[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR782.3]

[Page 636-637]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 782_EXEMPTION FROM MAXIMUM HOURS PROVISIONS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES OF 
MOTOR CARRIERS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 782.3  Drivers.

    (a) A ``driver,'' as defined for Motor Carrier Act jurisdiction (49 
CFR parts 390-395; Ex parte No. MC-2, 3 M.C.C. 665; Ex parte No. MC-3, 
23 M.C.C.1; Ex parte No. MC-4, 1 M.C.C. 1), is an individual who drives 
a motor vehicle in transporation which is, within the meaning of the 
Motor Carrier Act, in interstate or foreign commerce. (As to what is 
considered transportation in interstate or foreign commerce within the 
meaning of the Motor Carrier Act, see Sec. 782.7). This definition does 
not require that the individual be engaged in such work at all times; it 
is recognized that even full-duty drivers devote some of their working 
time to activities other than such driving. ``Drivers,'' as thus 
officially defined, include, for example, such partial-duty drivers as 
the following, who drive in interstate or foreign commerce as part of a 
job in which they are required also to engage in other types of driving 
or nondriving work: Individuals whose driving duties are concerned with 
transportation some of which is in intrastate commerce and some of which 
is in interstate or foreign commerce within the meaning of the Motor 
Carrier Act; individuals who ride on motor vehicles engaged in 
transportation in interstate or foreign commerce and act as assistant or 
relief drivers of the vehicles in addition to helping with loading, 
unloading, and similar work; drivers of chartered buses or of farm 
trucks who have many duties unrelated to driving or safety of operation 
of their vehicles in interstate transportation on the highways; and so-
called ``driver-salesmen'' who devote much of their time to selling 
goods rather than to activities affecting such safety of operation. 
(Levinson v. Spector Motor Service, 300 U.S. 649; Morris v. McComb, 332 
U.S. 422; Richardson v. James Gibbons Co., 132 F. (2d) 627 (C.A. 4), 
affirmed 319 U.S. 44; Gavril v. Kraft Cheese Co., 42 F. Supp. 702 (N.D. 
Ill.); Walling v. Craig, 53 F. Supp. 479 (D. Minn.); Vannoy v. Swift & 
Co. (Mo. S. Ct.), 201 S.W. (2d) 350; Ex parte No. MC-2, 3 M.C.C. 665; Ex 
parte No. MC-3, 23 M.C.C. 1; Ex parte Nos. MC-2 and MC-3, 28 M.C.C. 125; 
Ex parte No. MC-4, 1 M.C.C. 1. Cf. Colbeck v. Dairyland Creamery Co. 
(S.D. Supp. Ct.), 17 N.W. (2d) 262, in which the court held that the 
exemption did not apply to a refrigeration mechanic by reason solely of 
the fact that he crossed State lines in a truck in which he transported 
himself to and from the various places at which he serviced equipment 
belonging to his employer.)
    (b) The work of an employee who is a full-duty or partial-duty 
``driver,'' as the term ``driver'' is above defined, directly affects 
``safety of operation'' within the meaning of section 204 of the Motor 
Carrier Act whenever he drives a motor vehicle in interstate or foreign 
commerce within the meaning of that act. (Levinson v. Spector Motor 
Service, 330 U.S. 649, citing Richardson v. James Gibbons Co., 132 F. 
(2d) 627 (C.A. 4), affirmed 319 U.S. 44; Morris v. McComb, 332 U.S. 422; 
Ex parte No. MC-28, 13 M.C.C. 481, 482, 488; Ex parte Nos. MC-2 and MC-
3, 28 M.C.C. 125, 139 (Conclusion of Law No. 2). See also Ex parte No. 
MC-2, 3 M.C.C. 665; Ex parte No. MC-3, 23 M.C.C. 1; Ex parte No. MC-4, 1 
M.C.C. 1.) The Secretary has power to establish, and has established, 
qualifications and maximum hours of service for such drivers employed by 
common and contract carriers or passengers or property and by private 
carriers of property pursuant to section

[[Page 637]]

204, of the Motor Carrier Act. (See Ex parte No. MC-4, 1 M.C.C. 1; Ex 
parte No. MC-2, 3 M.C.C. 665; Ex parte No. MC-3, 23 M.C.C. 1; Ex parte 
No. MC-28, 13 M.C.C. 481; Levinson v. Spector Motor Service, 330 U.S. 
649; Southland Gasoline Co. v. Bayley, 319 U.S. 44; Morris v. McComb, 
332 U.S. 422; Safety Regulations (Carriers by Motor Vehicle), 49 CFR 
parts 390, 391, 395) In accordance with principles previously stated 
(see Sec. 782.2), such drivers to whom this regulatory power extends 
are, accordingly, employees exempted from the overtime requirements of 
the Fair Labor Standards Act by section 13(b)(1). (Southland Gasoline 
Co. v. Bayley, 319 U.S. 44; Levinson v. Spector Motor Service, 330 U.S. 
649; Morris v. McComb, 332 U.S. 422; Rogers Cartage Co. v. Reynolds, 166 
F. (2d) 317 (C.A. 6). This does not mean that an employee of a carrier 
who drives a motor vehicle is exempted as a ``driver'' by virtue of that 
fact alone. He is not exempt if his job never involves transportation in 
interstate or foreign commerce within the meaning of the Motor Carrier 
Act (see Sec. Sec. 782.2 (d) and (e), 782.7, and 782.8, or if he is 
employed by a private carrier and the only such transportation called 
for by his job is not transportation of property. (See Sec. 782.2. See 
also Ex parte No. MC-28, 13 M.C.C. 481, Cf. Colbeck v. Dairyland 
Creamery Co. (S. Ct. S.D.), 17 N.W. (2d) 262 (driver of truck used only 
to transport himself to jobsites, as an incident of his work in 
servicing his employer's refrigeration equipment, held non exempt).) It 
has been held that so-called ``hostlers'' who ``spot'' trucks and 
trailers at a terminal dock for loading and unloading are not exempt as 
drivers merely because as an incident of such duties they drive the 
trucks and tractors in and about the premises of the trucking terminal. 
(Keegan v. Ruppert (S.D. N.Y.), 7 Labor Cases, par. 61,726 6 Wage Hour 
Rept. 676, cf. Walling v. Silver Fleet Motor Express, 67 F. Supp. 846)