of Appeal considered the following issue: Whether the Federal.
Background
The FMCSA is a federal agency within the Department of Transportation tasked with issuing regulations on commercial motor vehicle safety. Coupled with that power, the FMCSA is authorized to decide whether state laws on the same topic of safety are preempted. In 2018, the FMCSA made a determination that federal law – the FMCSA’s own rest break regulations – preempts the CA MRB Rules as applied to drivers of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles.
Previously, in 2008, the FMCSA declined to preempt the CA MRB Rules as applied in this context, finding that it lacked authority to preempt because the CA MRB Rules applied beyond just the trucking industry and were thus not “on commercial motor vehicle safety.” In 2018, two associations in the industry requested that the FMCSA revisit its 2008 decision. The FMCSA sought public comment and then decided that the CA MRB Rules were in fact preempted. California’s Labor Commissioner, certain labor organizations (incl
In one of the year’s most anticipated court decisions for the trucking industry,
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 2785, et al. v. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, No. 19-70413 (January 15, 2021), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) ruling that federal rest break regulations preempted California’s meal and rest break rules, as applied to drivers of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles.
Title 49, Section 31141(c) of the United States Code gives the FMCSA the authority to review whether its rules and regulations preempt state laws “on commercial motor vehicle safety.” In 2018, the FMCSA reviewed California’s meal and rest break rules and determined that they were preempted by the agency’s own break requirements. This determination was challenged and ultimately brought before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The anticipated decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in
Teamsters v. FMCSA dealing with federal preemption of California meal and rest breaks for motor carriers, highlighted in a previous Transportation Blog on Jan. 12, 2020,
1 was more imminent than was suspected. In its decision issued on Jan. 15, 2021, the Ninth Circuit rejected the Teamsters challenge to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration s (FMCSA) authority and upheld the FMCSA s order that California s meal and rest break rules (MRB rules) were preempted by the FMCSA Hours of Service Rules (HOS rules) as they applied to drivers of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles. See California s Meal and Rest Break Rules for Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers, Petition for Determination of Preemption, FMCSA Docket No. 2018-0304, 83 FR 67470 (Dec. 28, 2018).
After a decade of ups and downs on the question of federal preemption, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (“FMSCA”) decision.