{"id":352909,"date":"2026-06-09T10:03:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T10:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/352909\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T10:03:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T10:03:40","slug":"californias-rest-break-saga-finally-put-to-rest-land-line-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/352909\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s rest break saga finally put to rest? \u00bb Land Line Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in 2018, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration determined that California\u2019s meal and rest break rules for property-carrying truck drivers were incompatible with federal regulations.<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2020, FMCSA made the same decision for passenger-carrying drivers, saying that California\u2019s break rules were preempted by federal law.<\/a><\/p>\n

California has worked for years to reverse those decisions, saying that the state\u2019s break rules were beyond the scope of FMCSA\u2019s preemption authority.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sided with FMCSA in 2021<\/a> over California\u2019s petition to overturn the agency\u2019s decision regarding truck drivers.<\/p>\n

And just last week, the Ninth Circuit denied California\u2019s petition for review of FMCSA\u2019s determination that the state\u2019s break rules are also preempted for bus drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe record supports the FMCSA\u2019s conclusion that California\u2019s (meal and rest break) rules impose a significant operational burden upon operators of passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles,\u201d the Ninth Circuit wrote in its opinion. \u201cThis conclusion was sufficient to justify the agency\u2019s decision to preempt California\u2019s (break) rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is California\u2019s rest break rule?<\/p>\n

California\u2019s meal and rest break laws generally require employers to provide employees with an off-duty 30-minute break for every five hours worked and a 10-minute off-duty break for every four-hour period.<\/p>\n

As part of California\u2019s wage order, an employer who fails to provide a meal or rest break must pay the employee for one additional hour at the employee\u2019s regular rate of compensation.<\/p>\n

The state rule led to numerous class action lawsuits against motor carriers.<\/p>\n

FMCSA\u2019s decisions<\/p>\n

In 2018, the American Trucking Associations and the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association petitioned FMCSA to preempt California\u2019s rest break rule.<\/p>\n

ATA\u2019s petition stated that the California laws weren\u2019t practical for the transportation industry and undermined safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy arbitrarily forcing trucks off the road more frequently, state rules like California\u2019s also contribute to a critical shortage of truck parking, with serious safety implications,\u201d ATA wrote.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 21, 2018, FMCSA announced it was granting the petition for preemption to property-carrying truck drivers subject to federal hours-of-service regulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafety is FMCSA\u2019s top priority and having uniform rules is a key component to increasing safety for our truck drivers,\u201d then-FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez said in a news release. \u201cDuring the public comment period, FMCSA heard directly from drivers, small-business owners and industry stakeholders that California\u2019s meal and rest rules not only pose a safety risk but also lead to a loss in productivity and, ultimately, hurt American consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January 2020, FMCSA granted a similar petition from the American Bus Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FMCSA has determined that California\u2019s (meal and rest break) rules \u2026 are more stringent than the agency\u2019s hours-of-service regulations, \u2026 have no safety benefits that extend beyond those already provided by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, \u2026 are incompatible with the federal hours of service regulations, and that they cause an unreasonable burden on interstate commerce,\u201d the agency<\/a> wrote.<\/p>\n

Ninth Circuit rulings<\/p>\n

Twice, the Ninth Circuit has affirmed FMCSA\u2019s authority for preemption.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state and federal regulations \u2026 share the same purpose of mandating off-duty periods as a form of ensuring commercial motor vehicle safety through fatigue management,\u201d the court wrote in its recent opinion. \u201cThat California has chosen a more stringent method of achieving this end does not mean that its rules are outside of the FMCSA\u2019s domain.\u201d LL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in 2018, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration determined that California\u2019s meal and rest break rules for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-352909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}