Intrastate New York truckers will have to use the same electronic logging devices (ELDs) as their interstate counterparts, thanks to a court decision finding no basis for a driver support organization’s regulatory challenge. The State of New York Court of Appeals ruled that the time-tracking devices used to ensure drivers follow work-hour limitations, do not result in unreasonable violation of privacy, or constitute unreasonable search and seizure.
In reaching its decision the court cited the nation’s long history regulating the trucking sector. ELDs have been required for interstate traffic since 2017 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), for any driver who runs more than 150 air miles or works for than 14 hours a day.
Nearly 40 states followed the federal rule with requirements of their own, with an eye on improving highway safety. “The states wanted to fill the gap in the application of the law,” said Randy Mullett, a consultant in the areas of trucking and freight sustainability, security, and safety. “They saw it as a tool for improving highway safety and wanted to apply it to everybody.”
Mullett also assumed a secondary motive by state rule makers: the need to keep better track of independent contractors’ wages and hours. Making the new rules even more attractive was the relative ease of enforcement since little additional manpower was required. “Every state already has an enforcement group of people checking logs on interstate traffic and...
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