10,000 GVWR Is Threshold For Truck Driver Overtime

Drive a truck with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) under 10,000 pounds? Then you are eligible for overtime. Importantly, the GVWR refers to the weight a vehicle can carry, not the weight it is actually carrying. The court decided that GVWR was more important than the actual weight, because the actual weight can easily change. In McCall v. Disabled American Veterans et al, even though the driver (McCall) was driving a truck whose contents weighed less than 10,000 lbs, the truck itself was designed to carry more than 10,000 lbs.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) contains a “motor carrier exemption.” This exemption states that any trucks with a GVWR of more than 10,000 lbs will have their overtime hours managed by the Department of Transportation. This means that McCall will not be able to receive compensation under the Wage Act when he works more than forty hours in a week. The good news for truck drivers: if you drive a truck with a GVRW below 10,000 lbs, you may be entitled to overtime under Massachusetts state law, too