New York Senator Schumer Introduces Bill to Cover Over-the-Road Bus Drivers Under Fair Labor Standards Act

Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) introduced a bill amending the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to cover over-the-road bus drivers and requiring that they be paid overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek. Currently, over-the-road bus drivers are exempt from the maximum hours provisions of the FLSA. The bill, The Driver Fatigue Prevention Act (S. 1977), revises the FLSA, to eliminate the overtime exemption, which applies to “any employee with respect to whom the Secretary of Transportation has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service.” As a result, over-the-road bus drivers will be entitled to overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 in a given workweek.
An ‘over-the-road bus’ “means a bus characterized by an elevated passenger deck located over a baggage compartment.”