DON JERRELL
HNI Associate Vice President

Today a U.S. Court of Appeals judge issued a final decision on challenges to the Hours of Service regulations, which took effect July 1.

In short, the only change to the rules is that the 30-minute break does not apply to short-haul drivers. Everything else stands.

For a driver to be exempt from a log under the short-haul exemption of the HOS regs, three things must happen:

1.) The driver must leave from and return to the same terminal within 12 hours.

2.) The driver must stay within a 100-mile radius of the location. (A driver could drive more than 100 miles within the radius.)

3.) The driver cannot go over 70 hours in eight days (or 60 hours in seven days, depending on his company).

Here is the conclusion of the final decision:

"It is often said the third time’s a charm. That may well be true in this case, the third of its kind to be considered by the Circuit. With one small exception, our decision today brings to an end much of the permanent warfare surrounding the HOS rules. Though FMCSA won the day not on the strengths of its rulemaking prowess, but through an artless war of attrition, the controversies of this round are ended.

"For the foregoing reasons, we grant ATA’s petition in part and vacate the rule insofar as it subjects short-haul drivers to the 30-minute off-duty break requirement. In all other respects, the petitions of both ATA and Public Citizen are Denied."

Click here to download the full decision (a 22-page PDF).

HNI will be updating its Hours of Service training videos to reflect this news. Click the button below to sign up for the complementary training resource.

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