Texas Limo Drivers Rules

FAQs

These interpretations and others may be found on the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration web page at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov. Guidance to the federal hours of service laws (49CFR part 395) can be accessed by clicking here. Texas has adopted certain federal regulations for contract carriers including part 395. Therefore the interpretations below are applicable to Texas.

Question 1: A company told all of its drivers that it would no longer pay for driving from the last stop to home and that this time should not be shown on the time cards. Is it a violation of the FMCSRs to operate a CMV from the last stop to home and not show that time on the time cards?

Guidance: The FMCSRs do not address questions of pay. All the time spent operating a CMV for, or at the direction of, a motor carrier must be recorded as driving time.

Question 5: Do telephone calls to or from the motor carrier that momentarily interrupt a driver's rest period constitute a change of the driver's duty status?

Guidance: Telephone calls of this type do not prevent the driver from obtaining adequate rest. Therefore, the FHWA does not consider these brief telephone calls to be a break in the driver's off-duty status.

Question 6: If a driver is required by a motor carrier to carry a pager/beeper to receive notification to contact the motor carrier for a duty assignment, how should this time be recorded?

Guidance: The time is to be recorded as off-duty.

Question 20: How must a driver record time spent on-call awaiting dispatch?

Guidance: The time that a driver is free from obligations to the employer and is able to use that time to secure appropriate rest may be recorded as off-duty time. The fact that a driver must also be available to receive a call in the event the driver is needed at work, even under the threat of discipline for non-availability, does not by itself impair the ability of the driver to use this time for rest.

If the employer generally requires its drivers to be available for call after a mandatory rest period which complies with the regulatory requirement, the time spent standing by for a work-related call, following the required off-duty period, may be properly recorded as off-duty time.

Question 31:  If a driver is required repeatedly to respond to satellite or similar communications received during a 10-hour (8-hour for passenger transportation) off-duty period, does this activity affect a driver’s duty status?   

Guidance: Yes.  The driver cannot be required to do any work for the motor carrier during the 10-hour or the 8-hour off-duty period.  A driver who is required to access a communications system for the purpose of reading messages from the carrier, responding to certain messages (either verbally or by typing a message), or otherwise acknowledging them, is performing work.  For the purpose of this guidance, “repeatedly” means a pattern or series of interruptions that prevent a driver from obtaining restorative sleep during the off-duty period