Last week, Congress reopened plans for a bill that was intended to adjust the way truckers are paid. The bill, known as the Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act (also known as the GOT Truckers Act), removes the exemption for truckers with regards to receiving overtime pay. This law, should it pass, would alter the Fair Labor Standards Act, which had been established into law in 1938. This law is what exempted truckers from overtime pay. This marks the third time in which the GOT Truckers Act is heard in front of Congress. Twice it was introduced in both the House and the Senate as a bicameral, bipartisan piece of legislation. It did not garner any success in the two previous attempts.

The bill has support outside of Congress with a few different trucking organizations.

Largely, the bill is supported by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Truck Safety Coalition, and the Institute for Safer Trucking. In the House, the bill was brought forth by a Republican from New Jersey and a Democrat from California. In the Senate, the bill was brought forth by two Democrats, one from California and another from Massachusetts.

When the bill was first introduced, it was introduced as a high priority action.

The bill was a high priority for consideration to the Department of Transportation. This was due to where it fell in the Supply Chain Assessment of the Transportation Industrial Base. The Supply Chain Assessment was created mainly with consideration of stakeholder input. The industry largely changed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why many felt adjustments were needed for the industry and how pay is done.

Pay has been adjusted in many ways for truckers, but overtime pay has remained unadjusted for decades. When the bill was first proposed, the President of the American Trucking Association argued against the change. The organization’s President/CEO, Chris Spear, claimed that the change would not raise trucker wages, but would ultimately lower them. Without overtime pay, he claims driver pay has been adjusted adequately still.

He furthered his argument that the law had been in place successfully for 85+ years.

Spear claimed the bill was misguided and lacked consideration for drivers. Ultimately, the bill to him was a “thinly-veiled attempt to boost trial attorney’s fees.” Because of this argument from Spear, as well as many other similar sounding arguments from other opponents, Congress did not work to make the Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act law. It is unclear at this point how far the bill will get this time around.