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44 UALR L. Rev. 397 (2021-2022)
The Motor Carrier Excuse

handle is hein.journals/ualr44 and id is 421 raw text is: THE MOTOR CARRIER EXCUSE I. INTRODUCTION In the spring of 2016, Haskell Fuller and Micah Lindsey worked as former employees for Two Men and a Truck Arkansas, Inc. (TMT).' Fuller and Lindsey's primary job was to safely move, pack, and unpack customers' possessions.2 Additionally, Fuller and Lindsey assisted truck drivers in completing inspections and maneuvering trucks into docking stations.3 In the fall of 2016, Fuller and Lindsey filed a suit against their former employ- er, TMT, seeking compensation for overtime.4 The court dismissed the complaint with prejudice.5 The court did not dismiss the case because the plaintiffs failed to plead sufficient facts show- ing that TMT did not pay the required overtime.6 Instead, the court relied on provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)7 and a provision in the Arkansas code' that allow employers to deny their workers overtime.9 This result reflects an abuse that has plagued the transportation industry for near- ly a century.10 1. In re Two Men & a Truck Litig., No. 5:16-CV-05255, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26017 *4 n.3 (W.D. Ark. Feb. 24, 2017). 2. Id. 3. Id. 4. Id. at 3. 5. Id. at 2. 6. See id. at 17. 7. See Two Men & a Truck, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26017 at *3; Pub. L. No. 75-718, 52 Stat. 1060 (1938) (codified at 29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(1)) (providing an exemption to 29 U.S.C. § 207, which establishes maximum hours and overtime provisions, for any employee to whom the Secretary of Transportation has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of section 31502 of title 49). 8. See Two Men & a Truck, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26017 at *1; ARK. CODE. ANN. § 11-4-211 (West 2021) (stating that employers' requirement to pay employees overtime for working in excess of forty hours a week does not apply to any employee exempt from the overtime requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act pursuant to the provisions of 29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(1) - (24) and (b)(28) - (30), as they existed on March 1, 2006). 9. Cf In re Two Men & a Truck Litig., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26017 at *15-17 (dis- cussing Arkansas authority that establishes that loaders can be denied overtime despite never leaving the state if their employer subjects them to performing interstate moves that would impact the safety of interstate commerce). 10. See, e.g., Levinson v. Spector Motor Serv., 330 U.S. 649, 776, 778 (1947) (holding that an employee engaged in mostly loading or directing the loading of trucks was not enti- tled overtime by virtue of the Motor Carrier Act exemption); Williams v. Cent. Transp. Int'l., Inc., 830 F.3d 773, 778 (8th Cir. 2016); Vaughn v. Watkins Motor Lines, Inc., 291 F.3d 900, 906 (10th Cir. 2002); Graham v. Town & Country Disposal of W. Mo., Inc., 865 F. Supp. 2d 952, 961 (W.D. Mo. 2011). 397